Ouch, that was tough to read... I did appreciate "...the few/who know the world's a coiled spring".
In response to your piece, here's a poem I often turn to when I need a reminder to praise/give thanks:
We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
Here's a reading of the full poem by Jack Gilbert
Cheers, mate ✌️
Ouch indeed. Certain truths are always ugly. I'm kinda guessing you're not a big fan of the curse words either.
To be honest though, we have to speak our truth and if it offends some people, well you can't please all the people all of the time.
I appreciated your sharing of that poem, and that line in particular as I'm very far from 'only' focusing on the injustice of this world.
I attend a daily meditation group Monday -Friday where ten minutes is spent giving thanks for the things we overlook in our lives. I'm very mindful of being thankful for the wonder in the world.
However, I think it is entirely possible to point out injustices without identifying with them, which is what breeds violence of thought etc. Acceptance is all well and good, but to be blind to major injustices, or at least not point them out occasionally, is not something I'm personally going to embrace.
Thanks for your comment Yahia, it's always interesting chatting with you 🙂
P.s. I think you might have liked my comedy poem yesterday better than this one 😉
All the best for 2022.
I’m not blind to major injustices, my friend. As a Muslim and immigrant living in the Divided States of America, they are inescapable.
Also, growing up in impoverished Egypt, surrounded by corruption and oppression for decades put things in perspective for me, early on.
Wishing you peace ✌🏼
I did not mean to suggest that you were blind to, or unaware of, the injustices in this world m8, I was just stating my position, and reasons for writing this poem. In part of the poem I talk about rappers - I grew up with a wide variety of music in my life, and hip hop was a big part of my tastes. What I see from rappers these days (apart from a select few) seems to be spurious bragging about money and status. Even gangster rap back in the day, despite sometimes being about murder, drug dealing, violence and other uncomfortable subject matter, they at least shone a light on how a large portion of African Americans lived in one of the most ghettoised countries in the 'so called' civilized Western world.
Anyway, here is a poet/rapper who I greatly admire writing about the arms trade from an anarchist perspective - which is very much what this poem is about. The arms trade is one of the most pernicious industries in the way it is run (pretty much unregulated).
And if no one points out that for these companies, and many politicians, war is a business, then they will continue doing what they do forever unchallenged.
Peace to you also my friend, and all the best for 2022 🙂🎉
It’s the New Year, Rowan, and I choose not to focus on what is unbeautiful…. Violence begets violence, in our thoughts and language.
Here’s mystic Nietzsche, speaking me better than I speak myself:
“For the New Year…
I want more and more to perceive the necessary characters in things as the beautiful:—I shall thus be one of those who beautify things.
Amor fati: let that henceforth be my love! I do not want to wage war with the ugly. I do not want to accuse, I do not want even to accuse the accusers.
Looking aside, let that be my sole negation! And all in all, to sum up:
I wish to be at any time hereafter only a yea-sayer!”
I agree 100% with this sentiment.
Okay, fair enough. We shall leave it at that.
All the best.
Peace 🙏