Calling All L E A D E R S…

Let the voice of dissent ring out,
Loudly,
From every barrio,
Every slum,
Every shantytown,
Every metropolis,
And every rural farm;

Let the voice of dissent,
Rise from those places,
Where there is no glory,
Yet so much guts;

There is no consumptive want,
There is only need,
A need that we (supposedly civilized)  pay lip service to,
As if our assistance,
Plentiful yet useless,
Is the mythology that we play for ourselves,
As if we are making strides,
Or at least,
That is the horrible truth,
Or inconvenient as Al Gore would say,
Is that we are not even making a dent,
We don’t want to;

I know that sounds sinister,
And that’s because it is,
In the problems that face this world,
The Millennium Development Goals,
While well intentioned,
(see the road paved to Hell)
Are a hoax,
Being perpetrated by the powers that be,
To feign caring and compassion,
I’ve seen it first hand,
From inside the UN,
I’ve watched as Ambassadors and Deputy Ambassadors,
Attending swanky parties by Investment Bankers,
All with cheques in breast pocket,
Giving money to buy ACCESS,
To untendered contracts or to fix contracts,
I’ve watched as they accepted the cheques,
I’ve watched in horror as they drank champagne,
On the penthouse rooftop, sixty eight floors up,
I’ve watched in disbelief,
As the goals,
Seem to be manipulated and abused,
For personal gain;

The Millennium Development Goals,
Are a great ideal,
BUT,
That’s all they are is an ideal,
Applied unfairly,
Where it is nearly impossible,
For those countries,
That they cleverly call lesser developed,
Lesser developed?

They have no resources nor incentive to incite change,
No money for even the most basic of infrastructure,
Really?
Lesser developed!
Sounds like a euphemism to me!

No wonder my mind snapped,
With the avarice and malevolence that I witnessed,
First hand,
With my own eyes,
How about we tell the truth,
Novel concept, right?

The truth is, for you to decide, but;
To decrease infant mortality,
We need to teach and feed the mothers,
We need to reach the women of this planet,
To know,
That what they do,
Happens to the womb,
If they don’t eat and drink healthily,
The odds of infant mortality are increased one hundred fold,
And the reality is,
That we could make a difference in education and nutrition,
We could do it tomorrow, there is enough money, there is enough food,
Manufactured scarcity de rigueur,
We could beat this as sure as we defeated small pox or polio,
But we won’t as we’d rather a Big Mac,
And when you don’t see death you only look at it,
You don’t care…
Just ask the soldiers returned from ill advised wars.
Global primary education,
Noble goal,
But really it is a way of creating a subservient parent,
AND Government,
For the IMF and the World Bank,
Demand that uniforms be bought,
Or fees be paid,
By the lowest income earners on the planet,
Less than a dollar a day,
SHAME on us for allowing such a rule to exist,
SHAME.

Potable water, WATER,
( mark my words, the coming war has nothing to do with oil, gold, diamonds, copper, tin or uranium it is WATER that we will fight over)…

Eradicate poverty and hunger,
Let’s get real here,
The industrialized countries,
The G8 and the G20 can’t even eradicate poverty and hunger,
In ivory towered cities and towns…

Combating HIV and Aids is the one area where a difference has,
And will continue to be made,
Cheaper drugs,
Contraception…

Environmental sustainability,
Really, really?
Oil companies are raping the planet,
And paying bribes to do so,
Oil companies are spilling oil as sure as they spill blood,
And they pay little penalty, if at all,
Because our leaders,
Our supposed leaders (Obama stood up to BP perhaps the first time in history a Politician put his hands in the pocket of a corporation for good though this was a pittance compared to the crime)

Environmental sustainability,
We waste so much water, feeding crops,
In places that have no business growing crops,
Southern California, Arizona,
I mean really,
Did you know that almost 80% of all water used is for agricultural purposes,
And the irony is that they water the crops,
Feed them with chemical fertilizers,
Which then leach into the water table,
Thus poisoning us twice,
Once with the food,
And once for the water…

A global partnership for development,
LIP SERVICE,
Empty promise,
There is no partnership,
Only profit,
There are several parties at war with each other for supremacy,
Any partnerships are adversarial not by choice,
And finally…

Gender equality,
Take one look at the most adversely affected on the planet,
Women,
They out number the men,
And are the single most important element in raising the next generation,
But in more places than I care to admit,
Women are slaves, women are beaten,
Women are raped,
As an act of WAR,
Raped as an act of war?

Unfortunately I feel as if I am wrestler,
Inside a match that we know is fake,
And you,
And you,
And you,
And I are the losers,
In this global battle royale for supremacy,
And if we do not have a fundamental retooling,
By the power of people,
Joining our voices together and demanding better,
We are doomed,
Chicken Little agrees the sky is falling,
But also crying,
Toxic pollutants with nowhere to go,
But into the clouds that rain down and poison us a third time…

All this and we still haven’t looked,
At one of the greatest crisis we are to face as a species,
The mass migration of Billions,
From coastal communities,
Which could be averted,
But not when our leaders hands are in the pockets,
Of the greatest polluters causing our oceans to rise,
Billions,
Mass migration,
Is probably coming not in my lifetime,
But certainly my child.

So as capitalism continues to manufacture scarcity,
I find myself asking…

WHERE ARE OUR TRUE LEADERS?

Let’s stop the march to profit,
And start the march to humanity.

SDM

The Laws of Man

The laws of man,
A farcical opportune distillation,
Opportune,
Merciless,
The tyranny of the oppressed,
Still living in “Let them eat cake…”
Cake?

Cake;

The classical divide,
Between those with access to the halls of power,
And those in the halls of crack houses,
Supposed;
The rights the same…

Save that those with the money,
Afford the best legal defense they can buy,
More often than not skating by,
With a legal dream team,
Spending millions,
To get off on murder or white collar crime…

While the oppressed,
Under the guise of equality,
Are afforded the best that the public purse can buy,
No wonder,
That for marijuana we lock up our youth,
No wonder that the three strike law in the United States,
Puts more people in jail for life,
Without hope of parole,
Though,
They were represented right?

ARE YOU REPRESENTED?

IF SO, BY WHO?

T H I N K!

Let’s face it,
The tyranny of the oppressed,
The classes divide between rich and poor,
The lively differences,
Real not imagined,
Between those eating spam and those eating Foie Gras,
I mean look,
spam is not capitalized, it permeates our food,
Permeates every part of our lives,
Subtle but true,
Affecting each of us differently,
But justice is blind, right?

This foul and shameful display,
Dastardly,
Plays itself out,
On street corners around the world,
Beijing and Boston,
Toronto and Tinseltown,
Vientiane and Vienna,
In courthouses the world over,
And six by eight cells,
Where every one is innocent,

Mens Rea;

Mea Culpa;

Globalization and World Trade…

EQUALITY…

Innocent;

Perhaps not of the crime they’ve been convicted,
But surely in that society has cast them away,
Set them aside,
Afforded them no luxury,
Of a real education,
What is a real education?
What does that mean?
What can we do?

Are we stronger than our weakest link?

Real housing,
Safety and security in our homes,
OUR homes,
Of REAL opportunity,
Void,
This truth,
WHAT TRUTH?

Who says?

YOU?

This omnipresent and apparent truth,
Obvious,
To those that look,
To those that can see,
Is a sinful scourge on Lady Justice,
In our systems of enforcement,
Our bankrupt systems,
Jail cell economies,
Economies of scale,
And continues to be the biggest threat to the continuation of that status quo,
(not to mention our very SPECIES)
For you can only kick a pup so long,
Before it rips the ankle off your leg.

Our system of justice,
Our class system,
Our political ideologies,
Our lip service,
Are all incomplete in the progress of man,
The march of time,
AS,
This man wonders, posits, ponders, and understands, WE;

Require a wholesale reevaluation,
Of what is right,
And what is wrong,
Though I must submit to you…

This reckoning will never come,
For at its core,
It requires,
A reappraisal and redevelopment,
Of the systems,
Used to distribute wealth,
And sorely my friends,
I must admit, submit but not permit,
That this system,
Will not,
Be changed,
Without the adoption,
By the masses,
Using their voice,
Their VOTE,
To circumvent the system,
TO BE THE SYSTEM,
And be the change,

That seeks and achieves,
To no longer  keep the poor,
Poor,
And the rich,
Comfortable in their glorious mansions,
You and You alone,
I and I and I,
Must stand;

Fight,
Rise,
Unite,
For tonight is all we have
And tomorrow is a pipedream we never see;

The time is now…

Accept that the record is broken
And work to change the tune!

SDM

Nothing More

In spite of the challenges,

Both real and imagined;

Bipolar realities of immense consequences,

The hope  is temporarily muddled,
Somehow, the Ether allows me the trespass,
Of these words,
Those become my mental temptress,
Outwardly manifested for you,
While inwardly struggling,
Words,
Some of sorrow,
Others of joy,
Some of delight,
While others still of pain,
Nothing more nor less,
This truth presented,
Here,
Without pretense,
At the very least none intended,
For you to see,
Can you feel this subjugation I encounter daily?

Worshipping at the syllables that make these words;

Bowing down to the thoughts,
Those force my sublimation,
Still finding the will to fight,
To carry on,
To continue this journey of greatness intended;

Despite,
In spite,

Of those challenges;

For I know no other way,
I know no other means,
Fighting for my survival,
Thriving,
Hoping that someone out there,
You,
Can feel this pain and find meaning in their own,
Perhaps to paint,
Make pottery,
Take a picture,
Or write words just like these;

Moreover, for those that will cast aspersions at me,
Lies,
Manipulations,
Conjecture,
Speculation,
Half-truths,
Vitriol,
Envy,
Jealousy,

Know this,
Fully and without equivocation,
Due to you,

I WILL,

I will move on,
As will you,
I will press on,
As will you,
I will reemerge victorious,
All the while searching,
For a better me,
And you a better you,
Or perhaps you will still live in fear,
However, I will find,
The one I am,
Better,
All the while knowing,
That no matter my flaws,

Shakespearean;

Comedy and tragedy,
(the same be true for you)
That out there somewhere,
Toiling in the Ether,
Is a woman,
Who with nothing more than a smile,
Can free me,
Liberate me,
Temporarily,
From this burden,
And maybe,
Just maybe,
I believe deep down,
That she may hold the key,
Mon Cle,
Mon Key,
To finally accepting,
Me,
As what I am,
A writer,
A teacher,
A lover,
A husband,
A father,
And a truly dedicated liver of life;

And nothing more.

Or perhaps much, much more!

SDM

But The Divine

There is no love,

There is nothing,
But the divine,
And you are;

Divine;

This is our time,

ours,

now,

“You’d be surprised girl…”

The puzzling and incomprehensible,
The great enchantment of conviction,
Without definition,
Fleeting and without standard,
As unique as those who experience it full,
Conceptions, notions,
Real understanding;
There is no love but love,
But love,
Divine,
You!

There is no love,
Other than built on solid foundations,
Trust, understanding, compassion, passion and light,
Strong virtues,
Those are not after thoughts,
Or thoughts at all,
But the actions taken,
In the daily affirmations,
Built on leaps of faith;

And I am,

Leaping;

The mysterious unknown,
That captures physiology,
Chemistry, biology and evolution,
Purpose built,
And neuron driven,
To pheromone realizations,
Those enchant, entice and enthrall,
Love,
Do or do not,
No try.

But the divine,
There is no love,
An ever-growing cascade of tides,
That ebb and flow,
Yet the undercurrent is always there,
Threatening the riptide of emotional tumult,
Lives promised,
When instead it should be life promised;

So long as it is affirmed and uplifted,
My life,
As a leap of faith,
Is yours,
And I have known great jumps,
With no safety net,
Those that have led me to here,
To now,
To you.

But the divinity that I seek,
Is yet at the altar of my existence,
Struggles to define and design my life,
On my terms,
Burdened by my black dog,
Depressions curse,
Though I pray intently and intending,
That love,
Divine,
Will again light my way,
Love and only love.

There is no love,
Where one solely believes,
Without equivocation,
For what is life but a series of compromises,
A lesson learned,
Through heartfelt painful exuberances,
In the loss of self,
I,
Now I and I and I,
Fighting for a destiny I have known,
Manifest,
Since the moment of my birth,
And I will fight,
For you,
For me,
For us.

Now certain that love,
Divine,
Is one, which only the Muses will reveal,
As before has been true,
Divine,
I will bow at the altar of you,
Praising what I know is true,
For I feel your power,
Intense and increasing,
Zeal,
For each other,
And the life we sought,
Now found,
In your eyes,
The prize,
The life we’re living.

As I stand before you,
Imperfect,
Flawed,
Broken,
Battered,
Cracked,
Torn,
Scratched,
HUMAN,
Searching the ethos of my tempestuous entitlements,
Ill deserved,
Divine love,
Agape,
Ambrosia fueled and sound,
Perfectly imperfect,
No love can escape this crown of thorns,
As taken from roses,
Especially,
Love divine.

Shall this fool,
Find divine,
Once again,
The faith,
To love,
You,
For surely I do,
Studied apprehension giving way,
To storied ascension,
As I ascend you,
To that glorious promise,
Of today,
Tomorrow and the next day,
Evermore found,
In the shadow of your smile,
Illuminated by your soul,
Destined to know,
Our quiet secret,
Bequeathed,
Evermore!

SDM

Beauty of it All!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_oOc3Zj0KU

If only we could see each other from the perspective of the other,
Innocent,
Oh that you would see the very picture and personification of love
contained in the view that is your inner shine and outer radiance,
plain for all to see,
yet me to adore and admire.
From within your soul commands the greatest attention as it emanates, fresh:
Imagine the taste of strawberries,
A newly picked mangoe,
the smell of freshly cut grass,
the look of a French masterpiece
and the feel of love as understood by a child:
This is the impact of your souls amazing shine,
Illuminating my darkness,

My black dog,

leashed in;
Peering deep within,
Guiding me toward happiness.

One might think that this is enough to explain
yet this is merely a scratching of the inner surface
while the exterior also delights and intoxicates.
From the tip of your gorgeous toes
to the ends of your magically brown hair,
a new picture of a package rare emerges.

As Doisneau captured lovers in the city of lights,
Paris,
Where my head resides,
with the feel of love caught in single images,
yours is much more than a thousand words,
with the richness of chocolate, milky,
the elegance of truffles,
and the rarity of Fugu.
Your beauty is the realization of every artists desire.

Van Gogh had sunflowers and starry nights,
da Vinci his Mona Lisa,
the Group of Seven the gracious Canadian landscape
while Fellini his films,
But I know a joy they never did –
For I know love as truth, innocence, beauty and light –
Mon Key,
a Muse like none other and these words are but an attempt (in vain)
to seize the essence
that I am fortunate enough to know –
Love,
perfectly imperfect,
by divine design,
I know you and now my life,
Shines,
Through you,
With you,
For you!

SDM

Sender’s Credo

I am an imperfect man.

I am a Writer.

I am deeply engaged with life.

I am troubled and struggling…

But I refuse to give in… I WILL FIGHT!

I am a Warrior Poet.

I will honour and own that title, not as a label, but as universal truth. MINE!

I am LOVE. Love for all but more importantly YOU!

I will honour the bright light inside me – Love will guide my way.

I have been given an extraordinary gift that commands me to share it.

I write not for fortune or fame.

I write because the Universe propels it. The Ether commands it.

I write that another may be moved to laughter or tears, pain or joy and if even one is moved in such a way – I am complete. And you are moved, aren’t you?

I write because I have no choice.

I write because the intoxicating trance takes hold of me.

No longer will I hide in the shadows and needlessly toil as my writing voice develops.

I will share raw talent and work with the Ether as provided by the Ether, The Sirens and The Muses are forces that are catalyst for my eternal greatness.

I am GOOD!

I am a conduit for forces much grander than these words, perhaps even greater, than the Ether itself.

I am matter and dark matter.

I am a voice for the voiceless especially as relates to my struggles with mental health and to leading the life I want to live.

I will write my truth  - brutally – as painful as it is and share it with you that you find beauty and honesty in my experience illuminating your own. That somehow my words, my pain, my joy, my sorrow and my struggle may touch you as a blessing, a lighthouse or a darkened room, allowing you to understand your own plight.

I will be servant to these words in the reflections that I present to the Universe.

I will continue to define whatever style I choose; I choose and I will own that style and call it my own.

I am a literary vanguard in the same way that artists (Writers, Painters, etc) were avant-gardes in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century.

I am the student of the master class in my head, alive, The Lost Generation!

Found

I will write until I die, when these words will be no more, but the words written will live on forever. NON OMNIS MORIAR!

When I die I will have done all I can to write my story and someone other than me will define my legacy.

A legacy which only this week seems more real than ever before. Love helps define me, propel me, uplift and deliver me meaning and purpose. A smile, your smile and all those imminent have reassured me that I am love and I have so much to give. I will give it.

I will give all I have to all of you but none more than my family, nuclear and extended. I will inspire you to think, to become better than you are, better than you thought you could be. I will be who I am, growing, learning, loving, teaching, enriching and leading you to the life you’ve always dreamed of, showing you, that the cave is not the shadows you see and that this wide world is yours for the taking, so go take it.

I will die just as I was born – Imperfect.

SDM

WE are the CHILDREN!

We are the children,
We need not know of the iniquity of the past,
Save that We,
The children,
Will learn and grow,
So that we may right the wrongs that were handed to us,
An intergenerational tyranny that is as old as time itself.

We are the children,
Africans, Asians, North Americans, South Americans and Europeans,
Those hold on our shoulders a weight,
That even Atlas himself could not withstand,
With no alternative,
You,
Our parents,
Adults the world over,
Have failed us,
In that you teach us to be ‘good children,’
And yet, your daily actions,
Are in direct contravention to what you preach,
We’re curious,
Why?

We are the children,
That need to find and develop,
Green technologies,
Settle age old boundary disputes in an age when the world as a whole,
Is more important than a sliver of land,
Yet you fight over it,
You kill and maim and destroy,
Thus, we ask you,
What kind of example are you setting?

We are the children,
Those come together to play,
Leaving behind the folly of race,
For we all are one,
We are a team,
The team,
That will finally put to rest,
The many issues that you’ve left for us,
And we accept your challenge,
Yet bemoan that when you could have acted differently,
We were and are your answer.

We are the children,
Smiling all,
Come together through this ball,
A beautiful football,
(Soccer for you in North America),
To play this game,
That is a metaphor for the coming challenges,
As strikers, keepers, mid fieldsman and defense,
Will rise to meet the coming day,
Heralding a new horizon,
Where peace is not only possible but a reality,
Where environmental holocaust is averted,
Where what makes us different is not nearly as strong,
As what unites us,
And united,
We children say unto,
Watch out,
For our day is coming,
And thus,
So too is the new horizon…

Though we do ask of you,
Don’t mess this world up so bad,
That we can’t mark a new day,
And we entreat you,
To embrace your inner child,
For in that innocence,
You’ll make our job,
That much easier…

We are the children,
Your children,
Begging of you,
A chance,
For a better tomorrow.

We are a force,
And soon we will be reckoned with,

We are YOUR children!

SDM