The Sacrifice of Leaders

Somewhere in Israel
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in Iran
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in America
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in Palestine
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in Pakistan
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in Korea
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

Somewhere in Rwanda
the little boy asked,
"Did you hear what our leader said?
He said the people over there
won't rest until were dead.
No, not until we're dead."

So all the little boys
grabbed their guns and fought.
Each and everyone
died when he got shot.
Now they all lay to rest
with medals on their chests
and their leaders say,
to this very day,
"The people over there won't rest until you're dead.
No, not until all of you are dead."

I scratch my head.

Tug-o-War (I'm done)

spend your money to get help
spend your money to get help
because the bank won't leave you alone
call me dead meat
i'll just get goin

remind me, if you will
the day it all fell apart
and the hours you spent telling me
every way you felt
i'll just get goin
keep your things

it comes down to this
i can't afford you and
i'm sick of
arguments
chastizements
and accusations
dead meat's worth losin
keep your things

the difference is this
and this alone:
the men you trust,
i don't
well there's no reconciling
this

i'm dropping the rope
i've tugged long enough
don't fall down

School

In second grade I was told, "We're gonna try you in the advanced math class." I sat in a chair and was handed the same assignment as the other students who had been in the advanced class for a year. The teacher walked around and watched everybody. Thirty minutes later, they told me never mind.
In sixth grade, the "graduating" sixth grade classes were told to write their life goals. My goal was to beat Michael Johnson's 200 and 400 meter track records. My teacher said that couldn't happen, "because black people have an extra muscle in their legs that makes them run faster." Curious the accuracy of that statement, at that point I wondered, "Well, why'd you ask me to set a goal?"
In 8th grade, my class had an extended lesson in Poetry. By the end, I received the "Poet Who Didn't Know It" award. I thought to myself, "I thought I was poetic enough. Jokes are just easier to get by on. They didn't know it." The following week we moved onto a different lesson and poetry was never discussed again.
In high school, my English teacher assigned a project to write a poem in the shape of something. A Concrete Poem. Students in my class wrote love poems in the shapes of hearts, Christian poems in the shapes of lower-case T's, biographical poems in the shape of their hands, so forth. I wrote a poem about a man walking down a narrowing hallway with a ceiling that angled lower and lower as he moved forward. By the end, after the verses and lines illustrated him crouching, crawling, and snaking on his stomach, he was finally, "Alone." I put "Alone" on its own page. I was given a C. After discussing the grade, my teacher told me she understood, and the grade would remain.
However, my creative writing teacher in high school told me "She's an idiot." She also told me that the other boy in my creative writing class, whom I thought was onto something with his writing; she said he didn't know poetry, he only used big words. She taught me a lot.
I had another teacher I would hang with after school and discuss life and politics and social matters for hours after the bell rang. We still get together on occasion and have long, winding conversations over coffee.
These two teachers gave me most of what I got out of my 20-year school career.
So, was it worth it? I met a lot of people and the whole experience led me to where I am today. I must say, though, there's a lot of riffraff - not the kids disinterested in school, not the "hoodlums", not the trouble makers - but there's a lot of riffraff teachers to get through to find any worth a damn.
How important is school? Don't ask me. I have no faith in it.

Four Brief Thoughts

The ghost of knowledge
is possibility. Untried possibility
is a life in vain.
Knowledge, always prepared for capture,
must be savored as a tenderloin,
while shared as a buffet.


The cloud of birds
that swoosh mid-air, collectively, indistinct,
I can perceive, yet bane to comprehend.


The curiosity of Life
is not that man eres or does evil,
but that man, by a larger margin,
judges him.


I think on God
and live by the Spirit I perceive to be that God.
I can do no better.

Why You Gotta...?

i don't ask for much
i don't need a lot
what i want i got
so why you gotta drag on me?

you got what you want
but not as happy as me
it's not my fault you're not happy
so why you gotta drag on me?

I don't want a music video
i don't need a record deal
i just need t'afford my next meal
why you gotta drag on me?


why you gotta drag on me?
why you gotta drag on me?
i'm just doin things the way i know how,
so, why you gotta bring me down?


i don't care too much about the market
i don't care much for politics
i live life to get my kicks
so why you gotta drag on me?

i don't ask anything from you
i just don't care what you do
i give you a song, you ask me for two
why you gotta drag on me?

i just want to meet new friends
i just want to see new things
i don't ask you to give me anything
so why you gotta drag on me?

this is all i know
this is the way i want to go
when i start to suck, you tell me to blow
why you gotta drag on me?

are you sad that i'm bigger
than what you believe in
are you sad that i know
that your life don't help my soul
i aint trying to be mean
i just gotta know
why you gotta drag on me?