Keeping in Good Repair

 

Riding along on a trail,

shifting gears up and down.

Over time the gears slip out,

requiring more and more attention.

Derailleurs and sprockets eventually wear...

Driving down the highway,

the Ford roars with a louder voice

every month – those manifold pipes

and catalytic converter showing their age.

My old house remains a comfortable abode,

even as the soffit sags, paint peels, and pipes leak.

“She” is showing her 60 plus years more and more.

Physical things last for a time and then they wear out.

Human bodies, too, acquire age and show their wear.

Knee cartilage wears out, hips need replaced, lungs scar.

We just hope for a good “body mechanic” to

stave off catastrophic failures and keep us humming along.

Entropy is one tough opponent,

a target for temporal postponement!

BRIC a brac

 

They are forming a line,

all of these little countries eager to

escape the US Dollar’s “hegemony” over the world.

They form little partnerships to

trade back and forth, and generate new alliances.

But can they really trust each other?

Every country has its own interests to protect,

they tend to forget that they all share one

common globe, that ‘third rock orbiting’ the Sun.

Climactic shifts and mega-disasters affect us all.

It seems it’s time for humans to learn to cooperate.

Cooperation yields better results than desperation.

Like lead actors in a high-school play,

we need to get over our personal fits and do the right thing.

For our descendants and their offspring too,

end the constant warfare,

learn to work together,

solve common worldwide problems.

For the benefit of us all.

But the BRIC throwing will probably continue,

hope my glass doesn’t get broken out!

Next trip to the grocery store,

thank those petty alliances for the latest

price shocks.

Maybe now is a good time to expand that home garden.

Energetic Questions

 

They always show up with polite smiles,

when they drop the big bill in front of you.

But when you look you see corporate wiles,

service fees and charges up the wazoo.

It takes the joy out of a vacation

when you are gouged beyond reason.

Re-assess your current economic station,

after paying too much for food that pleases.

Makes one anxious for what the future holds,

when the present drains your wallet so fast.

Despite hopes of finding some random gold,

the monthly income just doesn’t seem to last.

Hostile countries and fighting political factions

render useless any “pump-priming” bank actions.

Seems like the 1970’s have repeated at last,

when will energy shortages come to kick our ass…?

They have the faith

 

They have the faith, so they keep coming.

They crowd the streets and fill the hills,

they believe in me the messiah, so they keep coming.

They think I can cure all their ills.

I feel their pains, I suffer their setbacks,

My empathy is universal, my tears cry blood.

They have faith, so they keep coming,

they keep coming to me, the messiah.

They believe I will heal them of sickness,

they have seen my so called miracles.

I get lucky at times and bring sight to the blind,

hearing to the deaf, awakening to the comatose.

They have faith so they keep coming,

but am I really the messiah?

My mother birthed me without a father,

does that mean that I am the son of humankind?

Just because god chose me in some cruel twist

of humor or some lark of entertainment -

how do gods play anyway?

I got picked, so I can start tornadoes with my screams,

earthquakes with my anger,

miracles with my care and love and tenderness.

surely this does not mean I am the messiah...

The faithful keep coming, leaving flowers and notes.

They all come for me, my name is Jodie.

They leave me notes, they weep and wail my name.

They sing and preach and talk and laugh,

for I can make them whole and start a new day.

But it is not really me -

just this darned Netflix special.

My name is not really Jodie, either.

Had you fooled – hahaha.

Not the actions of a messiah,

just a lucky earthbound kid who got to star on TV.

Don’t get taken in by appearances ;-)

A Few Mental Connections

 

While watching some videos about scientific discoveries and the connections between inventions, some thoughts came to mind. So many inventors discovered or worked on groundbreaking devices, processes or inventions. But while they contributed some knowledge, they rarely profited from their work. In many cases they died broke, or at least very poor. But so many did seem to add their layer of knowledge and insights onto the whole, and thus put us ever closer to real life-changing inventions, like air conditioning, lighting, better ways to heat, easier ways to get around, safer ways to live. And life-saving medical procedures too.

A good number of companies and corporations were not evil, and did take people’s well-being into consideration when bringing a product to market. Many did not have scruples or ethics, but many did!

The human brain seems to be hard-wired for metaphor. That seems to be why we took to storytelling and poetry so early on, and this clearly separated us from the lower life-forms. Metaphor, the act or art of defining how one thing is or seems like another thing, is the spark that can come up with new inventions. A rounded rock rolling down the hill – hmmm, wonder if we could chip or make two of those, and create an axle. The wheel, next to fire, was such a tremendous invention that changed our lives. Or look at the birds soar on drafts of air – can we do that? We certainly did. And on and on.

There are other ways to generate new ideas. But this art of metaphor that seems wired into us is a real powerful way to change our lives and future history.

Another realization (probably obvious) is that we are taught in school that certain people invented certain things, and the world was changed. It was never that simple – many people that came before would make some incremental advance or finding, that would build on the body of knowledge. One person discovered that by compressing air in a piston, and then expanding it, this would create a cooler temperature. But it took many refinements over the years to turn this finding into, say, a window AC unit. Much, or most, invention seems incremental – and nothing wrong with that – our lives are still improved.

For a long time plastics were touted as such a wonderful life-changing “advancement”. In many ways I suppose they were. But plastics never biodegrade; so now we are practically drowning in our plastic waste. Each new advancement brings with it new problems. We can never go back – we wouldn’t want to go back, to a dirtier ruder past where we died younger and were sicker and less well fed. But going forward will not be a “picnic” either. As the universe and humanity expand, sh** is just going to get more complex.

It’s amazing what kind of thoughts a 40-year-old TV program called “Connections” can generate. Time to end this rant and connect with my coffee cup. Have a good day everyone – enjoy it. Tomorrow is sure to be different.

Tiger, Tiger 24

 

Tiger, tiger where are you now?

That pain in my back, is that your stare?

Will you soon leap out and bite my neck,

sink fangs in deep and draw out my life?

Primal, feral remnant of the jungle wild,

the sight of your fangs enough to trigger

deep-seated fears and make one wary;

You the life-taker lunge and sink fangs deep....

Yet human armaments could extinguish your kind,

high explosives and projectiles tear you all apart.

Maybe we should eliminate your threat for good,

but compassion and reservations hold us back.

So go ahead and prowl and eat in the territories

we allocated to you, as long as you are able.

One day we may change our mind, and then

your skin will be on the wall, your meat at our table.

For the time being we can leave the debate to

angry villagers and passionate conservationists.

We’ll leave it to a future generation whether to

render your species to meat processors and taxidermists.

For now we will see you in zoos and enclosures,

marvel at your great power, which once made us cower.

Heeerrrreeee it comes

 

Campers and RVs sprout like sprawling weeds,

trailing cords and blossoming extensions too.

Something big is coming as we all well know,

preparations buzz and clink all over the place.

Trucks and transports parade in and out,

sounds and smells of various animals arrive.

Yards soon show signs and cords and posts.

Amateur and professional merchants prepare,

rub hands and grin in anticipation of crowds.

The ten-day onslaught of humanity is coming,

making me wonder again just why we do this.

Education, entertainment, commerce certainly.

Reflecting an earlier era of local entertaining,

simple transacting and having fun -

now overshadowed and subsumed by digital

commerce, yet persisting and shining bright.

So step right up!

Enjoy the indulgent fair foods,

ride the carnival rides,

see farm and exotic animals up close!

Whatever you may think of it,

here it comes, ready or not!

Dog Days of Summer

 

August steams in like some deranged engine,

hot and intense, hearkening and darkening.

Indictments handed down, credit rated lower,

watching national news with grimace and glower.

Partisan fights never go away, just simmer.

Weather patterns continue to punish us all

for existing and pursuing convenience;

some enjoyment during an oppressive summer.

The occasional bright spots keep us going,

special time spent with friends out in nature.

Happy moments help dim impressions of ongoing

warfare in Europe, the daily nuclear threats uttered.

There have been other dark moments surmounted,

civilians and innocents wring hands, and hope

this current miasma of battle will also have an end.

Then we can dance with happiness and joy,

until someone else, somewhere else, starts

another war.

Oppenheimer

 

     Some thoughts on that big new movie everyone is hearing about. “Oppenheimer” was long, but the time went fast for me. The creators seemed to throw some special effects in there just to jolt the audience. And the way that the plot jumped around in time was a bit confusing at times to me. But I enjoyed it overall. It was during WWII, and the Nazis were ahead in many technologies. If we needed a new town built in the middle of the desert in hopes of catching up, the town got built – in record time. The atmosphere was desperate, and conflicting personalities had to work together.

Leading it all was a guy whom many doubts were swirling around, not the least because of past political affiliations. But despite the long-shot nature of the whole effort, they came up with an A-bomb that worked. The almost immediate misgivings of many of the scientists did not prevent its use on Japan, in hopes of ending the war sooner (which it undoubtedly did).

But in the nightmare accusatory atmosphere of the 1950’s, much damage was done to people who did nothing but give their country so much, and simply wanted the best for our country.

The movie could be a lesson for us nowadays, that we will need to put aside partisanship in the face of immensely powerful enemies. I hope that message gets out. But in any case, it was a pretty darned good movie. Don’t think I gave much away here – the movie has a lot in there I have not mentioned.

Enjoy!