an open book…

there are
lines in the sand
messages written
in god’s own hand
but we have forgotten
how to read them
we have become
illiterate
to the language
of the soul
we refuse
to decipher anything
that does not conform
to our vision
of the world
we read only that
which justifies what we
want
and
have done
anything else
is viewed as
meaningless scribbles
in the sand
created only
by the tide’s movement
lines in the sand
soon washed away
with the next wave
a wave
that once again
leaves an unread
message

will work for intelligent life…

excuse me mister
mister
you don’t have to turn away
i ain’t asking for a handout or anything
i ain’t like the folks you see outside the grocery store
on their cellphones
drinking starbucks
asking for your spare change
and i hope you don’t mind too much
that i interrupted what you’ve been thinking ’bout
cuz i’ve been told
that such direct conversations
are very disturbing to some folks
but i was just  recalling when i studied candide in high school
oh..i know
i’m supposed to be illiterate
my being homeless and such
but that’s just a sales pitch some folks use
to tell you the truth
not many of us really want to be out here on the street
but any ways..
i keep thinking about dr. pangloss
you know the
this in the best of all possible worlds guy
so when i was reading it
i thought what kind of fool is this
who would ever believe
that given every thing that went down
he could continue to say
the same old damn tihing
then i was reading about escalante
in that paper you threw away earlier
now there’s a man who
really got his students ready for life
and continues to teach in his own way to others
but jealousy proved to be his portuguese inquisition
now he’s just another victim of health care in the country he served
just like all those folks who came back from vietnam
just another hero whose song has been forgotten
with the birth of another war
and lord knows the american people
are very good at friendly fire
but don’t get me started on that
i’m really just concerned about how intelligent people like you
could believe that this country is going to be just like it was
that
best of possible world syndrome again
cuz when i was in the library i googled this article
that said things ain’t going to be the way they were
but maybe there’ll be an earthquake during the hanging
like for pangloss and we’ll just get flogged financially again
so here’s what i don’t get
if religion is the foundation of this country
how the hell can people let
children die
because they couldn’t afford a doctor
or they waited too long
because they needed to feed the child first
why would we treat them like cunegonde
it just doesn’t make sense to me
does it
to
you