robbing - an essay / stolen - the sonnet

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” - Lao Tzu

I had the good fortune, when young, to be taken for a big ride, losing both my drugs and my money. One would think that might be enough to learn one’s lesson - yeah me neither. A neighbor where i live, provisioned me once with a better than fair deal for artisanal mezcal. Being a creature of habit, i find a rut and dig it deeper. The error i made was not paying attention to business fundamentals, namely cash on the barrel head. This was over a month ago and there is no escaping the sometimes deadly reality of personal responsibility. What i cannot abide is having my nose rubbed in my own foolishness. There is time enough for my erstwhile mezcal merchant to learn the ignorance of beating up a steady client, but between now and then this foolish kind of behavior is as close to Mr. _rump as i care to get. The dilemma is how to tease from the tangled web of my friend's greed, my fury, his fury, or my greed a karmic weave that lives up to the worldwide mandate to “do no harm.” I was doing okay containing my self-loathing-masked as contempt for him, while trying to process myself into a more benign frame of mind. Then he began loudly yucking it up with his homies outside my window about the grand heist he had pulled on the pinche gringo. It was here the danger of our world was driven woefully home to the otherwise isolated crags of what is left of my heart. This man and his pain manifested, not in a rational living denunciation of his nemesis Mssr _rump, as my own never sanctimonious, always pure intentions declare, but rather mirrored with deadly accuracy all of the vile, clannish, knee-jerk reactions so skillfully foisted on the hapless hicks of my homeland by the grand snake-oil-salesman and his corporate muscle - mr. m.t. suit, AKA, President _rump. I don’t know what riled me more, to be the object of specific racial animosity after months of deliberate sublimation of all the contempt one faces living in a foreign land, or the frustration of not knowing how to effectively combat my own deeply ingrained white privilege? It is not white privilege that chafes at intentional cruelty, i was born cross-eyed and have encountered the repulsion of others from no more than an initial glance all my life, so much so my favorite halloween costume, has always been, and likely always be, Quasimodo - fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke, or is it joke ‘em if they can’t take a fuck (can never keep those two straight)

Having been taking so well by my betters, inspired me at one time to the fiction of a life of crime, but like any lethal game there is, and will always be that one just that much faster, or meaner or ________ fill in the blank. The fiction of a “dog-eat-dog” world was not fashioned by a dog. Dogs are pack animals and survived by throwing in with the human tribes attempting to rise out of the muck. Man has learned his cruelty at the hands of professionals such as President _rump; low-lifes lacking the testicles to do their own dirty work and who found with enough shells, or shills they could buy men’s minds using nothing more than lies. “Thanks, man for saving our bacon last winter. Let me take this piece-of-shit island off your hands for all these shiny baubles.” One Spanish word for advantage is “provecho.” Having been the loud ugly kid, the “soshes,” of school might have condescended to acknowledge my existence so as to gain traction with my more handsome siblings, otherwise me and the rich kids were like oil and vinegar. By that time in human history, The Beat Generation had morphed into a misbegotten psychedelic love child, a merchandising ploy i bought that hook, line, and sinker - including knee-high moccasins and Dashiki’s when i could find them. Times were good and being young meant one never had to look to deep into anything, just buy, buy, buy, as long as it confirmed your “counter-culture” allegiance. The problem, however, with all movements is, they are comprised of people who by their nature are contentious, peevish, proud, selfish, greedy, loving, fearful, generous, brave, etc., etc., etc. For many years, i was convinced that if i could only persuade whoever i was speaking with at the time, of the logic of altruism, the world would be rectified and set straight; peace would rain and fairness would become the law of the land. I then laughed off suggestions that i might be wearing rose-colored glasses and continued on my merry way - still do. Given the state of the world today my personal conviction remains that if people cared more about each other than they do for themselves - our world’s population might have a slender chance of survival. One dilemma to this end as i see it has been our inability to enlarge the concept of family to include all of humanity. For a time, you heard hippies calling each other brothers, but that was shouldered aside by the much more real exclamation from black men to each other - ergo the phenomenal murder rates within some communities, who else but a family member could have enough feeling to off another?

No, that is not meant as a snarky or offhand remark - this racially unique internecine destruction is the result of some careful efforts by those in power who would keep us all separated from each other, by hook or crook. I imagine we will see the very same behavior within the tight ranks of the ruling class once shit goes really south and the police begin jumping ship when food and water shortages raises the tide of humanity up to and upon the heady shores of conspicuous consumption. Watching the rats of privilege feed on each other is of no interest to me, for by this time in human history the steps necessary to right the ship of humanity from its bereft state will allow for nothing but the most concerted cooperation our species has ever known - i don’t see that happening. The computer technology that is supposedly saving us from certain doom, is also being used to create simulations of a wide variety of increasingly unsavory scenarios by the same unscrupulous cowards who have impoverished half the world selling useless baubles. These simulations allows the ruling class to make minor investments, or heap lavish praise with predictable results. But just like my hapless neighbor thinking he got the world by the tale on a downhill pull beating some stupid gringo for chump change, so too the ruling class is motivated by the unexamined fear of having oppressed a planet of dynamic, capable and determined human beings so much so - they can only be asking themselves - “what if these stupid motherfuckers find out what we have done¿” I myself was unable to expand my concept of generosity to refrain from commenting to my neighbor this morning when greeted affably by him - “who the fuck are kidding?” I will suffer further estrangement from the community i have tried so hard to become a member of; were i a more loving awakened soul, i might have said, “you took from me; is it because you are in need? Here, have some more provecho.” As it is, i may have to continue my wanderings in search of a community where to ply my trade free from aggression, but i am beginning to think that particular homecoming will have to wait until i die, or i reach nirvana. Having been entirely disillusioned by the messianic culture i hail from, i’m afraid the odds are not good that there is the community i seek in this world. What i am left with is the domain of my skin, and whatever peace i am to find will needs be found within my own skin.

Does this mean that i will cease my efforts to re-establish the dignity of existence, not likely. Just as i quest for a woman who will not sell me down the river for a better sperm donor, i will continue to make every effort to expose the divisiveness being wielded by the unscrupulous, or the more camouflaged, surrupitious, and clearly unawakened techno geeks selling their souls to amoral emotional ciphers for computer models of how to take advantage of their brothers and sisters on planet earth. What is so sad to my mind is how close we are to paradise. We as humans have allowed ourselves to be taken in by our own greed, nor does it matter how you dress it up - it is our own - all of us. For example, i contracted with my neighbor, because it was a spectacular value, just as i had bought my last three pairs of Chinese shoes off of an Amazon proxy, somewhat knowing how viscous Bezo’s business model is. To be fair, this was before it was announced Amazon had patented a bracelet capable of monitoring a line worker’s efficiency, but first before you condemn me, tell me how much better the world would be if it was the rulers who were wearing such invasive jewelry¿ Just as my neighbor lost more than a regular customer and a faithful admirer, so too those who are floating on the mere sheen of opulence wholly supported by untold workers, as well as increasing ignorant consumers of our fake world economy, my neighbor has lost valuable support. I will not sink so low as to impede my neighbor’s just efforts for a better life, neither can he count on my endorsement. It is the same for Bezo, i have no qualms whatsoever proposing a worldwide boycott of Amazon, for no other reason than to demonstrate the full force of actual exchange. There is no longer in what “they” call the economy for what the Australians describe as “Fair Dinkum.” Americans used to have similar colloquialisms: on the square, tit for tat, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander; but ‘mericans have now been turned against each other so effectively by a sinister Madison Avenue expertise that the expression “shooting ducks in a barrel” has become inadequate to describe their plight. As far as ‘merica is concerned all they have of any interest is to reach the next level on what ever screen which they are currently paying through the nose to subscribe - sadly not much different than the denial my neighbor used to denounce President _rump in one breath, and brag about the beating he gave the extanjero in the next.

Should any of this scrolling tripe stink of sanctimony - my apologies. I wish my neighbor well, minus enthusiasm and material commitment, just as i pray for the soul of mr. m.t. suit. That does not mean that i may not still move entirely away from where i have become comfortable if my artisan neighbor escalates his greed or demonstrates that he believes he took something he can repeat. Arundhati Roy has pointed out that “they” (the corporate overlords) need us a lot more than we need them. The logic of this observation is unassailable, but why it hasn’t gained better traction among the fractured resistance to our world’s oppression escapes me. I have recently proposed the establishment of a U.S.A. Inc. where instead of a voting franchise, we fight fire with fire, but now i believe that Plane Earth, Inc. would be a wiser business model. Clearly capital has no borders; why should the inhabitants on planet earth limit themselves to such quaint limitations? Just as the illusion that President _rump is not lurking somewhere in every human heart on earth, any effort to change the planet that does not include the warm heartedness HH Dalai Lama advocates, will be doomed. As long as the idea of preying on others has any credence as a business, personal or educational practice, there will never be prosperity on our planet. Prosperity is the capacity to have enough, and as it stands today the ruling class has aptly demonstrated they cannot get enough. However rather than as previous epochs have shown, there is no reform of power. They who have taken from you by any means necessary, can only be restrained by removing from them the source of their wealth - your cooperation. Were i to return to my friend and say, “let’s look past your shady business practices, i’ll buy from you again, and hope you won’t cheat,” i’d have no one to blame but myself - for certainly “once fooled, shame on you; twice fooled shame on me” is true for any neighborhood on the planet, including Wall St. So why do we return time and again to an illusionary economy or any concept that does not help make clear why we were born or aid us in the protection of the only home we can have on this material plane - planet earth?

addendum: i was just placed in possession of artisanal spirits by the same antagonist so sorely used for possibly commercial purposes of this self serving narrative, and/or all that lies in between. The delivery made, was not as a result of my own insistence and/or pressures of pique as i'd like to presume, but a combination of cultural lessons and pride of product (which can never be assumed by the powers of empire) live humbled or die trying. . . 

addendum’s addendum: an additional quantity of excellent mezcal was given to me by a friend who’s daily task is to sweep away our often mindless and unnecessary debris - “be careful what you wish for, you might get it” - Oscar Wilde

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stolen - the sonnet

the world has been stolen out from under

our feet, and we helped them do it for free.

believing their lies “WE’ll share the plunder,

but to keep the loot safe, i’ll keep the key”

now it turns out that the vault is vacant

but just like Alice the key has been ours

and all that’s real value remains present -

pride, humility, love, kindness, working hours.

Things that cannot be stolen, never are.

Greed wants you to believe you can own trust;

life teaches that trust burns like any fire

or rots like old metal swallowed in rust.

having something worth stealing is foolish;

we leave like we arrived - naked and fresh

jts 02/05/2018

http://stoneartist.com 

reprinted with permission - all rights reserved