The Way Things Are

Listen to Marvin Read The Way Things Are

It starts in the third grade when that bully,
Fear-weaponed, extorts the pocket pittance—
My lunch money—at recess. Thus, fully,
He dominates the yard; we glance askance.

Adult now, with sword-skill, he becomes King.
Commands his troops, establishes his realm.
But hist’ry favors smart, not brawn—offspring
Have not the sense to work this kingdom’s helm.

Technology, then high finance intrude—
New bullies dominate our lives. Not strong,
But wily, bespectacled, dressed in suits,
They run investment banks (but run them wrong!).

My lunch money, now, niftily extorted
By hedge fund leaches morally unthwarted.     
(3/27/11)

Posted in Greed, Politics

Growing Old–II

     With apologies to Matthew Arnold

Listen! Age begets misery;
You don’t already know this stuff?
You will (if you live long enough)
Make that fierce, grim discovery.

Your knees, of course, stiffen and swell—
Fingers rigidify, won’t bend—
Sprains get ugly, refuse to mend—
And bells, once bright, strike like a knell.

Despite the blurring sound and sight,
Despite the joints’ incessant pain,
Longevity produces gain
That justifies your life-long fight.

Fleshed misery promotes some stress,
But doesn’t chill your vetted mind.
Experience reveals this find:
All history frames foolishness.

The tragedy, of course, is this
No one will listen, hear your wit,
Accept an ethos sure to fit,
And, thus, eschew all human bliss.

Perhaps, one day, the young will learn
To heed the wisdom of the old.
‘Twould save them grief—turn spirits gold—
A balm to soothe life’s blist’ring burn.
       (3/19/11)

Posted in Aging, Pain, Politics

Creationism

     Magnitude 8.9 quake rocks Japan

Listen to Marvin read Creationism

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument,
That one of those almighty creators,
In a blast of “Let there be’s,” did foment
Our universe (a god, not a satyr!)

Foundation? Sub-ducting tectonic plates?
Jeezus! What was It thinking of? Cosmic
Building codes not in place? Design? Flyweight—
Inept creation of a swinging dick.

And for this we praise, kneel, and worship It?
We must be nuts! Throw in some light’ning strikes,
Tsunamis, tornadoes, meningitis—
A grim hist’ry wrought by war-prone psyches.

No way! No loving god would so fuck us—
We’re creatures of an incoherent ruckus!
     (3/15/11)

Posted in Religion, Today's News

Save The Words—I

     Brummagem

Plainly, some things are just not fair.
Industrial, proud Birmingham
Came to be called “brummagem”—lair,
It seems, of all things tawdry; damned,
It seems, by counterfeiters back
In sixteen thirty-seven—cheap,
It seems, meretricious—flash crap—
Imitations sold by slick creeps.

Ridiculed for a few false groats—
Noun and adjective “brummagem,”
Stuns a decent city—connotes
Sick merchandise akin to phlegm.
                        (2/27/11)

Posted in Luck, Words

Philosophy: The Down Side

     For C.F.

     Haecceity may be defined in some dictionaries as simply the “essence” of a thing,
     or as a simple synonym for quiddity or hypokeimenon. However, such a definition
     deprives the term of its subtle distinctiveness and utility. Whereas haecceity refers
     to aspects of a thing which make it a particular thing [its “thisness”], quiddity
     refers to the universal qualities of a thing, its “whatness”, or the aspects of a
     thing which it may share with other things and by which it may form part of a
     genus of things.

This guy down at the paddle tennis courts
Likes to pull my professorial chain
From time to time, and asked, last week, what sort
Of place did “quiddity” hold in my brain?

He, psychologist, twinkled, as my jaw
Dropped, while I, literature guy, knit brow,
Glum, discomforted, thought about the raw
Pain of life—the figurative fields ploughed

By rank necessity just to survive—
While thinkers distinguish (without pity)
“Whatness” from “thisness,” in fat texts that drive
Men mad—quiddity or haecceity?

How does that put food, drink, on the table?
Funny thing—the argument waxed deadly
In the early church. God? Real or fable?
“How can three be one?” some asked, scratching heads.

“Fools! Whatness is not thisness!” they replied—
Those ancient priests—“accept our writ or die!”
                     (2/25/11)

Wish to pursue this matter further? Start with Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308). Then consult the First Council at Nicaea (325)

Posted in Religion, Words

History’s Shape

Listen to Marvin read History’s Shape

                                                                A
                                                              Bit
                                                     Of evolution
                                              And there we were,
                                Humans struggling to stay alive.
             We hunted, gathered, used wit and learned to farm.
       Then we invented gods and monarchs, ferocious, truculent.
    Voracious greed and war drove industry, innovation, science.
  Villages grew into cities coalescing into combative nation states.
We suffered drought, flood, plagues, burned witches, and yearned.
   We learned commerce—overcame mountains, oceans, even sky.
    Then came advertising, and its bastard offspring: fashion, style.
        Fords won’t do—we want Maseratis, yachts, private jets—
           More industry, more! And war—incessant, stupid war.
                     Slowly, then quickly, desire replaced need.
                          Untrammeled, industry poisoned air,
                               The soil, the seven seas. Soon
                                      Our humankind began
                                         To gasp and fail—
                                              Even insects
                                                 Faltered,
                                                 Leaving
                                                 One tiny
                                                  Thread
                                                  Of viral
                                                     DN
                                                       A
                                                     (2/20/11)

Posted in Death, Greed