Re: elegy
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
**************************************
FOSSILS
*********************
Where literature is controlled and free speech suppressed
propaganda becomes the only mode of perceiving reality.
Where everyone thinks alike (thinks? wrong verb)
no one thinks.
To say “yes, sir!” is not to think.
*
We have become a nation (wrong noun) of non-thinking simpletons
who believe they are not just smart
but seven times smarter than xxxs.
*
I repeat myself?
Where lies are repeated seventy-seven times,
I see nothing wrong in repeating myself seven times.
*
Everything I have been saying has been said before
by far better men than myself?
If they behave like Panchoonies,
why shouldn’t I recycle Odian seven times?
*
What do Jesus, Marx, and Freud have in common?
They were teachers (rabbis) who didn’t believe in rabbis.
To use Toynbee’s terminology:
they were teachers who rejected fossils;
unlike us who are zombies at the mercy of fossils.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
**************************
SAROYAN AND I
********************************
I envy Saroyan – no, not his fame and fortune –
but because nobody ever told him to write like Saroyan.
*
Saroyan wrote to entertain his American audience.
I write to torment my Armenian audience –
assuming of course I have one.
*
Saroyan was Armenian.
So am i.
beyond that I doubt if we share anything else in common.
*
As for Michael Arlen – both Father and Son –
they might as well be from an alien planet.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
***************************************
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
***********************************
We are not a divided nation;
we are a broken nation.
Being divided with us cannot be said to be
a bad habit or even an incurable addiction
but a character trait,
and character is destiny.
If you think I am being negative, think again.
If what I say is true,
truth is bound to set us free –
free from all the lies that have kept us divided
and continue to divide us today
with no end in sight.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
*****************************************
DARK AGES
**************************
Christianity has been described as a religion
that allows a class of men –
from popes to televangelists –
to make a comfortable living
by exploiting someone else’s crucifixion.
Something similar could be said
of our Turcocentric ghazetajis and scholars
who write about massacres.
Some day historians will name our past –
from the beginning to the present and foreseeable future –
our Dark Ages.
#
Warning: If you ever receive an e-mail from me
asking for financial assistance,
please ignore it.
It's probably from a pirate in Somalia.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
**************************************
FOSSILS
*********************
Where literature is controlled and free speech suppressed
propaganda becomes the only mode of perceiving reality.
Where everyone thinks alike (thinks? wrong verb)
no one thinks.
To say “yes, sir!” is not to think.
*
We have become a nation (wrong noun) of non-thinking simpletons
who believe they are not just smart
but seven times smarter than xxxs.
*
I repeat myself?
Where lies are repeated seventy-seven times,
I see nothing wrong in repeating myself seven times.
*
Everything I have been saying has been said before
by far better men than myself?
If they behave like Panchoonies,
why shouldn’t I recycle Odian seven times?
*
What do Jesus, Marx, and Freud have in common?
They were teachers (rabbis) who didn’t believe in rabbis.
To use Toynbee’s terminology:
they were teachers who rejected fossils;
unlike us who are zombies at the mercy of fossils.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
**************************
SAROYAN AND I
********************************
I envy Saroyan – no, not his fame and fortune –
but because nobody ever told him to write like Saroyan.
*
Saroyan wrote to entertain his American audience.
I write to torment my Armenian audience –
assuming of course I have one.
*
Saroyan was Armenian.
So am i.
beyond that I doubt if we share anything else in common.
*
As for Michael Arlen – both Father and Son –
they might as well be from an alien planet.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
***************************************
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
***********************************
We are not a divided nation;
we are a broken nation.
Being divided with us cannot be said to be
a bad habit or even an incurable addiction
but a character trait,
and character is destiny.
If you think I am being negative, think again.
If what I say is true,
truth is bound to set us free –
free from all the lies that have kept us divided
and continue to divide us today
with no end in sight.
#
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
*****************************************
DARK AGES
**************************
Christianity has been described as a religion
that allows a class of men –
from popes to televangelists –
to make a comfortable living
by exploiting someone else’s crucifixion.
Something similar could be said
of our Turcocentric ghazetajis and scholars
who write about massacres.
Some day historians will name our past –
from the beginning to the present and foreseeable future –
our Dark Ages.
#
Warning: If you ever receive an e-mail from me
asking for financial assistance,
please ignore it.
It's probably from a pirate in Somalia.
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