Monday, July 22, 2013

July, 2o13 The New Daily (W)Rite Wk4

The Daily (W)Rite


Monday, July 22, 2o13
   Yep! The beginning of the last week in July. And as far as weather goes not a bad July for Oklahoma. Warm? Yeah, at times. At least enough to get me a good sweat on when I'm riding my bicycle. BUT there was a LOT of rain and 70 degree weather for Oklahoma... not normal for this time of year! We can only hope August follows July's lead and gives us few cooler days. But I wouldn't count on it.

   I've been writing a lot of poetry lately. A lot of it was inspired by what's going on in the news, particularly news worthy events in America.  Yes, the world interests me., but I tend be moved more (poetically) by what goes on in my country, what directly effects me as an old Marine living in Norman, OK. Once in a great while I venture out into international, poetic waters. But mostly I write about my personal life... my love life... the absence of a love life.  Am I any good as a poet? Don't know, don't care. I got a few followers on Facebook who seem to like my work. When I do write about politics, my work gets a lot of "shares" by those folks who agree with my political point of view. Lately, I've been diving into these "Anti-Zen" quotes. All of it original work based on little sayings that people keep posting to me, things like, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." or "Think positive!" I really hate those kind of posts. So, I create my own picture with a philosophical statement that might say something like, "What doesn't kill you makes you wish you were dead." or "I think positive. I'm positive things will get worse!" Sort of fun stabs at my friends. Here's a couple I'm rather proud of:

 These get a few hits every now and then. I like writing. But I can't always write LONG poems. Sometimes an idea is only a couple of lines; a couple of lines can be powerful. The "artwork" counts for part of the response I get with these short jabs. I call it artwork because... well, I don't know what else to call it. Most of the pictures I take myself (not the ice cream one), and then I play with them a bit on a photo editing site. Mostly I use BeFunky. Good site. You should try it out sometime.

 Tuesday, July 23, 2o13
    I don't know if I should be happy or sad 'cause I don't really care about being 65 years old without a girlfriend or family or friends... and I really don't seem to mind that I'll get even older and that none of the above will ever change. I'll sit here, write on the blog, maybe put down a poem or two, go out for groceries and came back home to the same old, same old. When I was in my 20's and 30's I feared the idea of becoming this lonely old man sitting around all day in his underwear, talking to himself or yelling at the TV... It frightened me so much I took to going out for a drink and staying out at some bar until they threw me out. I hated the idea of being alone... old and alone. But now? Now I don't mind it so much. In fact... I kind of like it. Truth be told... I don't have a desire for face to face time with people these days. I'd rather deal with them on Facebook, or communicate with them on my blog... AND I don't know how I should I feel about that. Should I be sad because it seems like I've lost my need to be intimate with people... lost my humanity, so to speak...? No. If I NEED to be sad, I should feel sad because...  I don't care one way or the other.  Alone, not alone. Anymore... I don't give a damn.
 
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
   I know. I've been away for almost a week! Sorry. Got busy working on the poetry. That is my main focus after all. However, I won't deny that after my last rant which was a bit too "poor me" oriented I decided to take a break from writing on my journal blog. I get into these fits of self pity a lot, and I have no qualms about moaning about my sad, little life. After all, that's what a "diary" is suppose to be for, right?
 
  Well, the Right is furious because President Obama said something about the Zimmerman verdict. Bill O'Reilly and the other pundits of the Right are making sure everyone knows that "black" murders out number  "white" murders by at least 10 to 1.  And what little research I've done so far says that the statistics might be right... or wrong. It's hard to tell because statistics can be manipulated to mean whatever you want them to mean. And I'm not sure if statistics matter much to people who are murdered. That's to say, I don't think people really care WHO they are murdered by. I know I would be as equally pissed off to be killed by a "white" guy as I would if I was killed by a "black" guy. Now maybe there are a few people who hope to be murdered, and maybe they hope to be murdered ONLY by a criminal of a particular race. But I couldn't find any statistics on that. I'll keep looking. BUT my personal experience with "almost" being murdered is the only statistical information I trust. AND according to that information I would have to say "white" folk are scarier than "black" folk. Twice in my life I've had someone try to kill me (not counting Vietnam), and twice the persons trying to kill me were... yep... "white." Maybe I'll talk about this later on. 
 
 


 

Monday, July 15, 2013

July, 2o13 The New Daily (W)Rite Wk3

 
The Daily (W)Rite
 
Monday, July 15, 2o13
   Okay, so I tried to write my personal, daily diary as pages on one of my poetry blogs. Little did I know I could only write up to 20 pages. Actually, I did know that. I just forgot that I knew that. Anyway, I've decided to start a blog for my rambles about life, liberty and the pursuit of.. whatever. My only fear is that now that which was semi-private is now a full-fledged blog that anybody can see. It's not that I'm worried about saying something embarrassing 'cause nothing bothers me when it comes to writing what I want to write about. BUT sense it IS a "full-fledged" blog, I don't want to come off boring. Now THAT would be embarrassing! So, I will try my best to be creative, witty and poetic as I pour out from my fingers all the strange... sometimes wonderful... ideas that float around in my head all day... and all night. Beware... you've been warned.

4:58 PM
   You know that I know I'm a strange looking dude (see the pictures above), right? Okay, maybe not strange-strange but "suspicious" looking. So, I'm waiting for a cab inside Walmart ('cause it's raining)and this AC/DC T-shirt wearing guy and his wife and his baby pull their cart up to mine and the husband gives me the hairy eyeball. His wife does the same and then wifie gives her husband the "I'll be okay" look and hubby looks me over one more time and goes out to get his car so wifie, baby and groceries don't get all wet walking through the parking lot... and all I'm thinking is... "I hope that bastard doesn't come back with a gun and go all George Zimmerman on me!" Paranoid? Maybe. But what happened down in Florida to Tayvon...? I'm worrying about people.

10:46 PM
   ... And of course, there's the big verdict! Man shoots an unarmed kid, and in a court of law is found not guilty of murder. Warms your heart, doesn't it? Makes you feel all patriotic and... well... AMERICAN. And of course, the battle lines are drawn in America along the black and white lines that have always kept this country away from being a real country, one ruled by ALL the people, one country for ALL the people. I really don't understand it. I got a lot of friends on Facebook who are just tearing each other apart. I try to stay out of it, but like everybody else I got strong opinions about the Zimmerman trial. But my opinions are not based on the color (or perceived color) of somebody's skin, or misconceived ideas about the 2nd Amendment. My opinion about what happened that night in a Florida town is based on having been shot at twice, beat-up numerous because the color (or perceived color) of my skin, a shit load f drunken brawls, gang fights and the physical and mental abuse I suffered at the hands of a drunken stepfather that stuck a loaded shotgun in my gut once and told me he was, first, going to kill me then go and kill my baby sister and mother. Now before you get to feeling too sorry for me I need to let you know I'm as much of a bastard as that drunken stepfather. I've been kicking people's asses and having my own ass kicked for a very long time. Yeah, I was a drunk, and not one of those friendly, laughing, huggable drunks either. No, I was a mean drunk. So, when it comes to fighting and what goes on in a fight and how a fight starts, you can take it to the bank that I know something about it. And I sat here watching the trial on TV, and listening to these "lawyers" tell us all about fighting and violence... and I'm not believing a word that's coming out of any one of their mouths. Yeah, they brought on all their "expert" witnesses to tell the jury ALL about violence and fighting and... that jury believed everything they said, even though everything they said was a lie. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk more about this. I got a lot to say on the subject. But now, I'm tired.

Tuesday, July 16 2o13
"It depends on your intent.
Do you wanna get mad
and break something
or
do you wanna get mad
and fix something?"


   People are pissed. And juror number... whatever... made things worse with a self-serving interview on CNN, saying, "I think his (Zimmerman) heart was in the right place."  She's an idiot who's planning to write a book on the trauma she must of suffered by being juror number... whatever... and she'll probably make a lot of money off of it.  It appears that EVERYBODY involved in the trial of George Zimmerman is an idiot and contributed to the most idiotic verdict since the OJ trial. And I'm not talking just about the defense team. The prosecutors had their heads stuck up their briefcases too.   The prosecutor's 'expert" witnesses? What a joke. What were they experts on? Being morons? The whole trial was a sham, a copout, down right evil. However, you can't change the verdict. All the violence in the world will not change the verdict. Tearing up L.A. is not going to bring Tayvon back. Protest is a good thing... NON-VIOLENT PROTEST! That can help change things. But violent protest, burning shit up, throwing bricks through windows don't change a thing in America.  Be mad, be angry, and let all that grief fuel change... and remember change can only come through peaceful determination to fix what's broken.

Wednesday, July 17, 2o13
I live about a 1/2 block away from the railroad tracks. Mostly it's busied by freight haulers, lots of steel and lots of  tanker cars, big black tanker cars filled with... ? I don't know what. Now and then, usually later in the evening, theirs a passenger train that slides sleekly and quietly through town. It's heading for OKC and lands beyond. The windows are tinted so at night it's hard to see in. But I bet it's filled with business men and train men... and students on their way home for the holidays.  I've always loved trains. Love the sight, the smell of them, the mournful sound of their whistles late at night.  Where I'm living you can hear them coming from miles and miles away... particularly in the late evening and early morning. Sometimes they wake me up... but I don't mind. There's something calming about the sound of a train passing by when you're dreaming.

 
Thursday, July 18, 2o13
   I made a discovery yesterday. It's better if I turn off the TV and put on a little music as I write my blog. So, whatever happens here on the computer-screen page will be the fault of the Rolling Stone and not the voices of the liberal hipsters on The Cycle.
This is my writing lab. Okay, not really a "lab," just a corner of my little bachelor apartment. An old computer desk, small but sufficient laptop, room for my coffee cup and the modem for TV, phone and wireless hook up. Unfortunately, 
the wireless went down a while back, and I've had to use a straight connection into the modem to get online. What one must put up with in the name of... art. In the picture I'm looking a bit more hairy than usual. When I took this pic, I was in my old man "I-DON'T-GIVE-A-FUCK-WHAT-I-LOOK-LIKE" phase. I've gotten over that. Got the hair cut (chopped) real close, and I tend to shave on a semi-regular basis now. However, I did grow the "goat" back. My face just doesn't look right without some hair somewhere. To my right is a nice window for me to look out of. It's a regular house window but set real close to the floor. The whole ceiling is low. When I stretch in the morning standing up... I bang my hands against it. A few of my tall friends have to walk around my apartment hunched over. Small, one room, a kitchen, hallway to the bathroom... I like it. I like it a lot.

   Spent most of the morning arguing with some guy on Facebook about the difference between whining and protesting. Yes, that's right, the Zimmerman verdict is still a hot topic. This guy wrote a "poem" about how bitching about little things was the same as bitching about the verdict in the Zimmerman case. So, I wrote this and posted it on my Facebook page: "I'm concerned when we as a people can't tell the difference between standing up against injustice... and whining." And THEN the fight was on. He came at me with all these burnt-out clichés about, "The court system isn't perfect... can't go against the system... he got a fair trial... blah-deBlah-deBlah..." and I shot back with this:

"Jyrone, I understand that you believe a lot of what you're saying. But trying to debate an issue by using the same old clichés I've heard since I was a little kid... just doesn't convince me: 'our justice system is far from perfect, but it is the best one we have.' Well, if it ain't perfect, then let's fix the damn thing. 'And as we speak, young unarmed teenagers of all colors are being shot down in the streets. Where's the outrage?' So, if we don't pay attention to every injustice, every murder, every illegal thing that happens in America at exactly the same time... we can't pay attention to ANY of them? If the media played the race card, if the Right played the race card, if the Left played the race card, if the NRA played the 2nd Amendment card, If the prosecution played the kid card, if the defense played the self-defense card... I really don't care 'cause I'm playing 'the I don't want to be shot when I'm walking down the street wearing my hoodie card.' And that's the only card I care about. We cannot give people the right to murder whomever they want when they FEEL like it. Yes, we must accept the verdict of this case, however, we are obligated to denounce the court system when it doesn't do its job... protesting a verdict IS the only way to go about fixing a system that is a GOOD system but can be misused. And in this case, in my opinion, the court didn't do it's job properly."

And that was that. Didn't make any difference. I shouldn't be disappointed that it didn't because the worth of doing a thing or saying a thing is in how honest you present your side... the outcome I have no control over. Wish I did, though.


Friday, July 19th, 2o13

   A wonderful day to be American. Today our President Obama gave an extraordinary, impromptu speech concerning the death of Tayvon Martin, the Zimmerman Trial and his personal struggles with racism back when he was a kid. You can view the speech in its entirety on YouTube (address above.)

   My long time friend, Albert Bostick, is an African-American artist and civil rights activist. The "murder" of Tavyon Martin hit him hard. In the last few days he has produced several paintings as a tribute to Tayvon. They are rather spectacular, and there are more to come. Al's creative energy
inspired me to sit down today and write another poem about the killing in Florida. The poem's not as "straightforward" as Al's paintings, but people seem to be gravitating to the Facebook site where I posted it. I'm also going to post it on my poetry blog, More Poetry by Robert R. Woods. I think this is enough for me tonight. Tomorrow I'll be back to write a little more... about what? You know, I never know. Do watch and listen to the speech when you have time.


Saturday, July, 2o, 2o13
   Well, it's probably NOT a surprise that for the last few days my blog has gone all politics. Not surprising since so much is going on around the "murder" of Trayvon Martin. The message of President Obama's speech yesterday came to life today with numerous protest vigils in big cities all around the good old USA.  And of course, where you have one group of liked minded people voicing their collective opinion, you're going to get the "other side" out voicing their opinion. I just don't understand how there can be another side to racism and gun violence. But there are people who can't join in and support that which is "right" because... well hell, just because they don't want to. It goes against what they want to believe. I posted this little idea on Facebook this morning:

"Pretzel Logic. A fun sort of thing. Can be used when you have no viable facts to support what you wish to believe. Example: "Catsup is always red. Therefore, racism in America does not exist." If you listen long enough to nonsense reasoning, you could start believing it! The more we repeat a lie, the easier it is for other people to start to accept it as a truth, as a fact! And that should scare the heck out of all of us."

Pretzel Logic is a logic that... well, it's not logic at all. It's a magic trick, slight of hand, or if you will, slight of mouth. Best example I got right now was the Right's use of Pretzel Logic to dismiss the idea of Global Warming: "Al Gore rides around on a jet airplane. Therefore, Global Warming doesn't exist." I know it sounds silly, but that was Sean Hannity's big Pretzel Logic statement back when Gore's movie about Global Warming, An Inconvenient Truth, came out.  Although it appears to be mostly a CONservative strategy, the Left is just as guilty of using it. I've always loved the Pretzel Logic of  "Science is all about facts and truth. Therefore, God does not exist." Again, we have an absolute that doesn't hold all that much metaphorical water. I remember as a kid science told me chocolate would give me pimples. About thirty years later science told me chocolate did NOT cause pimples. That pissed me off. All those kid years I spent feeling guilty about eating chocolate. AND for most of my adult life I've believed that nothing was faster than the speed of light. Why? Because Einstein said so! NOW we find out it isn't true. So I'm figuring if science can't get the speed of light and chocolate right, why should I believe them when they tell me, "There is no God."