Episode 35 WAKING UP
In the last year over half 1 million Americans have died from Covid. This is more than American service people died in all the wars since 1900. We can celebrate the power of science, but we have nothing to celebrate regarding the power of humanity to protect our fellow human beings, our precious earth and it's biodiversity.
LET’S WAKE UP to this Global reality and take action!
ANNIVERSARIES
Jonathan's birthday was a few days ago
The anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic.
This week was also the 10th anniversary
Of the beginning of the Syrian civil war.
We may be winning the pandemic war
And yet we have closed eyes
to the wars around the globe
To the killing of so many children
to the psychic damage of generations
Syria, Mozambique, Myanmar
The world is allowing the war culture
A culture of religious killing
Forgetting the glory of the heart
Forgetting the connection of our spirits
People with less morality than animals
Apex species kill for food
People are killing for power and money
How do we stop and create change?
Here, sitting in safety, I cry
I cry at the death and destruction
I cry for the parents and the orphans
I cry for the pain and the fear
I cry at my own helplessness and hopelessness to create change.
Please help me see a way
Help us all come together
So we move forward towards peace
Towards love and caring
Towards knowing there is enough for all
Towards reconciliation and tolerance
Towards a world religion of the one heart and one spirit.
STILL SEARCHING
I do wonder why I wander around
Seeking some special experience
Some powerful insights
Inspiring and revealing
That keeps complexity
Of people and things
From imploding and exploding.
More and more than it is already.
Then I noticed I am breathing,
With billions of others
Human beings, animals, mammals
Reptiles, fish, birds
Spineless and skeletal
Winged, two Legged, four legged.
feathered, Furry, scaly, smooth.
We are all bound together
By the air we breathe today
In the air we have been breathing from generations past,
Yet to be inhaled by generations in the future.
WHAT MAKES TRUTH WORTHWHILE?
What makes truth worthwhile?
Is it the recipe for rice pudding
That is truly delicious.
Is it the stories of heroes
Working to save peoples lives?
Is it the news of politicians
Harassing women hoping for sex
Not all truth is worthwhile knowing
Or hearing or seeing.
After all we are allowing it
To affect our consciousness
So it could be a love story or a horror movie
Which do you choose?
What brings me closer to joy, Love, peace, contentment?
The poetry of saints or CNN?
Or a bagel with a perfectly ripe avocado
smothered with virgin olive oil and garlic salt.
BOXES, MORE BOXES
There they are all our old cameras,
50 years of history
the film cameras,
from Kodak to Rollieflex
From Leica to Canon
from Agfa to Polaroid.
The transformation to digital
Canon point and shoot,
Nikons from 5 to 25 megapixels
my trusty pocket sized Panasonic
can i let them go?
Technology keeps moving on
I love black and white
The pure simplicity of the play of sun and shadow
Sparkling eyes and dark earth
Puffy clouds in wheat fields
Walkers, fathers and mothers and babies
When life was simple too.
Information was passed on 1 to 1,
Or in the weekly or daily papers.
I remember those two years in India
sending and receiving airmail
folded letters on very thin pale blue paper,
The phone system that rarely worked
Giving time to be alone and in community
The community of seekers, going inside
The Outside world was irrelevant to the task at hand.
Now we are in breaking news.
That breaks the silence of the mind
Beep beep notification
With the shock of this disaster
Or occasionally the story of a hero
Or brilliant technology that saves the world.
And still humanity continues
to mix up love and cruelty.
HERON HAIKU TRILOGY
Wait said the heron
Who in the world are you
Pointing that at me?
perching on one leg
Its tri-colored body
ready to catch fish
Hanging on the wall
Now its moment of glory
Is here for ever.
©MartinStrasmore2021