Some thoughts on how I approach the world and reflections on the attitudes of the right.
A villanelle on the true aims of the corporate West in the Middle East.
Also a poem prompted by an article on Anders Breivik on the BBC World Service on Sunday.
And finally, in case you get the impression I am not religious. Far from it. The final piece explains.
Join us every Monday night for drinks at the Daily Kos community political poetry club
Your own poetry is always welcome in the comments
Bongos, berets & turtle neck sweaters optional
The keypad is mightier than the sword
Who Are You?
I wonder what it must be like
To live a life without ever
Seeing the light that floods
All over the wondrous universe
Only clouds
To look beyond your shores
And want to bomb other cultures
Into oblivion just because they
Believe, eat, dress in different manner
To yourself
To accumulate wealth for no other
Reason than the simple goal of
Winning some childish race where
Burial in the most expensive coffin
Is the prize
I wonder too why some believe
That some ineffable deity
Plays games with every living
Creature in a parlor game for
His pleasure
When the evidence, mounting every day,
Says: The more we look the more
We know and the more we know
The more there is to know.
No secrets!
Simply puzzles to be solved
By our inquisitive simian brains
Until at last we realize
There is no final answer
Life goes on.
Let those with answers spout
And gurgle shout and burble
Take the gullible under wing
I meanwhile choose to sit alone
Among stars
© CJ Campbell June 2012
Perfect Storm
The profiteers give it another name
One which masks their true intent
Thus this war for oil became
A perfect desert storm to blame
One despotic dictator, send him home.
The profiteers give it another name
While young men sought for fame
And fortune in Arab sand and heat
Thus this war for oil became
A burial ground for hopes and same
Old fears of different others once again
The profiteers give it another name
Wells were bombed and capped, the flame
Died, young bodies strewed the dunes
Thus this war for oil became
Another successful venture met its aim
Operation Desert Storm
The profiteers give it another name
Thus this war for oil became
© CJ Campbell April 2012
The Abnormal Distribution
(The Curve of Being)
Breivik sits alone at one end
Hating all that differ from his
Sheltered upbringing white
Meat and two vegs
Al-Quaida occupies the other
Hating just as hard for the same
Nonsensical reasons. Insha'Allah
Lamb and couscous
Close to Breivik are the killers
In the name of Christ. Who with
A single blow are now capable
Of cooking all of us
Nearer to the violent faithful
Are rulers of the Muslim world
Those men who still relegate
Women to the kitchen
Somewhere in the middle
On an axis of compromise
The people are waking up
And brewing fresh coffee
© CJ Campbell June 2012
Lest You Get the Wrong Impression
I have no quarrel with religion
It teaches love for fellow man
Humility, help for others
And ways to live a virtuous life
But, when religion is twisted
By the hucksters and opportunists
Who seem to thrive in America
I draw the line and say “No”
You profit driven, ego-centric
Slick haired white suited
Soft spoken fake confidants
Look first to yourself
The shortcomings of the lost
Are easy pickings for charlatans
© CJ Campbell June 2012