Little American vignettes

Little American vignettes

Seven throw pillows and a teddy bear on a bed

A woman with an American flag on her fat ass

Three kids in the futile chase of an ice cream truck

A man with a long gray beard and one leg begging on the corner

A socialite trying to decide which of her 500 pairs of shoes to wear

A glamorous dress up affair to raise money for the poor

Three roofers putting  down shingles and talking about their sexual conquests

A young mother jogging with two kids and listening to a motivational tape

A family dinner with everyone looking at their cell phones

A cop trying to set a teenager straight

A collection of every Precious Moments figurine plus a pink bunny

A wall full of Thomas Kincades above a Thomas Kincade recliner

A TV broadcaster whose hands are a ballet of nothingness

Three women at lunch on their fourth glasses of Chardonnay

A shirtless man with skinny legs picking tomatoes in his garden

A celebrity speaking about the effectiveness of a toe fungus medication

An American flag selling shoes, mattresses, beer and cheap patriotism

have you ever?

Have you ever seen Donald Trump smile?

Have you ever seen him speak spontaneously and with compassion?

Have you ever seen him without his nose in the air?

Have you ever seen him not being a pompous ass?

Have you ever seen him thinking of the Presidency as Americans think of the Presidency?

Have you ever seen him acting as if he is in the world and not the world rotating around him?

Many may have genuinely voted for him out of frustration or the desire for change.

But anyone supporting him now can only be doing so from inside their own caves of self-delusion.

Evolution made me a man

Evolution made me a man, and I’ve got the genitals and Y chromosome to prove it. Hormones gave me my libido, so, of course, I do my prancing, feather ruffling and courtship dances. I keep my nose peeled for the pheromones, and I try to make things happen. I’m a man. And I can stay stuck this way, stay a dickhead, for all my life.

But I can also come to the realization that there are other parts of me to care about and to share There’s my mind and my heart, my lovebido, my spirit. These help make me a fuller man, a more human man. 

I don’t have to discard my evolutionary man-self. I can’t. I just have make it fit comfortably into the deeper man-me.

Metaphor

When we try to find meaning in the world, we use metaphor to mine the things around us. The atom is a planetary system. The rose means love. The lion is courage. The cave is the underworld. In this way, we become part of the world, and the world becomes part of us. Metaphor expands to narrative in legend and myth. And we gain stability and comfort in being. In this context, even God is metaphor.

The Garden

The Garden
(a simple poem)

The daisies keep their promise every summer.
Shouldn’t I?

The milkweed and the butterflies collaborate for a higher purpose.
I must do that too.

The small branches bend in the hard winds.
Bending, I won’t break.

The grass is hardy and tenacious.
Best to be that also.

What is the message of a lily?

Q's

Q’s
--Can Trump—who hates to read and doesn’t read—really digest 15 boxes of material on North Korea in a couple of days while dealing with the G 7?
--Have you ever seen Donald show any public sign of real affection to Melania?
--Has Jared made any iota of difference in the world since he was given all these tasks by his father-in-law?
--Does trump have Scott Pruitt pick up some skin moisturizer for himself when he cruises the Ritz-Carltons?
--Has Sarah Huckabee Sanders ever asked Melania for advice on fashion?
--Does Donald sit on the edge of his White House bed in his underwear with a box of tacos trying to decide whether to bomb North Korea?
--Is Donald mad at our allies because Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron are so much better looking than him?
Just asking.

The edge

Sometimes artists walk to the edge. Sometimes they are pushed to the edge by vision or conscience. Sometimes they live at the edge because of the social and cultural barriers constructed to keep them from the center.

But the edge is where new and challenging ideas bubble up. It’s where an artist can fall off into oblivion or discover a new land. It’s where serious artists find creative refuge. And where they invite the courageous to meet them fro a conversation.