the worst insult is that you’re unimaginative;
Because that implies absence.
Or imbalance.
There were never knowers
For most of history; there
Was only speculation, before
The Bodhisattvas sacrificed
Themselves & everyone else for
Nirvana. These were the cap-
Less, the capitalists without an
Idea of capital gains, and they
Knew real guilt; knew
Appropriation, and knew the
World would go bang out if
They weren’t consistently
Oriented toward their Oriental
Practice of meditation. When they
Weren’t bushwhacked, of course—
Picking lychee off branches in any
Of the extra hours they could find
Within any mind-less day, dating
Back to, oh, the first or second
Century BCE? They knew something
That we’ve forgotten.
Give it Gupta—layer the fondant
Over time—and you end up with
Malted barley, a tropane alkaloid
Trade (i.e. cocaine —> U.S. of A),
Nuclear weapons, grenadine, and
Hand grenades; you get Plato
Over in Greece, the word
“Posthumous,” and several
Centuries later, Propofol.
If the buddhists had been able
To incarnate and actualize—
Slow brew society in their rice
Cooker minds—it would probably
Look like buying bail bonds from
Anarchists; and we’d likely all’ve
Benefitted from all of their days of
Silent mulling. Because I’m
Assuming it isn’t all just swamp
Things and anti-thought. (At least
The former is where I end up when
I’m left alone to start fires in the attic.)
It’s a quiet form of thinking: grazing,
And soft enough to understand. And
Understanding goes a long way,
Nowadays.
Instead of trust fund babies slipping
LSD tabs under their tongues at
Burning Man, then finding themselves
On the board of directors at
Lockheed Martin (most of which were
On the road to Harvard before they
Even had government names and
Social security cards, by the way).
Same fucking instigators of chaos that
Can lick a flowering leaf and trip
Their rich balls at Joshua Tree, but
Are too hopped up on Adderall every
Other day to even be able to meditate
On the tough issues properly. There’s
A lot of density between the richer
And poorer aspects of our societies.
Mull that out hard & long.
The richer aspects terminate hard
Working people from jumbo jets,
The poorer aspects get terminated
From jumbo jets.
But that isn’t what I want to talk about.
(If interested, you can probably find a
Manifesto draped in a tent under an
Underpass somewhere.)
Tough love is a soft equation. And the
The Greek philosophers and
Mathematicians always did it better.
Didn’t get 580 million hits on a streaming
Platform and a billion on another, but I’m
Sure Diophantus, had he to have a podcast
Today, would put a metric up over a
Denominator of people across the planet
That are a slave to this thing or that thing
(And probably would also tell you how
Many devoted Christians killed his great-
Great-great grandchildren, too, but
Tough love leads to soft equations). That
Metric, though, wouldn’t tell of all the little
Lines that make up the face that are the
Focal points; and were Aristotle to meet
With Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, I’m sure
They would discuss the true meaning
Behind “education is bitter, but the fruit
Is sweet.”
But that isn’t what I want to talk about
Either. Come to think of it, I haven’t been
Known to have said anything of substance,
Ever. That’s why she’s gone. That’s why I
Disappear. The weight of the foot as it
Drags would make you think there were
100,000 of them: wet, weighted, wearing
Boots. Probably should meditate on all of
That, & this a bit more.