A Poem about writing: Dream Security

Writing for me staves off despair,
spits back at death,
reconnects me with life's joys like nothing else.

As time goes on, I care less about what people think about my writing.
I have do it like breathing, like dreaming.
When I go too long without writing, I feel like something inside of me is dying...
It is my dream to obtain the writer's life, but it is never easy....
You have to listen to your own soul and follow your instincts while even those close to you (and others that pretend to be) fail to understand...

GP

***********

DREAM SECURITY

You must put a lid
on your hopes
and dreams.

Hide them away from
even those you trust
as they will try to
pry open your soul
and peer inside
with jaundiced,
bitter eyes
twisted up by
society's lies
and false expectations.

They will take out
their frustrations
and disappointments on you.
Thinly disguised rage over
having to conform
so completely
burying their secret imaginations
and hidden passions.

They won't be satisfied
until doubt creeps in
transforming your heart
also into a black pit of rage
and despair.

The only antidote to such a fate
is
wild laughter
and a strong dose of joy.

They may even think you're
a little crazy.

But what's crazier?

Chasing your dreams
or chasing an early death?

George Pappas
Copyright 2009

Cheney Please Go Away: The Demise of Fear Mongering...

Why won't Dick Cheney please go away?

I have heard enough of his twisted fear mongering to last a lifetime.

Yet night after night on TV there is Cheney -- a nightmare out of our recent past -- defending the indefensible -- torture and his administration's destructive foreign policy. He even has the gall to to brag about his sorry record of protecting our country?!!

Tell that to the victims of 9/11. Remember that was on your watch...D-I-C-K!!!

And Cheney even has the audacity to attack our current president's admirable effort to close the horror that is Gitmo. Even previous and current Defense Secretary Gates recently described Gitmo as a "taint"on America's image around the world.

Al Gore said recently he at least waited two years before attacking Bush's lame policies. Obama hasn't even been in office for six months and Cheney is already attacking him.

Funny the GOP would have called this treason if it was done to bush by Gore right after 9/11 or early in the Bush presidency. Such hypocrites

The fear card is dead, Cheney. Rejected in last two elections . . . and will be again in 2010.

Return to your bunker Cheney. You will not missed. The country has moved on.

Or as one our country's wise founders Ben Franklin said: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

Here are a couple of past poems I wrote about the toxic contradiction that is Dick Cheney.

GP

***

VP OF NOTHING

Mr. Cheney, VP of nothing.
Convinced you’re cloaked and absolved from blame.
Secrecy is your life’s blood and your
ultimate game.
Weren’t prepared for all the heat and pain.
Still you hold on to your tired line
to the bitter end.

CHENEY’S BUNKER

Clinging to
an illusion of
safety
when there’s no safe
place
unless you want to
live in a bunker.

Cheney lives in
a bunker.
He has a bunker mentality.
But who would want to
live in a bunker with Cheney?

In fact, Cheney resembles
an actor who played a man
who tried to hide his family
in a bunker
in a Twilight Zone episode during
the threat of a nuclear attack.

His neighbors broke down
the bunker down in a panic
clinging to an illusion of safety
hence the downfall of a bunker
mentality.

George Pappas
Copyrigh 2009

HOME OF THE BRAVE? -- A Blog & Poem about the murder of Matthew Shepard

Currently, Congress is considering legislation that would expand the hate crimes law protection to include those attacks involving sexual orientation and gender identity. It is inspired by a University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard who was tortured and subsequently murdered near Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 because he was gay. His story and following court case received attention around the country and world.

Contrary to what the foolish Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) recently claimed from the floor of Congress, Shepard WAS murdered because he was a gay man. It was not a robbery. That was the cover story. This came out in testimony during the subsequent court case. You can look it up. Shepard was virtually stalked, targeted, attacked and left to die alone.

President Barack Obama issued a statement in support of what is commonly called the Matthew Shepard Act on April 28, 2009:

"This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance — legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action."

The bill passed the House on a vote of 249-175 the day after Obama's statement. Now, the bill is awaiting consideration in the Senate. I hope it passes as all our citizens deserve equal protection under the law regardless of color, gender, cultural background, religious affiliation or sexual orientation.

About a year after Shepard's murder, I wrote a poem about my disgust with his murder, this country's hypocrisy and prejudice toward gays and gay rights, but also the sensationalistic media coverage and court case that followed. I thought forgotten in the media hype and attention was the loss of a human being that had his whole life ahead of him.
That was the real tragedy for me.

I hope now something positive can come out of his family's loss and pain. Call your Senators and make sure that President Obama knows that we will be holding him to his campaign promise to get this bill passed and signed into law.

GP

****

HOME OF THE BRAVE?

Home of the brave?
Home of the cowards and early graves.
Land of the free?
Land of the intolerant creed.

Homophobic rage
spills over into senseless deeds.
A modern day lynching.
Crushing blows at the
spirit of those deemed different.

His young body
was left
broken,
beaten,
hanging
lifeless on a fence in Wyoming.

His only crime was his sexuality.
He stuck his head too far out of the closet and they chopped it off.
He was left twisting in an ill wind of fear and ignorance.
Now, his life is a political football
and a hot potato.

Lost in the debate is the horror
of a young man robbed of his future
and a chance to dream big dreams.

Hate breaks more than our hearts.
It destroys all we dream about.
Killing hope
as surely as a rope
put around the neck of justice

That’s just our humanity hanging there
on a fence
lifeless
dying over and over again.

George Pappas
Copyright 2009, 1999

BORED WITH BOREDOM

I am dumbfounded by those who so easily get bored with their lives with so much adventure, so much mystery in the world.
They become so jaded, so emotionally dead, so cut off that they miss the real thrill and passion of being alive.

It is far too easy to become jaded and bored in southern California and to forget the stunning beauty -- the oceans, mountains, forests -- all around us.

There's a teeming, spontaneous existence, an energy in the places and people in the air that is also easy to miss

When there's too much to take for granted, too much to deal with people turn hard . . . probably same as with all big cities.

I wrote this following poem about some people in L.A. who have lost touch with the possibilities beyond the jaded, the mundane and predictable.

This affliction of ennui as the French call it or boredom as we call it . . . is something I never have the time or inclination to experience.

GP

****

BORED WITH BOREDOM

You are
bored
with each breath you take.

Bored with
strife,
hype,
time,
light,
fire,
life,
and boredom.

This boredom
is boring a hole
through your soul.

Even worse,
your boredom is blinding you to what
is really going on.

You remain oblivious to
another side of life,
wild and uncontrollable,
burning and thriving
beyond the
cracking sidewalks,
crumbling buildings,
arching, pompous skyscrapers,
crowded suffocating freeways,
concrete tombs,
apartment penitentiaries,
sprawling suburbs,
lusty,
reeking
bar rooms,
throbbing concert stages,
multiplex movie theaters showing the same loud empty bombastic
film endlessly,
crashing waves,
dirty sand,
challenging mountain peaks shrouded in smog
and teeming
sweltering valleys.

There's a wild existence
marked by an eternity,
impossible to fully understand.
Universes unexplored,
collapsing into each other
like black holes right before our very eyes.

This hidden world
can easily be dismissed
with a bored stare
and restless jaded yawn.

Your boredom is like
an early death
as you sigh
and
take another wasted breath.

George Pappas
Copyright 2009

THE RESURRECTION? (EASTER 2009)

Today is Easter Sunday. Not being deeply religious I've never been one to celebrate this holiday.
That doesn't mean I haven't thought about its real meaning or lack of meaning depending on your perspective.

I wrote this following poem as I sat on the beach in Belmont Shore, Calif. on Easter Sunday last year....the day got me thinking about religion and all the abuses done in its name in the context of Easter..and the so called fable of resurrection

I wondered what would Jesus think if he was resurrected today...and faced with all the hypocrisy, intolerance and heartbreak in a world that uses holiness as an excuse to commit such brutal and unholy acts...

GP

*****************

THE RESURRECTION? (EASTER 2009)

If Jesus was resurrected today
what would he find?

A divided world killing itself
over religion and holy scriptures.

Cruelty beyond comprehension.

Greed run rampant.
Moneychangers who haven't only taken over the temple,
but the world.

An utter disregard for the poor.

His name being used for all sorts
of soul crushing endeavors.

Soon after his return,
I have no doubt Jesus would want to remain dead
for another 2,000 years.

George Pappas
Copyright 2009

A MARGIN CALL ON OUR LIVES...

In the past year, our economic system has faced the ultimate of margin calls after years of rampant and reckless greed and stupidity.

Now, we all know... to twist a phrase by Gordon Gekko from the great movie "Wall Street" that greed is "not" good. It carries with it horrible economic consequences that we are only beginning to understand. And this time not only in America, but all over the world, which is the major difference between this great economic calamity and the Great Depression.

I must say President Obama and his team have done a remarkable job dealing with an economic nightmare like none of us have seen in our lifetimes. Remember Obama has only been in office in a little over two months and look what he has tried to do -- stimulate the economy, create plans to save the banks and the housing market, and set up regulations so this doesn't happen again.

And he still is pushing his budget plan to wisely invest in healthcare reform, new energy initiatives and education for the future. I have to wonder when does this guy sleep?

This week the lame fools from the GOP -- the Party of No New Ideas -- presented their lame alternative budget plan. It was more of the same -- drastic tax cuts for the rich and no new spending on anything to help stimulate and save the economy from collapse and ruin. (I shudder to think where we would be if McCain and Palin had been elected. )

We've been down that dark and greedy road these last eight years and even before that in 1980s and early 1990s. The trickle down theory is dead. RIP.

Here's a poem about the failure of the religion of greed.

***

A MARGIN CALL ON YOUR LIFE

This is a margin call on your life.
Can’t pay it back.
Can’t make it right.
Failed by your religion of greed.
Everything you touched has
gone to seed.

Another Ponzi
scheme,
another stolen dream
on Main street.
Left with another bail out of Wall Street

Everyone still reeling
trying to figure out
what all it means
as we lose our financial means

This is a margin call on your life
for a debt you can’t make right.
Yet you demand bonuses for your
failure all the same without a hint of shame.

Shallow goons
pontificating about nothing
offering nothing.

Each day reaching a new low
never imagined
holding on to ashes of a life
of corruption and lies.
Can’t dream anymore.
All my dreams are bankrupt.

George Pappas
Copyright 2009

Life is Too Big for Ideology -- A New President, A New Beginning

Tomorrow will mark a new remarkable beginning and renewal in the history of our country with the inauguration of Barack Obama, our first African American president.

Beyond the historical significance of Obama's rise, it will also mark an end to the divisiveness, political ideology and rhetoric that has taken this country to the brink of disaster. The Bush Years are over. Thank God. Now, we can all take a collective sigh of relief while realizing the tough road ahead as Obama indicated yesterday at his inauguration concert.

Obama faces a daunting job of reviving a collapsing economy (worst since the Great Depression), ending the war in Iraq, restoring our tattered reputation around the world and restoring dignity and respect to the office of the presidency. Yet Obama is the right man at the right time to help us overcome this bleak economy and bring this country together after so many years of partisanship and divisiveness.

He's already started to move past recent crippling ideology in his cabinet selections and with his willingness to reach out to Republicans in Congress as he readies his agenda to turn the country around.

Here's a poem I wrote a few years ago about what I think about the perils of ideology. I am very hopeful that Obama and his team will avoid the ideological dead ends and battles the Bush Administration so reveled in.

GP

*******************************************
LIFE IS TOO BIG FOR IDEOLOGY

Life is too big for empty ideology.

Spirit robbing
bureaucrats
think they know what is in our hearts.

I've never known an ism,
a breathing ideology
or a racial slur.

Just human beings
frail,
broken,
feisty,
hoping,
yearning
and fighting
for some space
and peace of mind.

It is something no ideology
ever conceived
can seem to provide.

George Pappas
Copyright 2009