Misty marsh alive, humming with activity
Furtively felt rather than seen
Incessant life beneath the still, luke-warm waters
Breeding ground for the wide expenses of the Gulf
Beginning of the life cycle
Links in the chain of life--invisible but everpresent
Brown pelicans amassed on one small isle
Plunging headfirst like dive bombers for their brackish food
Can the fathom the lurking catastrophe
Oil gushing up, exploding, bursting out of the earth
Chaos and confusion
Death comes swiftly
Monumental desecretion
On a scale unknown
Not just for fish and birds
But for humankind
Their lives are shattered
and their livelihood
More tragic than Katrina
For then they only lost their homes
Now it's their environment
Boats left empty at the docks
Louisiana--a sportsman's paradise no more
Shrimp and oyster beds
Left untended
For the oil to overflow
Misery in the marsh land
Barrier islands
Inundated with oily scum
No protection left
Apathy of those in charge
Louisianians--left alone once more
To salvage what they can
Incompetence abounds
No contingency plans have been made
Collusion with forces that oversee
No need to fear global warming
Is it a fact--means nohing now
For the apocalypse has already come
May 27, 2010
Sandra Forman Robert
spiralingfree
I EXPRESS MY ACTIONS AND THOUGHTS THROUGH MY POETRY, EROTIC, INTELLECTUAL, CURRENT NEWS, PHILOSOPHIC, SOMETIMES BAWDY
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom
Here are my best-admired and loved people of the 20th century:
LET ONE HUNDRED FLOWERS BLOOM*
Let one hundred flowers bloom:
One for Albert Einstein, the most intelligent brain of the Twentieth Century and for his theory of relativity
One each for the Beatles, who with their revolutionary rock music enraptured and captured the world….their new hairstyle was almost as radical as their music
One for Anais Nin, the Cuban-American diarist, who love life was the fieriest
One for D. H. Lawrence who broke the bonds of propriety, portraying sexual intercourse poetically, not pornographically and for his penetration into the world of pre-Mexico in THE PLUMED SERPENT
One for Henry Miller, the Priapus of literature, for going even further than Lawrence did
One for Chagall, the supreme colorist of his age, who painted lovers floating in the sky, bouquets of flowers, cocks crowing, donkey heads begarlanded, all symbols of love ageless were his lovers, forever young and free!
One for James Joyce and his portrayal of Dublin in one day
One for Nizar Quabbani from Damascus who did not shun...... subjects of women and politics in the Middle Eastern sun....... Say I Love You is poetry very well done
One for Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA saying-- nothing one does in bed is immoral if it helps perpetuate love
One for Richard Bach, writer of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions and One
One for Boris Pasternak and his immortal Lara and DR. ZHIVAGO
One for Margaret Mitchell, the chronicler of the Old South
One for her movie Gone With The Wind directed by Victor Fleming who also brought us The Wizard of Oz
One for Laurance Harvey's star performance in Room at the Top
One for Elvis who shook up America on the Ed Sullivan Show with his wiggily hips and rock music flips
One for Federico Fellini for La Dolce Vita
One for “old blue eyes” Frank Sinatra who I met in Las Vegas
One for Richard Burton for his portrayals of Mark Antony, Hamlet….
……….and King Arthur in Camelot which I saw in New York
One for James Dean for just being sexy and Marlon Brando too
One for Bruce Chatwin and his talk with the aborigines in THE SONGLINES
One for the Bolshoi’s rendition of Spartacus
One for Buddy Bolden………..and his invention of jazz in New Orleans……….may his Dixieland music live forever in the French Quarter………..and around the world
One for Frank Lloyd Wright whose architecture I admire
One for Antonin Gaudi—I wish his sinuous curves and organic flow….
……..would have captured the 20th century………..rather than Wright’s
Functionalism
One for Stephen Hawking, a supreme physicist
One for James Watson, father of the Human Genome Project, and Francis Frick, co-discoverers of the DNA double helix
One for Bill Gates who forever transformed the world we live in with his pc software………………..and our emails……….a nerd who became the richest man in the world
One for Walt Disney and his Disney World
One for Gandhi who freed India
One for Rachmaninoff and his Russian concertos
One each for the trio of Najinsky, Nureyev, and Barishnikov
transforming ballet with their incredible leaps and new interpretations of old renditions
One each for Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, the alpha and omega of golfing
One for Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas, Super Bowl quarterbacks
One for Shaquille O'Neil of LSU and one for Pete Maravitch from the LSU who performed miracles on the basketball court…….and with the New Orleans Jazz
One for Mark Spitz and his five medals in swimming for the Olympics..
……………and his sexy poster
One for Dr. Christian Barnard who performed the first heart transplant
One each for Dr. Sabin and Dr. Salk who saved the world from the
mid-century plague of polio
One for Diego Rivera and his Nude with Calla Lilies
One for Frida Kahlo and her unconquerable spirit
One for Fats Domino and his Rhythm and Blues
One for Willie Nelson and his country-flavored songs
One for Henry Moore and his sculpture with holes……..making negative
Space as charged as the positive kind
One each for Gabriele d’Annunzio for THE FLAME AND William Styron
For SET THIS HOUSE ON FIRE
One for Mario Vargas Llosa for his DEATH IN THE ANDES about Peru
One for Francisco Goldman’s THE LONG NIGHT OF WHITE CHICKENS
About Guatemala
One for Salmon Rushdie for his great satiric writing in THE SATANIC VERSES and THE MOOR'S SIGH and THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET and MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN
One for Ernest Gaines for his A LESSON BEFORE DYING
One for Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, saying--One small step for man--one giant leap for mankind
One for John Glenn, who went into space twice, at age 40 and again at age 77
One for Winston Churchill who led the free world against the forces of Nazism
One for Dwight Eisenhower who planned D-Day and the liberation of Europe
One for John Fitzgerald Kennedy whose inaugural speech contained the immortal lines--Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country
One for Woodrow Wilson who came up with idea of a League of Nations which later became the United Nations…. striving for world peace
One for Madonna who revolutionized sexual mores with her songs and costumes
One for Bob Dylan, the popular poet
One for Maria Callas and Leontine Price and Barbara Sills for their incomparable human voices
One for Diana, everybody’s Princess
One for Brigit Bardot and And God Created Woman
One for Camille Saint-Saens for the creation of his opera SAMSON AND DELILAH
One each for the greatest composers of Italian opera—Puccini and Verdi
One for Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged
One for Jean Aurel and her Clan of the Cave Bear
One for Isadora for just being herself
One for Anna Ahkmatova and Tsvetaeva—those two tragic Russian poetesses
One for Tim Severin and Thor Heyerdahl, explorers of the past
One for Tennessee Williams and his STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
One for John Steinbeck and William Faulkner
One for Carson McCullough and her unforgettable THE THORNBIRDS
One for Elizabeth Taylor for her beauty and spirit
One for John Huston and John Ford for their magnificent movies
Plus Elia Kazan
One for Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart for Casablanca
One for George Lucas for Star Wars
One for Mary Leakey and her work on our ancestors
One for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis for an extraordinary life
One for Mose Allyson
One for Gustav Klimt for the beauty he created,
One each for Dali’s clocks, Munch’s Scream, Andrew Wyeth and Christina’s World and Monet for his Waterlilies
*Mao Tse Tung
LET ONE HUNDRED FLOWERS BLOOM*
Let one hundred flowers bloom:
One for Albert Einstein, the most intelligent brain of the Twentieth Century and for his theory of relativity
One each for the Beatles, who with their revolutionary rock music enraptured and captured the world….their new hairstyle was almost as radical as their music
One for Anais Nin, the Cuban-American diarist, who love life was the fieriest
One for D. H. Lawrence who broke the bonds of propriety, portraying sexual intercourse poetically, not pornographically and for his penetration into the world of pre-Mexico in THE PLUMED SERPENT
One for Henry Miller, the Priapus of literature, for going even further than Lawrence did
One for Chagall, the supreme colorist of his age, who painted lovers floating in the sky, bouquets of flowers, cocks crowing, donkey heads begarlanded, all symbols of love ageless were his lovers, forever young and free!
One for James Joyce and his portrayal of Dublin in one day
One for Nizar Quabbani from Damascus who did not shun...... subjects of women and politics in the Middle Eastern sun....... Say I Love You is poetry very well done
One for Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA saying-- nothing one does in bed is immoral if it helps perpetuate love
One for Richard Bach, writer of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions and One
One for Boris Pasternak and his immortal Lara and DR. ZHIVAGO
One for Margaret Mitchell, the chronicler of the Old South
One for her movie Gone With The Wind directed by Victor Fleming who also brought us The Wizard of Oz
One for Laurance Harvey's star performance in Room at the Top
One for Elvis who shook up America on the Ed Sullivan Show with his wiggily hips and rock music flips
One for Federico Fellini for La Dolce Vita
One for “old blue eyes” Frank Sinatra who I met in Las Vegas
One for Richard Burton for his portrayals of Mark Antony, Hamlet….
……….and King Arthur in Camelot which I saw in New York
One for James Dean for just being sexy and Marlon Brando too
One for Bruce Chatwin and his talk with the aborigines in THE SONGLINES
One for the Bolshoi’s rendition of Spartacus
One for Buddy Bolden………..and his invention of jazz in New Orleans……….may his Dixieland music live forever in the French Quarter………..and around the world
One for Frank Lloyd Wright whose architecture I admire
One for Antonin Gaudi—I wish his sinuous curves and organic flow….
……..would have captured the 20th century………..rather than Wright’s
Functionalism
One for Stephen Hawking, a supreme physicist
One for James Watson, father of the Human Genome Project, and Francis Frick, co-discoverers of the DNA double helix
One for Bill Gates who forever transformed the world we live in with his pc software………………..and our emails……….a nerd who became the richest man in the world
One for Walt Disney and his Disney World
One for Gandhi who freed India
One for Rachmaninoff and his Russian concertos
One each for the trio of Najinsky, Nureyev, and Barishnikov
transforming ballet with their incredible leaps and new interpretations of old renditions
One each for Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, the alpha and omega of golfing
One for Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas, Super Bowl quarterbacks
One for Shaquille O'Neil of LSU and one for Pete Maravitch from the LSU who performed miracles on the basketball court…….and with the New Orleans Jazz
One for Mark Spitz and his five medals in swimming for the Olympics..
……………and his sexy poster
One for Dr. Christian Barnard who performed the first heart transplant
One each for Dr. Sabin and Dr. Salk who saved the world from the
mid-century plague of polio
One for Diego Rivera and his Nude with Calla Lilies
One for Frida Kahlo and her unconquerable spirit
One for Fats Domino and his Rhythm and Blues
One for Willie Nelson and his country-flavored songs
One for Henry Moore and his sculpture with holes……..making negative
Space as charged as the positive kind
One each for Gabriele d’Annunzio for THE FLAME AND William Styron
For SET THIS HOUSE ON FIRE
One for Mario Vargas Llosa for his DEATH IN THE ANDES about Peru
One for Francisco Goldman’s THE LONG NIGHT OF WHITE CHICKENS
About Guatemala
One for Salmon Rushdie for his great satiric writing in THE SATANIC VERSES and THE MOOR'S SIGH and THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET and MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN
One for Ernest Gaines for his A LESSON BEFORE DYING
One for Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, saying--One small step for man--one giant leap for mankind
One for John Glenn, who went into space twice, at age 40 and again at age 77
One for Winston Churchill who led the free world against the forces of Nazism
One for Dwight Eisenhower who planned D-Day and the liberation of Europe
One for John Fitzgerald Kennedy whose inaugural speech contained the immortal lines--Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country
One for Woodrow Wilson who came up with idea of a League of Nations which later became the United Nations…. striving for world peace
One for Madonna who revolutionized sexual mores with her songs and costumes
One for Bob Dylan, the popular poet
One for Maria Callas and Leontine Price and Barbara Sills for their incomparable human voices
One for Diana, everybody’s Princess
One for Brigit Bardot and And God Created Woman
One for Camille Saint-Saens for the creation of his opera SAMSON AND DELILAH
One each for the greatest composers of Italian opera—Puccini and Verdi
One for Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged
One for Jean Aurel and her Clan of the Cave Bear
One for Isadora for just being herself
One for Anna Ahkmatova and Tsvetaeva—those two tragic Russian poetesses
One for Tim Severin and Thor Heyerdahl, explorers of the past
One for Tennessee Williams and his STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
One for John Steinbeck and William Faulkner
One for Carson McCullough and her unforgettable THE THORNBIRDS
One for Elizabeth Taylor for her beauty and spirit
One for John Huston and John Ford for their magnificent movies
Plus Elia Kazan
One for Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart for Casablanca
One for George Lucas for Star Wars
One for Mary Leakey and her work on our ancestors
One for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis for an extraordinary life
One for Mose Allyson
One for Gustav Klimt for the beauty he created,
One each for Dali’s clocks, Munch’s Scream, Andrew Wyeth and Christina’s World and Monet for his Waterlilies
*Mao Tse Tung
Sunday, August 26, 2007
I'M LEAVING A TRAIL OF POEMS
I AM LEAVING A TRAIL OF POEMS BEHIND ME AS I GO*
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Cycles of love poems dedicated to my loves
I hope my men will dream of me for years
Remembrance of me may even bring tears
Of the treasures and thrills that I did bestow
As we soared in the air like a swirl of white doves
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Epic poems singing of Lilith, Simonetta, and Sandra, too
Love sonnets that end happily
Bawdy poems that stir merrily
Mock-epics of my love affairs where I couldn't say no
This wondrous collection of poems unknown but true
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Will they make me memorable in times to come
Will readers appreciate my humor and wit
Will they get all I'm trying to get
They're an examination of all that I know
A masterpiece of my life which I lightly hum
From CARNIVAL EVENING BY Linda Pastan
2004
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Cycles of love poems dedicated to my loves
I hope my men will dream of me for years
Remembrance of me may even bring tears
Of the treasures and thrills that I did bestow
As we soared in the air like a swirl of white doves
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Epic poems singing of Lilith, Simonetta, and Sandra, too
Love sonnets that end happily
Bawdy poems that stir merrily
Mock-epics of my love affairs where I couldn't say no
This wondrous collection of poems unknown but true
I am leaving a trail of poems behind me as I go
Will they make me memorable in times to come
Will readers appreciate my humor and wit
Will they get all I'm trying to get
They're an examination of all that I know
A masterpiece of my life which I lightly hum
From CARNIVAL EVENING BY Linda Pastan
2004
CIRCUMSION
CIRCUMCISION
When I queried my obstetrician
On how long circumcision had been around
In the USA
His reply was, Since the time of Moses!
I later learned the oldest record for circumcision
Comes from a royal Egyptian tomb
Dating to 2400 B.C.
Was this the time of Moses
When I inquired of nurse Marilyn Milos
Founder of NOCIRC, she replied
In this foreskin-phobic, sexually sick society
We want to market a normal penis
When I questioned Jerry Warner of Baton Rouge
His reply was even more emphatic
I'm an intact male! Nature knows best!
He said almost frantic
From Howard Sterns I got this exclamation:
On the subject of circumcision
It's barbarism and butchery
That was his final decision
From a legal point of view, lawyer David Llewellyn
The Johnnie Cochran of the Circumcised
Proclaimed circumcision is a two-billion dollar industry
New tactics have to be devised
The law against female genital mutilation
Denies equal protection for boys, he surmised
But countered Dr. Edgar Schoen, head of the 1989
Task Force on Circumcision, who being routine circumcised
States this is the best protection under the sun
With decreased amounts of urinary tract infections
HIV and penile cancer, this can be done
Do it for every son
Dr. James Roberts, Tulane professor emeritus of urology
Favored circumcision and was involved in the AAP 1989 policy reversal
Working at the Tulane Primate Center and using
Discarded foreskins from local hospitals, is this controversial
He determined that the same bacteria
Which causes kidney infections
Is the same that adheres to the foreskin
Remove the skin and remove the risk! –it has some defections
Going back in time, I read that Dr. Lewis Sayre
19th century president of the AMA
Claimed that circumcision could cure everything
From paralysis to sleeplessness in his day
Dr. Sayre proposed clitoridectomies for those
O, no, we women escaped a much worst fate
Nervous conditions of 19th century women
Let’s hope in the USA, we continue to escape it to this date
An extreme view was espoused by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
As part of the 19th war on masturbation
He recommended circumcision without anesthesia
To combat the dreaded activity in this nation
Saying, The pain attending the operation
Will have a salutary effect upon the mind
Especially if connected with the idea of punishment
What an abomination
The ancient Greeks were astonished to learn
What the Jews were doing to their young boys
But for Jews and Muslims, too
They treat the ceremony with joy
Circumcision is a vital sign of identity
A covenant with their gods, Yahweh and Allah
A commandment which God gave to Abraham
They follow: Circumcise yourselves, every male among you
I asked Rabbi David Goldstein about circumcision
And he states that as a mitzvah, this incision
Is no issue, it's not a negation
Rather, it's an absolute and sacred obligation
In Christianity, Jesus, as a Jew
Was circumcised on the eighth day
Following his birth
That day is a feast day, for Christians on this earth
According to early Christian legends
Christ's foreskin was preserved
And handed down from pope to pope
It having great healing powers
The tribal marking of the American white middle class male today
Are we in America to be the only health-conscious country
Or are we sanctioning mass mutilation of our male population
This subject, this problem will not go away
Speaking as a woman who has had sex
With both kinds, circumcised and un
I can't tell the difference
Penises are penises and so much fun
2002
When I queried my obstetrician
On how long circumcision had been around
In the USA
His reply was, Since the time of Moses!
I later learned the oldest record for circumcision
Comes from a royal Egyptian tomb
Dating to 2400 B.C.
Was this the time of Moses
When I inquired of nurse Marilyn Milos
Founder of NOCIRC, she replied
In this foreskin-phobic, sexually sick society
We want to market a normal penis
When I questioned Jerry Warner of Baton Rouge
His reply was even more emphatic
I'm an intact male! Nature knows best!
He said almost frantic
From Howard Sterns I got this exclamation:
On the subject of circumcision
It's barbarism and butchery
That was his final decision
From a legal point of view, lawyer David Llewellyn
The Johnnie Cochran of the Circumcised
Proclaimed circumcision is a two-billion dollar industry
New tactics have to be devised
The law against female genital mutilation
Denies equal protection for boys, he surmised
But countered Dr. Edgar Schoen, head of the 1989
Task Force on Circumcision, who being routine circumcised
States this is the best protection under the sun
With decreased amounts of urinary tract infections
HIV and penile cancer, this can be done
Do it for every son
Dr. James Roberts, Tulane professor emeritus of urology
Favored circumcision and was involved in the AAP 1989 policy reversal
Working at the Tulane Primate Center and using
Discarded foreskins from local hospitals, is this controversial
He determined that the same bacteria
Which causes kidney infections
Is the same that adheres to the foreskin
Remove the skin and remove the risk! –it has some defections
Going back in time, I read that Dr. Lewis Sayre
19th century president of the AMA
Claimed that circumcision could cure everything
From paralysis to sleeplessness in his day
Dr. Sayre proposed clitoridectomies for those
O, no, we women escaped a much worst fate
Nervous conditions of 19th century women
Let’s hope in the USA, we continue to escape it to this date
An extreme view was espoused by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
As part of the 19th war on masturbation
He recommended circumcision without anesthesia
To combat the dreaded activity in this nation
Saying, The pain attending the operation
Will have a salutary effect upon the mind
Especially if connected with the idea of punishment
What an abomination
The ancient Greeks were astonished to learn
What the Jews were doing to their young boys
But for Jews and Muslims, too
They treat the ceremony with joy
Circumcision is a vital sign of identity
A covenant with their gods, Yahweh and Allah
A commandment which God gave to Abraham
They follow: Circumcise yourselves, every male among you
I asked Rabbi David Goldstein about circumcision
And he states that as a mitzvah, this incision
Is no issue, it's not a negation
Rather, it's an absolute and sacred obligation
In Christianity, Jesus, as a Jew
Was circumcised on the eighth day
Following his birth
That day is a feast day, for Christians on this earth
According to early Christian legends
Christ's foreskin was preserved
And handed down from pope to pope
It having great healing powers
The tribal marking of the American white middle class male today
Are we in America to be the only health-conscious country
Or are we sanctioning mass mutilation of our male population
This subject, this problem will not go away
Speaking as a woman who has had sex
With both kinds, circumcised and un
I can't tell the difference
Penises are penises and so much fun
2002
SREY RATH
SREY RATH
YOUNG, BEWILDERED, PREY OF EVIL
VICTIM OF 21ST CENTURY VERSION
OF SLAVERY, I WILL TELL YOUR STORY
WHO WILL LISTEN? WHO WILL CARE?
YOUNG GIRLS OF FIFTEEN
DESCENDANTS OF POL POT’S REGIME
WHO WILL PROTECT THEM? WHO WILL HEED
THEIR PLIGHT? NICHOLAS KRISTOF
AND I WILL. ARE THERE ANY OTHERS?
SREY WANTED TO GET A GIFT FOR HER MOTHER
TO CELEBRATE THE CAMBODIAN
NEW YEAR, TO THAILAND SHE WENT FOR TWO MONTHS
TRAFFICKERS, TRAFFICKERS IN HUMAN FLESH
HAD OTHER PLANS FOR HER
AND HER FOUR FEMALE FRIENDS, TAKING THEM
TO KUALA LUMPUR, TO A KARAOKE LOUNGE WHICH
WAS A BROTHEL, INSTEAD OF A
DISHWASHER, SREY WAS ORDERED TO HAVE SEX
HELL BEGAN FOR THESE GIRLS WHO WERE LOCKED
UP, WORKED FOR FIFTEEN HOURS
A DAY AS PROSTITUTES, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK
NEVER PAID WERE THEY, JUST GIVEN FOOD BUT
NOT TOO MUCH AS THE CUSTOMERS
WEREN’T ATTRACTED TO FAT GIRLS, THEY COULDN’T
EVER USE CONDOMS, THINK OF THIS LIFE AMERICAN
TEENAGERS WHEN YOU’RE MAD
AT YOUR PARENTS FOR TRIVIAL THINGS IN COMPARISON
HOW LUCKY YOU ARE, YOU WHO ARE DEPRESSED
WHO LIVE IN LUXURIOUS HOMES,
HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD TO EAT, ALWAYS DIETING
THINK OF SREY RATH AND HER FRIENDS, YOU LIVE
ON THE SAME PLANET BUT NOT IN
THE SAME WORLD. IS IT A MATTER OF LUCK?
THE GIRLS WOULD BE MURDERED IF THEY TRIED TO ESCAPE
BUT ESCAPE WAS THEIR ONLY HOPE
BRAVELY, COURAGEOUSLY, DARINGLY, BOLDLY, AUDACIOUSLY
THEY PRIED A BOARD OFF FROM A DRYING RACK
PUT IT OUT THE WINDOW TO THE
ADJOURNING BUILDING AND CREPT ACROSS IT
TEN FLOORS UP, DOES THIS MAKE THE FEAR FACTOR
LAUGHABLE, THEY KNEW THEY
COULD DIE BUT THEY’D DIE IN THE BROTHEL AS WELL
MAKE IT THEY ALL DID AND TOOK THE ELEVATOR DOWN
OUTSIDE THEY FOUND A POLICE STATION
WITH SOME OF THE WORST SCUM YET ON THIS BLEEDING PLANET
AT FIRST THE POLICEMAN TURNED THEM AWAY BUT LATER
ARRESTED THEM FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
SREY SPENT A YEAR IN A MALAYSIAN PRISON, UPON HER
RELEASE, MORE NIGHTMARES ENSUED AS A MALAYSIAN POLICEMAN
SOLD HER TO A TAXI CAB DRIVER WHO SOLD HER
TO A THAI MAN OF LAW WHO SOLD HER TO A THAI WHORE HOUSE
SREY WAS THANKFULLY ABLE TO BREAK OUT AGAIN AND SUCCESSFULLY
MADE IT HOME TO HER ANXIOUS PARENTS. AMERICAN
AID FOR CAMBORDIA SPENT FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS, BUYING FOR HER
A CART WITH VARIOUS TRINKETS, NECKLACES, BELTS TO SELL. SREY IS
NOW AN ENTREPRENEUR MAKING MONEY FOR
HERSELF AND HER FAMILY. THIS STORY HAS A HAPPY ENDING
NOT LIKE SOME WHERE THE GIRLS HAVE TO REVERT TO SELLING
THEMSELVES AGAIN. THINK TWICE WHEN YOU
SEE A BEAMING FACE OFFERING YOU SOMETHING TO BUY
PURCHASE A FEW TRINKETS FROM AS MANY AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SAVING THEM
FROM, YOU’RE GIVING THEM A PRICELESS COMMODITY, THE ABILITY
TO CHOOSE WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR LIFE, FREEDOM FROM
COERCION FROM PREDATORS WHO PLAGUE
THEM, A CHANCE TO LIVE, BE FREE, WITH THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
IS THIS ASKING TOO MUCH? WE NEED TO EMANCIPATE THOUSANDS
OF GIRLS LIVING CAGED UP AS ANIMALS
FOR THE PLEASURES OF MONEY-PAYING MEN AS THEIR CLIENTS
AND THE EVIL PURSUERS WHO LURE, CAPTIVATE, CAPTURE THEM,
THE INNOCENT, NAÏVE YOUNGS GIRLS OF THE
THIRD WORLD WHO DESPERATELY CRY OUT FOR OUR HELP
Thanks To Nicholas Kristof for this story I read in the New York Times on January 26, 2005.
I have borrowed some words and phrases from your amazing piece of journalism.
YOUNG, BEWILDERED, PREY OF EVIL
VICTIM OF 21ST CENTURY VERSION
OF SLAVERY, I WILL TELL YOUR STORY
WHO WILL LISTEN? WHO WILL CARE?
YOUNG GIRLS OF FIFTEEN
DESCENDANTS OF POL POT’S REGIME
WHO WILL PROTECT THEM? WHO WILL HEED
THEIR PLIGHT? NICHOLAS KRISTOF
AND I WILL. ARE THERE ANY OTHERS?
SREY WANTED TO GET A GIFT FOR HER MOTHER
TO CELEBRATE THE CAMBODIAN
NEW YEAR, TO THAILAND SHE WENT FOR TWO MONTHS
TRAFFICKERS, TRAFFICKERS IN HUMAN FLESH
HAD OTHER PLANS FOR HER
AND HER FOUR FEMALE FRIENDS, TAKING THEM
TO KUALA LUMPUR, TO A KARAOKE LOUNGE WHICH
WAS A BROTHEL, INSTEAD OF A
DISHWASHER, SREY WAS ORDERED TO HAVE SEX
HELL BEGAN FOR THESE GIRLS WHO WERE LOCKED
UP, WORKED FOR FIFTEEN HOURS
A DAY AS PROSTITUTES, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK
NEVER PAID WERE THEY, JUST GIVEN FOOD BUT
NOT TOO MUCH AS THE CUSTOMERS
WEREN’T ATTRACTED TO FAT GIRLS, THEY COULDN’T
EVER USE CONDOMS, THINK OF THIS LIFE AMERICAN
TEENAGERS WHEN YOU’RE MAD
AT YOUR PARENTS FOR TRIVIAL THINGS IN COMPARISON
HOW LUCKY YOU ARE, YOU WHO ARE DEPRESSED
WHO LIVE IN LUXURIOUS HOMES,
HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD TO EAT, ALWAYS DIETING
THINK OF SREY RATH AND HER FRIENDS, YOU LIVE
ON THE SAME PLANET BUT NOT IN
THE SAME WORLD. IS IT A MATTER OF LUCK?
THE GIRLS WOULD BE MURDERED IF THEY TRIED TO ESCAPE
BUT ESCAPE WAS THEIR ONLY HOPE
BRAVELY, COURAGEOUSLY, DARINGLY, BOLDLY, AUDACIOUSLY
THEY PRIED A BOARD OFF FROM A DRYING RACK
PUT IT OUT THE WINDOW TO THE
ADJOURNING BUILDING AND CREPT ACROSS IT
TEN FLOORS UP, DOES THIS MAKE THE FEAR FACTOR
LAUGHABLE, THEY KNEW THEY
COULD DIE BUT THEY’D DIE IN THE BROTHEL AS WELL
MAKE IT THEY ALL DID AND TOOK THE ELEVATOR DOWN
OUTSIDE THEY FOUND A POLICE STATION
WITH SOME OF THE WORST SCUM YET ON THIS BLEEDING PLANET
AT FIRST THE POLICEMAN TURNED THEM AWAY BUT LATER
ARRESTED THEM FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
SREY SPENT A YEAR IN A MALAYSIAN PRISON, UPON HER
RELEASE, MORE NIGHTMARES ENSUED AS A MALAYSIAN POLICEMAN
SOLD HER TO A TAXI CAB DRIVER WHO SOLD HER
TO A THAI MAN OF LAW WHO SOLD HER TO A THAI WHORE HOUSE
SREY WAS THANKFULLY ABLE TO BREAK OUT AGAIN AND SUCCESSFULLY
MADE IT HOME TO HER ANXIOUS PARENTS. AMERICAN
AID FOR CAMBORDIA SPENT FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS, BUYING FOR HER
A CART WITH VARIOUS TRINKETS, NECKLACES, BELTS TO SELL. SREY IS
NOW AN ENTREPRENEUR MAKING MONEY FOR
HERSELF AND HER FAMILY. THIS STORY HAS A HAPPY ENDING
NOT LIKE SOME WHERE THE GIRLS HAVE TO REVERT TO SELLING
THEMSELVES AGAIN. THINK TWICE WHEN YOU
SEE A BEAMING FACE OFFERING YOU SOMETHING TO BUY
PURCHASE A FEW TRINKETS FROM AS MANY AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SAVING THEM
FROM, YOU’RE GIVING THEM A PRICELESS COMMODITY, THE ABILITY
TO CHOOSE WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR LIFE, FREEDOM FROM
COERCION FROM PREDATORS WHO PLAGUE
THEM, A CHANCE TO LIVE, BE FREE, WITH THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
IS THIS ASKING TOO MUCH? WE NEED TO EMANCIPATE THOUSANDS
OF GIRLS LIVING CAGED UP AS ANIMALS
FOR THE PLEASURES OF MONEY-PAYING MEN AS THEIR CLIENTS
AND THE EVIL PURSUERS WHO LURE, CAPTIVATE, CAPTURE THEM,
THE INNOCENT, NAÏVE YOUNGS GIRLS OF THE
THIRD WORLD WHO DESPERATELY CRY OUT FOR OUR HELP
Thanks To Nicholas Kristof for this story I read in the New York Times on January 26, 2005.
I have borrowed some words and phrases from your amazing piece of journalism.
DUA KLAHID ASWAD
Du’a, O, Du’a,
You died for love, stoned to death,
Stoned to death by relatives because
You had eloped with your love, what
A perverted Romeo and Juliet story,
Du’a was a Kurd, a Yazidi teenager,
But eighteen years of age, the Sunni
Cleric, who converted her to Islam
And also performed the marriage, told
Her it was safe to return to Beshiqa,
Her village, to be with her family, but
Word got around about this impure
Relationship, her relatives and members
Of the community, who were outraged,
They marched to her father’s home and
Persuaded him to release her to them,
And then proceeded to stone here, yelling
And shouting out of their minds, the
Authorities did nothing to stop them as
The scene was videotaped on cell phone
Cameras and shone around the world,
Retaliations have been fierce by al-Qaida
Executing twenty Yazidi taken from a bus
And then four suicide bombings took place
Simultaneously on August 14, 2007, killing
175 people, I will memorialize you
Duaa Khalid Aswad
A Yazidi martyr, your religion doesn’t
Believe in evil, sin, damnation or the
Devil, I wonder how they will explain
What happened to you, the religion
Also doesn’t condone stoning, it is led
Here on earth by the chief Archangel,
Malak Taus, the Peacock Angel, who
Rules with the six others, the breaking
Of divine law is expiated by way of
Metampsychosis, transmigration of souls,
As souls attain progressive purification
Of their spirits
August 14, 2007
You died for love, stoned to death,
Stoned to death by relatives because
You had eloped with your love, what
A perverted Romeo and Juliet story,
Du’a was a Kurd, a Yazidi teenager,
But eighteen years of age, the Sunni
Cleric, who converted her to Islam
And also performed the marriage, told
Her it was safe to return to Beshiqa,
Her village, to be with her family, but
Word got around about this impure
Relationship, her relatives and members
Of the community, who were outraged,
They marched to her father’s home and
Persuaded him to release her to them,
And then proceeded to stone here, yelling
And shouting out of their minds, the
Authorities did nothing to stop them as
The scene was videotaped on cell phone
Cameras and shone around the world,
Retaliations have been fierce by al-Qaida
Executing twenty Yazidi taken from a bus
And then four suicide bombings took place
Simultaneously on August 14, 2007, killing
175 people, I will memorialize you
Duaa Khalid Aswad
A Yazidi martyr, your religion doesn’t
Believe in evil, sin, damnation or the
Devil, I wonder how they will explain
What happened to you, the religion
Also doesn’t condone stoning, it is led
Here on earth by the chief Archangel,
Malak Taus, the Peacock Angel, who
Rules with the six others, the breaking
Of divine law is expiated by way of
Metampsychosis, transmigration of souls,
As souls attain progressive purification
Of their spirits
August 14, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
THAT ONE LOST CHORD DIVINE
I have sought,*
But seek it vainly, that one lost chord divine,*
The one by which thy wouldst ere now be
Mine, by all that’s been fashioned, wrought
It should be so, but alas, I know it in my
Heart, such a fantasy, will never be, we
Shall remain evermore separated, apart,
My spirit to such rapturous states would
Ascend, when I was naïve and trusted in
Your word, but at present, those songs I
Sang, go unheard, unfortunately, I am at
The bitter end, alas, never to dwell in that
Glorious, magnificent realm, no celestial
Blue eyes, nor mirthful laugh to overwhelm
*Mary Francis Ronald
August 21, 2007
But seek it vainly, that one lost chord divine,*
The one by which thy wouldst ere now be
Mine, by all that’s been fashioned, wrought
It should be so, but alas, I know it in my
Heart, such a fantasy, will never be, we
Shall remain evermore separated, apart,
My spirit to such rapturous states would
Ascend, when I was naïve and trusted in
Your word, but at present, those songs I
Sang, go unheard, unfortunately, I am at
The bitter end, alas, never to dwell in that
Glorious, magnificent realm, no celestial
Blue eyes, nor mirthful laugh to overwhelm
*Mary Francis Ronald
August 21, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
THE FAR SHORE A MOIST ABSTRACTION
The far shore,*
A moist abstraction, mistily, like a mirage,*
Can we ever reach this mysterious site,
Whose scope and spread we know not of,
The hidden, the unforeseen, the future,
Best we do not know—what is in store,
Events can come at you as a swift barrage,
Oftentimes you can feel the sting of a bite,
Or the gentle nudge of a sudden shove,
Better to bind your wounds, bandage, suture,
Then to go out in the wilderness unprepared,
Hoping that this time you will be spared,
But for me I am always willing to take a chance,
That is the beauty of a life lived for romance
*White on White by Mark Abbey
August 15, 2007
The far shore,*
A moist abstraction, mistily, like a mirage,*
Can we ever reach this mysterious site,
Whose scope and spread we know not of,
The hidden, the unforeseen, the future,
Best we do not know—what is in store,
Events can come at you as a swift barrage,
Oftentimes you can feel the sting of a bite,
Or the gentle nudge of a sudden shove,
Better to bind your wounds, bandage, suture,
Then to go out in the wilderness unprepared,
Hoping that this time you will be spared,
But for me I am always willing to take a chance,
That is the beauty of a life lived for romance
*White on White by Mark Abbey
August 15, 2007
Friday, January 14, 2005
Fate Whose Slave I Never Was
Fate, whose slave I never was*
And henceforth—shall never be
I shall chart my own course, does
An eagle obey another bird’s command
As he flies majestically along his
Own current, or a crab in the golden sand
Bow to other crustaceans as he comes
Onto the shore, or a ram on the crags of
Mountain heights, searching for some
Scraggly piece of grass, or the polar bear
Numbed in frozen Artic waters fighting for
His fish, like them, I am free to choose, to dare
Destiny’s path in my life, and never regret
What I have chosen, and wonder what lies
Ahead, ceaselessly, defying, denying kismet
* MERANI by Nicoloz Baratashvili
And henceforth—shall never be
I shall chart my own course, does
An eagle obey another bird’s command
As he flies majestically along his
Own current, or a crab in the golden sand
Bow to other crustaceans as he comes
Onto the shore, or a ram on the crags of
Mountain heights, searching for some
Scraggly piece of grass, or the polar bear
Numbed in frozen Artic waters fighting for
His fish, like them, I am free to choose, to dare
Destiny’s path in my life, and never regret
What I have chosen, and wonder what lies
Ahead, ceaselessly, defying, denying kismet
* MERANI by Nicoloz Baratashvili
Monday, January 10, 2005
BANGLADESH
Your nationhood is young—yet—
Already—it is compromised—
What a toll your republic took—
Three million lives, three million—
Fighting for a shared—Bengali—heritage—
A communal language, culture, literature—
Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian—
A secular, democratic, socialist country—
Was formed in nineteen seventy-one—
Your geography encompasses the delta—
Of the sacred river Ganges—
Your geography encounters mammoth floods—
Sometimes taking the lives of over—
One hundred thousand people—
You retain People’s Republic, not Islamic
Freedom of religion, freedom of speech—
A fatwa issued on Taslima Nisreen—
Lajja on you, leaders of Bangladesh—
Women Prime Ministers allow abuse of women—
Journalists Without Borders condemns you—
Never let fundamentalists rule!
March, 2004
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