The Price of Iraqi Freedom?

Missiles cruised from hundreds of miles away,
toward phantom targets that intelligence thought was real,
the earth trembled as mechanized dinosaurs stormed through sovereign territory –
belonging to the people and not Saddam,
yet it seems they paid the price –
TWICE!

Ferociously for decades, a tyrant ran the show,
stacking the deck with cronies,
if you can call those in perpetual fear for their lives cronies.
Industry –
His –
Oil –
His –
Palaces –
His.
All Iraqis paid a very big price.

The mechanized dinosaurs rapidly advanced and watched cities lit up from the sky,
Iraqi’s initially shocked and awed that yet again,
no matter the intention,
their empire risen from the sand through oil stood shattered.
Now tattered,
confusion abounding
I hear the sounds of demonstration
and I stand confounded from the lessons I’ve learned
from a short lived war that still rages in the hearts and minds of all ages –
In Iraq and indeed around the world.

SDM

Flight of the Bumble Bee

Like the flight of the bumble bee my heart takes zigs and zags
rolling through each day empowered by the sub that is your love:
Should I be a tea rose,
yellow, red or white,
you would come to pollinate me,
Should I be a book you would consume me from cover to cover,
so much that the ink would be fading.
Should I be a telephone,
my heart the receiver and you would dial,
perhaps a movie in which you are the star,
could I be these things and more for you this love does grow,
though words could never show:
Fully!

SDM

Reclaim Democracy

Like a prison inmate deprived of food and water,
I feel the solitary confinement of a soul that’s been left in the cold.
Years pass like ages of iron, locked inside the halls of a mind burdened by the promise of tomorrow that seems lost in yesterdays passed.
In a moment of lucidity I can see the stupidity of a system which has at its core the folly of elected officials.
Officials leaving us wanting from the lies apparently told to us for our own protection.
Yet may I project my objection to a system led astray for which millions have suffered on both sides of the global maginot line.
Like the secretly reemerged German army post the Treaty of Versailles,
an army illegitimate is forming right before our eyes.
We vote for leaders electing our collective fate,
but who really puts them there with dinners at 500 bucks a plate.

Inside my mind I am witness to the erosion of the social contract,
as the leviathan of dollars and cents,
preferably American,
slowly but surely secure a greater share in the corridors of power,
not just at my expense, but all of ours
and I am here to state;
RECLAIM DEMOCRACY from the CEO’s,
claim your VOTE back from faceless cash hungry corporations
trying to sell you shoes, TV’s, DVD’s, Food, Pens and even the news.
For each of those have powerful lobbyists in the marble rotundas and your VOTE is supposed to be YOURS.

So from my cell called private property I implore you to consider –

Who’s lobbying for you?
What does your vote really count for?
Are you sure your votes even being counted because I am sure that Phil Knight’s has and I’m not sure why.

I’ve written a cheque, but is democracies bottom line balanced – Ask the folks at Enron or Worldcom.

SDM

Meaning

Short ones,
Long ones,
A hundred words or more,
It really doesn’t matter,
The meaning goes beyond the page,
The ink like blood,
The pages and binding like a body,
In here my soul can be seen,
If you doubt for a moment,
The sincerity, depth and breadth of this love,
Flip to any page,
In any body,
And all the words to fill you,
Take a breath,
And carefully look at all that you inspire,
My confidant, best friend and muse,
Who always shows me the light,
Blessed with talent,
Yet also with your love,
All you need do,
Is flip, pick and read,
I can guarantee,
More than all,
In these words,
Short ones,
Long ones,
One page or more,
You will find the answers that you need.

SDM