Look and See

Was it October when Venus and Jupiter and the moon were in a tight triangle
Seen from my commuter car crossing the bridge leaving Manhattan?
Since then I’ve looked every clear night at the southwestern sky
And seen the evening star is there, same place, same time.

It’s March now. Who knew? Has it been there my whole life,
Proving again we only see what we are looking for?
Has it been sitting there for all of human history and long before,
Watching over us no matter if we look back or not?

Such sights are my solace, my place of peace.
But I don’t live with my head in the clouds.
I am one of many and we all touch each other.
I live in a community. We all need each other.

Here on earth last October brought us a financial panic
And the ripple effect is more like a global economic tsunami
That is sweeping away all human constructs of wealth
In the terrible deepening crisis of capitalism.

Now spring is arriving in the natural world nonetheless,
Unperturbed by the collapse of artificial systems.
And we humans can see better what transpires in society
Is built on false assumptions of permanence.

Bang! And the planes crash into the financial center of the infidels.
Now the figures are leaping to escape the flames, thudding dead below.
Shroom! And the buildings collapse, vaporizing everyone into a giant cloud.
This is shock and awe. This is terrorism.

Last October’s crash was caused by decadence and greed,
Not some foreign ideology. And now the world economy
Is collapsing like those buildings with all of us inside.
You can smell the fear. This is the death spiral.

Is there going to be a Captain Sullenberger leader
Landing a miracle recovery on the Hudson?
Not if we all are frozen in fear when the economy
Depends upon us consuming packaged things ad infinitum.

Those who have nothing have nothing to lose
And that’s most of the people on the planet today.
Lost all your savings, did you? Welcome to the third world.
Lost your job, your house and everything? Poof!

It’s horrible, don’t get me wrong.
Grinding poverty is a life of pain and grief,
Not poetry and art. All work and no play.
I don’t wish that on anyone.

I wish that the ownership would change.
We have socialized losses and private profit.
We have privatized everything to profit the few.
We would do better to socialize everything to benefit the many.

They won’t let go. They are the party of “No.”
We have thrown up a leader for our times,
A reformer, imperfect, but he gives us hope.
We must mobilize and push to get the change we need.

early season bike ride

tenakill swamp

Seventeen

          for my daughter

Seventeen years you have been with me.
I’ve tried to protect you from harm
And prepare you with knowledge and skills
And a moral compass to guide you.

And here you are, such an excellent person,
Smart but not arrogant about your brainpower,
Sympathetic about the difficulties of those around you,
Happy to have fun with your friends and enjoy being alive.

The hypocrite adults all say: “Do what I say, not what I do.”
So I have tried to teach by example.
But the example of my life is a checkered record at best,
So take what you like and leave the rest.

I hope that you have what you need most by now.
I don’t take the credit for who you are
Though others compliment me upon meeting you.
I hope that misfortune mostly passes you by.

This year the world will change for you on your birthday.
This is the day you will get your driver’s license.
No more will you be under my wing going here and there.
You’ll be an adult in the eyes of the DMV.

I remember the delight of mobility first gained in my youth.
Now I’ll be free of the driver duties for you, do you think?
Not! Really it will be a loss of something I enjoyed,
But you’ll begin to get the feeling of not depending on others.

In that way adult means being independent and self-sufficient.
Of course I hope you always need me and seek me out as an advisor,
But most of all I wish for you to surpass me totally
In what you know and what you accomplish.