Back to School

“ The strongest and most effective force in guaranteeing the long-term maintenance of power is not violence in all the forms deployed by the dominant to control the dominated, but consent in all the forms in which the dominated acquiesce in their own domination.” – Robert Frost

 

”A gentle reminder that all we are aiming for here is stricter gun laws that make it harder for people to get guns (because it shouldn’t be easier than getting a driver’s license) and the removal of Military Grade Weapons from Civilian Society.”                 – Emma Gonzalez

–

Back to School

 

The lazy days of building castles in the sand

Are melting into memories, those castles

Tossed by waves, without a trace

A trip to the store, or commercial bombardment

Reminds everyone, a new school year is not far away

 

In years, and decades past, visions of new shoes,

Dresses, pants, shoes, and backpack were deemed essential

Somethings never change, alas, they have

With the standard supplies added to the shopping cart

Thoughts turn to the avant-guard in school couture.

A nation turns to uniforms of BODY ARMOR

In hopes, their children make it home from school

 

Trump, Moscow Mitch, G.O.P., N.R.A., Corporations, Mainstream Media,

Dems, who have sold out to big money, they don’t care, your heart a gaping hole.

They won’t be there as you fondle your child’s clothing, planning a funeral

Nights filled with those final moments, and the cold remains

Captured on instant replay, they won’t hear you screaming

For one more moment, waking you from the nightmare that doesn’t end

The freezing numbness that shreds your aching soul

They wouldn’t know, one must have a soul to crush it

 

No need to plan graduations, college applications, future weddings, grandchildren…

There won’t be those faces around the table, calls with those we love

Replaced by capitalism’s greed with waking in the night

Screaming in the dark, in the middle of the day, arms empty and aching

Knowing our children are never coming home

 

 

In memory of those who have died in the hate shootings that terrorize a nation. Lives lost, families left with gaping holes where loved ones used to be. All in the name of dividing the country for profit and domination.  

 

Bisous,

 

Léa

Thoughts and Prayers My Ass — This, That, and The Other

I’ve been pretty angry and upset over this whole Tygpress.com thing over the past three or four days. But in the scheme of things, it’s small potatoes compared with what’s going on in the United States. At least 53 people were shot dead and many more were wounded by separate mass shooting incidents in just this past […]

via Thoughts and Prayers My Ass — This, That, and The Other

After The Orgy Of His Ending — Dark Matter

he was laid out like a meal on a picnic table. How swiftly he was torn and butchered! If you lay a feast before some folks they settle right in and devour it. I’m certain he was spoiled, spoiled early, spoiled rotten; I never could have thought to drag a tooth over him. Seeing him picked […]

via After The Orgy Of His Ending — Dark Matter

This time 20 years ago: on the waiting list — bruises you can touch

CARLY-JAY, I LOVE YOU! For those of you who do not yet know her, please meet the BRAVEST, MOST CORAGEOUS HUMAN I have ever encountered. A lifetime battle with the Health Care System and despite all odds and predictions, she is still with us. Thank the goddess and the goddess is CARLY-JAY! XOXO 

You are without a doubt a hero! 

 

 

This time twenty years ago, I was dying in hospital. Not to be hyperbolic, but I really was. That’s why it was so strange when I had to go into hospital last week to start IV antibiotics for a sinus infection. Sinus – it sounds so innocuous, doesn’t it? Except that it’s become one of […]

via This time 20 years ago: on the waiting list — bruises you can touch

History, learn or repeat it

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana (1863-1952)

MARTIN NIEMOLLER (1892-1984)

 

A well known and respected Lutheran minister who made the choice to speak out against the foe, Adolf Hitler. He would spend the final seven years of Nazi dictatorship in a concentration camp for having the courage of his convictions. For finally speaking out

 

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Socialist .

 

And then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Trade Unionist

 

And then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –

Because I was not a Jew

 

Then they came for me – and there was no one

Left to speak for me.”

 

In the early days of the Nazi regime, this Lutheran minister supported Hitler. Later, he was to oppose the regime and imprisoned for seven years.

 

He frequently lectured in the Post War years extemporaneously and this how there came to be varying versions of the above poem.

 

Much controversy has surrounded the poem due to the long list of diverse groups in the many versions. His viewpoint was that Germans – in particular, he believed, the leaders of the Protestant churches, had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution and murder of millions of people.

 

During a West German television interview in 1963 Niemoller finally spoke about himself. He acknowledged his own earlier antisemitism. He made a statement of regret for the burden he would carry for the rest of his life. Regardless, he was one of the earliest Germans to speak publicly about the broader complicity in the Holocaust and for what happened to the Jews.

 

In his book, Of Guilt and Hope (English Translation) published in 1946, He wrote: “Thus, whenever I chance to meet a Jew known to me before, then, as a Christian, I cannot but tell him: ‘Dear Friend, I stand in front of you, but we can not get together, for there is guilt between us. I have sinned and my people has sinned against thy people and against thyself.”

Life, we are all in this together. If we choose to remain silent, yes, it is a choice, we are complicit. 

Acceptance, Love and Peace,

Léa

Tony Brown, tells it like it is!

Someone designed a monument to a stray cop bullet that broke through walls and killed a child asleep in a crib, couldn’t decide on which city needed it most as there were so many to choose from, cast a giant version of it and placed it in the dead geographical center of the USA where […]

via Big Beautiful Bullet — Dark Matter

…To the left

NEVER AGAIN!

poetry, photos and musings oh my!

Despite the fact that I first published this here over three years ago, it seems imperative to reblog it now given current events in Virginia and elsewhere. 

“This is the biggest cemetery for Jews, Poles, Roma and Sinti. It must tell us that we have to come back here again and again. We must keep the memory of the worst crime in human history alive for those who were born later.”   –  Horst Koehler, Germany President

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak…

View original post 272 more words

In her safekeeping – Carly-Jay Metcalfe

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Winston Churchill

“I say to people who care for people who are dying, if you really love that person and want to help them, be with them when the end comes close. Sit with them – you don’t even have to talk. You don’t have to do anything but really be there with them.”  – Elisabeth Kulbler-Ross

*

In her safekeeping (For Carly-Jay)

On that freezing

winter’s night

I struggle to

stay on path

fighting the winds

I hear the howling

all too close at hand

it is the darkest of night

even the moon has

turned her face

I am alone

frightened

the way ahead

into the unknown

unprepared

my eyes seek

respite

lifting my head

in the storm

a window

in the distance

illuminating the way

unconditional love

inviting – welcoming

offering safe harbour

the guardian

reaches out – her

voice gentle, calm

reassuring

there is no judgment here

she knows intimately 

its weariness, each toll

her embrace 

I am safe in her keeping

steadfast she escorts me

until I am at last

at rest

*

Webster defines courage as: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. To possess such courage, is rare. To find it in one so young as Carly-Jay Metcalfe, is remarkable. To have someone like her come into your life, I promise, will illuminate even the darkest of corners. She can inspire like few others. I am indeed privileged to know her. A writer, a speaker and a champion to those whom she reaches out to in the darkest days of their lives.

Carly-Jay knows death on a first name basis. She has navigated in its shadows since first drawing breath. Yet instead of running from it, she faces it full on to guide others. Please, for your own sake, get to know this amazing young woman. She has so much to offer all who open their mind and heart.

In addition to my meager words, I offer links to explore the world of Carly-Jay, get to know her. Death touches each of us and running from it can only harm us. Enlightenment is the key to life. Carly-Jay is the keeper of the key.

http://www.carlyjaymetcalfe.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYaBlW9sSYQ

*

Bisous,

Léa

Mortalitié – tripping the light fantastic

“No art is possible without a dance with death.” – Ericka Ostrovsky

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”            -Alan Watts

“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.” – Satchel Paige

*

Mortalitié – tripping the light fantastic

Every day of our lives

Each of us dances

Never are we alone

Biding time

Awaiting our dance –

–

Ballet, tango, Line

Waltzing, flamenco, regardless

The melody may be fast

We may move slowly

Across the floor

–

Down life’s corridors

Delusions of solitude

When things are darkest

Yet she is always there

Waiting her grand performance

–

Death is always

With us, a partner

From our birth

Some will dance briefly

In its unshakeable embrace

–

Nuchal cord – un, deux, trois

Accidents, illness, suicide

Her fluidity – a mask

Caché – she often takes

Partners by surprise

–

That which doesn’t kill us

We are told – makes us

stronger, for some it does

Some take it – make of it

Conception d’art

–

Dance each day

As if you were

Nijinsky, Taglioni,

Alvin Ailey

Each to your tune

–

Remember – mon ami

With each dance, each step

Choreograph your life

Danse avec le coeur

Each step of your life

–

Bisous,

Léa

Alien Landscape

 

“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?   – Bob Marley

 

“Not on one strand are all life’s jewels strung.”   – William Morris

 

“Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.”   – Charles M. Schulz

 

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”   – Thomas A. Edison

*

Alien landscape

 

We are all tourists

Some will be obsessed

Driven to make the most

Of each moment

They fail to take pleasure

In the nuances proffered

Others will passively move

From this reality to

Whatever awaits?

There are those who are

Unshakable and move

With grace and confidence

Through the darkest of times

Others claw their way

From first breath to last

To tremble at the touch of another

Can be a most precious gift

Painting the canvas of your life

The colors are yours to choose

Will you play it safe – muted colours?

Dare to express yourself with all the

Vibrancy within your grasp?

Time passes all to quickly

The years both kind and cruel

Reflected in the shading

Light and darkness in turn

Mortality a heartbeat away

Create while you can

The music of your life

*

Bisous,

 

Léa