Author: plinyblogcom

Caution, dear reader, brace yourself. In a few days, the perennial tsunami, appearing every February 14, will predictably reassert itself, in all its traditional force. The sole fans of the feared flooding are the usual suspects, the greeting card companies, the chocolate manufacturers, the florists, the retail jewelry businesses, the pajama industry and the novelty sales folk. The expected high tide of the Valentine’s Day inundation, judging by previous experience, will submerge all land masses, human population and baffle all reason. Among other phenomena, the advertising industry will publish a stage 4 hurricane of notices, featuring photo-shopped, seemingly amorous couples, in intimate proximity, to their highlighted sales merchandise.

Since (mercifully) this holiday has only a short half-life, one day, the need for effective, sales propaganda becomes urgent. Unaccountably huge profits are earned by companies who, presumptuously, maintain that there is a realistic (and commercial) need to supplement the interaction of couples, who love one another, with their manufactured paraphernalia. Greeting card companies are especially guilty of this self-serving assumption and hire distinguished “poets” to create trite doggerel, consisting of inane expressions of love and fidelity, for the thousands of presumably, aphasic, anonymous consumers.

The most objectionable of the various Valentine’s Day symbols is the trite, red valentine “heart,” an outmoded and retro- configuration, broadcast without relief; on all holiday products, greeting cards, gift wrapping paper, stuffed toys, pillows and candy boxes. This stale symbol is glaringly imprinted on all items for sale on Valentine’s Day, as well as on the consumer’s mind, by some Manchurian Candidate type, propaganda.

Various research people [ who apparently have no more pressing fields of inquiry for the employment of their Ph.D. acumen] have uniformly reported that the classic red symbol is derived from an early, incorrect understanding, by [no less than] Galen and Aristotle, who believed that the heart contained only three chambers. [It may be noted, that Dr. Galen and Mr. Aristotle were, innovatedly, accurate on many other subjects]

The valentine depiction of the human heart, maintains the very same proportionate degree of accuracy, as a wood duck, in appearance, bears to a moose. Nevertheless, it has, over the ages, been foisted upon, and willingly accepted, by the consuming public.

In truth, the human heart is shaped like a pear and is the approximate size of a man’s fist. This life-or-death chest muscle is taxed with the existential job of circulating blood and oxygen throughout the body. It has no time, or noticeable inclination, for holiday Hallmark sales propaganda, as the purported source of love, courage, strength or kindness. The statement, “He has a good heart” should be reserved, solely to a positive determination by a cardiologist, and not a comment on such traits as a person’s, love, generosity or empathy. We are only concerned with cardiologists and not “cardeologists.” How would you value a positive comment on generosity, like, “He has good kidneys.”

It is certainly inarguable that all human thought and emotion are exclusively functions of the brain and, empirically, not the traditionally romanticized heart muscle. Admittedly, however, it would be impractical to artistically create a brain-shaped cartoon figure to serve as a symbol of the holiday.

The senseless valentine “heart” is best replaced by a preferable love symbol, the unique and marvelous tulip bulb. Certainly, the outline of the traditional bulb is simple to replicate, artistically. More important, the bulb has always been a reliable symbol of future growth and predictable beauty. Relative to the modern conception of true and healthy love, the tulip bulb is independent and self-sustaining, having within its inner self a sufficient systemic source of future nourishment as well as the natural ability and inclination for growth and the achievement of its innate potential.

The tulip bulb, in the Middle Ages, was thought to be magical and priceless. There are historical records of its individual sale for the modern equivalent of several thousand dollars. If you should offer one to him/her and it is refused, we earnestly suggest that you look elsewhere.

ADDENDUM:

Why should it be necessary to dedicate a one- day holiday in recognition and expression of love; and, further, to do so by trite gifts of holiday nonsense? Love, where it is genuine, is experienced on a regular basis, and expressed in tender interaction and caring, personal acts. This one- day holiday is sadly  comparable to gifts of free turkey dinners on Thanksgiving to the needy. Hunger exists year- round and the poor and unfortunate need more than a gratuitous symbol.

* perienniel message

-p.

If there were one salient lesson to be learned from the unsparingly cruel advent of  COVID-19,  it is that such horrific natural occurrences occur spontaneously and affect humans without discrimination; the secular and religiously inclined, the virtuous as well as the miscreant, the wise as much as the ignorant. The tragic advent of epidemic is universal, objective, and consummately impartial in its delivery of misery. Its defeat, as empirically shown, can be achieved, exclusively, by scientific study and the successful development of an effective remedy; in this case, an effective vaccine.

The ability of mankind, in general, to devise solutions to presenting problems, medical, scientific, and social, inarguably, derives from the primal generosity of Evolution in gifting mankind with an advanced brain, possessing the existentially useful capability of reason. Man’s progress toward enlightenment, including the ultimate understanding of himself and his ambient Planet, seems to be slow and plodding but, with the steady employment of his innate capacity for reason, such wisdom is ultimately attainable.  

As our readers are aware, we are adherents to the empirical school of epistemology, espoused by the brilliant, 19^th Century philosopher, John Locke. Locke famously declared that man is born with a tabula rasa (“ blank slate”) and that all knowledge and reason are acquired through learned experience. Locke and the many Enlightenment thinkers of the “Empirical School of Philosophy,” rejected the theory of the “Rationalists,” who maintained that man at birth is inspired with certain information.

We have previously written on the relevant subject of “Holy Books,” such as the King James Bible, all of which, firmly and consistently, indicate adherence to the belief that the Earth and its flora and fauna was an event of Devine creation. Reportedly, there are, in fact, no less than 4300 independent religions in the World,  each, presumably, with believers in its respective Holy Book’s rendition of the origin of Man and the Planet, notably, by non-empirical means. The eternal and universal desire, to ascertain the ultimate answers, relating to the perplexing dynamics of the origin of mankind and the World, are daunting; and, it appears, have been assuaged by the plethora of diverse traditional dogma, each varying with the cultural identity and geographical history of its followers.

It is noteworthy, that in the Judaic and Christian Bibles, the apocryphal tale is that the first man, “Adam” (“Earth,” in Hebrew) committed the “Original Sin” of eating an apple from the forbidden “Tree of Knowledge,” offered by the first woman, “Eve”. The result of such “sinful” act was that they “discovered their nakedness” and were banished from Eden (we read, ignorance), forever. It is our interpretation of this remarkably symbolic story that the venerable author of Genesis may be eons ahead in his symbolic understanding. As we would interpret the legend, eating an apple from the “Tree of Knowledge” and suddenly discovering his nakedness, is all too easily understood, as Early Man, eschewing his primitive ignorance, and discovering his identity as a sentient, self -aware being. We have never understood the popular religious need to atone for homo sapiens’ awakening to his own evolved status. Especially relevant, for those who wrongfully tend to demote the status of the female of the species to secondary importance, to take note that, as we construe Genesis, Eve was the bringer of knowledge to Adam (mankind) and not an evil temptress. It might be further enlightening to some people, to point out that the image of the snake (“serpent”) in ancient mythology, has always been employed as a symbol of fertility ( See: Campbell, Bullfinch, Hamilton). The existence of a symbol of fertility, hanging from a limb of the tree of knowledge, in Genesis, should be, in secular terms, self-explanatory.

The need to associate oneself with a superhuman or superstitious agency has eternally been a primitive reaction and lazy solution to life’s existential mysteries. It seems to be unsettling for most people to live with so many unanswered questions including, the origins of Man and the Universe, mortality, the engine behind the routine mechanics of childbirth, the human body’s conjoint organ function, maturity and aging, the unknown dynamic phenomena of love, hate, jealousy and unjustified fear for personal security, and for the objectively accurate evaluation of the self. Nevertheless, the route to inner peace and the mature perception and acceptance of reality, are exclusively internal, and personal phenomena.

It is our understanding that the improved tolerance to life’s questions and unknown circumstances are best responded to by personal self-advancement, deliberative thought, and employment of whatever wisdom has been empirically garnered. Indeed, seeking the answers to many eternal questions may be beyond the present ken, still, as stated, the quest for available answers to basic esoteric questions are properly struggled with, internally. Looking to a third party- agency for assistance is not constructive or rational.  Shakespeare’s Polonius’ famous advice to his son Laertes, says it all: “Our faults, Laertes, are not in the stars, but in ourselves.” Stated otherwise, and in non-Elizabethan prose: we cannot gainsay the rational process of understanding, by defaulting to an external, third-party agency.

By way of illustration, have encountered people that consult daily horoscopes for insight, self-analysis and for predictions of the future.  The underlying dynamic is that the specific configuration of the heavenly bodies, at the moment of one’s birth,( his zodiac) is a reliable regular indicator of persona or, alternatively, one’s future. It is to be noted that the practice of looking to a non-human agency for any determination is futile and an obvious sign of inadequate self-reliance. Interestingly, it is to be noted that the signs of the zodiac were construed by the ancient Babylonians, many Eras before the very discovery and location of the planets; and many ages before any rudimentary understanding of the operation of our Solar System. We have Copernicus to thank, for the ultimately accepted recognition that the Earth travels around the Sun, and not the other way around (The Heliocentric Theory).

We acknowledge the many positives that religious affiliation can afford to the individual viz., a needed sense of referable provenance of identity, fraternal security and,  most usefully, as a needed measure of comfort with the frightening prospect of man’s inevitable mortality. Its cultural and socially interactive aspects may, affirmatively and positively, satisfy certain societal needs, but It should, under no circumstances, replace the vital element of reason in man’s apprehension of reality.

The responsible and useful enhancement of reason and the goal of mature perspective, as frequently urged by us, are, as stated, obtained by the willing engagement in elective and enabling, worthwhile pursuits. The rewards include self-confidence which affirmatively renders one open to, and not threatened by, divergent points of view. Mature perception mitigates the pernicious impact of the taught lessons of “we” and “they,” ultimately resulting in, insular (tribal) phenomena, responsible for the seemingly eternal, religiously inspired, conflicts and tragic bloody warfare.

It is our view that the most valuable and useful faith is one dedicated to man’s developing reason.

-p.   

The forecasts, dreams, and aspirations of our Founding Fathers, of an envisioned Nation of Republican unity, derived from a multiplicity of mankind, [“E Pluribus Unum”]and enjoying equal status and rights, was unquestionably commendable, if somewhat pollyannish. In reality, that optimistic dream has never yet attained the metaphysical status of reality. The disciplines of sociology, history, and literature which pursue the examination of human societal behavior, eternally describe its altering, developing and transformative contextual development, in the empirical progression of human experience. One’s definitional reality and his aspirations would appear to be properly and necessarily understood in relevant relation to the context of his particular moment in time; which thereafter acclimatizes and alters as time continues. 

Accordingly, it is our confident view that any close reading of the U.S. Constitution by the incisive reader would reveal that it was intentionally drafted in general terms; the foreseen application of which, to be based upon the extant facts as they present themselves. It is obvious and inarguable that the 18^th Century World and its Colonial ambiance, had little in common with contemporary America, with the salient exception of the Founders’ assurances of eternal citizen equality and liberty, our Nation’s creditable mantra.

Admittedly, our modern, appropriate use of the word, “equality,” was expressed with an entirely different impact in the days of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. The emblematic American phrase, ”All Men are Created Equal,” [at the time, solely applicable to white male property owners] is eons apart from the contemporaneous moral and legal conception of the word, “equal.” The Founders, focusing on the grave injustice and human suffering experienced due to the  institutional, European system of privileged birth, radically declared that all men were “created [born] equal.” In the context of today, the Constitutional word, “equal,” has morally, legally, and morally evolved, to assure equality of rights and opportunity, for all citizens.

An analogous dynamic is empirically true for the entirety of the Constitution. The principled intention was generally prescribed, applicable to its period, and thereafter, intended to be properly and relevantly interpreted, in accordance with the times and context at its needed application. Justice Benjamin N, Cardozo [in our view, the finest and most brilliant, Supreme Court Justice in our Nation’s history of Jurisprudence] in his brilliant writings, espoused the “Sociological Interpretation of the Constitution,” declaring that its proper interpretation be referrable to and relevant with the times existing at its needed application.

We have previously observed that those who argue for “original intent” do so, strategically, and tactically, to avoid a contemporary application of the Constitution, which would oppose their legal position; or conceivably perhaps, due to a presenting matter of systemic legal illiteracy.

The Founders may be guilty of having been overly optimistic in their personally projected assumptions, as to the nature and character of the future citizens of their new and unique Democratic Republic. An express assumption, for example, was that informed and intelligent citizens of divergent views, would regularly and in neighborly fashion, debate the disputed issues of the day and that the outcome of such responsible debates would be a useful guide in the Nation’s governance; thereby, resulting in a “government by and for the People.” Their optimistic expectations, whether originating in the times’ accessible, Colonial Rum, the effect of smoking fresh-cut Virginia tobacco in their clay pipes, or simply, from optimistic and anachronistic expectations, never materialized. What unfortunately developed instead, was a general populist disinterest, existing simultaneously with the emergence and growth of insular groups of loyal, like-thinking [“group think”] people, existing in a relationship of mutual “Cold War,” with other like insular groups of divergent opinion. Contrary to the intended, informed, and good-natured discussions, there developed an exchange of rancor and hatred. Our early essay on this disappointing phenomenon may be recalled “The Death of Civic Amity.”

We would selectively choose two relevant [ apocryphal] statements of our Founding Fathers as usefully and especially relevant. As the story goes, Benjamin Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall, after a meeting of the Constitutional Convention [1787] when he was asked: “Doctor, what have we got? A Republic or a Monarchy? ” To which question, Franklin responded wittily, but also ominously, “ A Republic, if you can keep it.” Another statement of relevant interest was the wise and prophetic admonition of Thomas Jefferson: “For a Democracy to succeed, it is required to have literate and informed citizens.”

We would hazard the opinion that the administration of a “democratic” (uniform and identical)  policy of education, in contrast with to a more effective, flexible, and more efficient, standard of education, viz, open to all, but varied, and tailored, dependent on capability. Populist equality in education, notwithstanding the virtue of its humanitarian and egalitarian motivation, seems not to have been desirably successful. Recent events continue to highlight the dilemma, that we do not have a sufficiently educated and informed citizenry, as prescribed by Jefferson.

Too many Americans have become part of a huge National underbelly of inadequately educated and poorly informed citizens, whose life and contributions to society are perforce limited. Ominously, they have consistently proven to be fair game for tactically cynical, self-interested, demagogic Pied Pipers, with ready “solutions” to their sad plight and general disappointment with life. We have often referred to this large segment of the population, constrained by limited perception and ignorant reductionism [ and thus vulnerable to tactical demagogic appeal]  as America’s population of “flat-earth, poorly educated and ill-informed citizens.”

This segment of America was recently instrumental, in the successful Presidential election of an ignorant egotist, Donald Trump, who will be memorialized, among his unique cornucopia of shame, for his recent un-American, seditious call to the insurrection, at the U.S. Capitol Building.  Like many of our fellow, mainstream, law-abiding citizens,  we were shocked and greatly troubled by the event but, conceivably, not entirely confused nor non-plussed by it, in our general expectation of something despicable occurring, by reason of a Trump defeat.

 Most Americans, perhaps, understandably engrossed in the contextual minutiae and issues of their everyday lives and recently, further challenged by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, deem that the items on their minds are sufficient. But, if our Republican Democracy is to continue, threats to its existence mandate consideration, and necessary amelioration.

Our American population has precipitously evolved into an amorphous conglomerate of uniquely disparate citizenry. Differences in opinion and a  variety of ethnos and cultural affinity are healthy and positive  [E Pluribus Unum].  But, by contrast, in the new Nation of E Pluribus Acrimonium, the existence of threats to our Nation by sundry, poorly educated groups of misguided adherents, to un-American tropes and enjoying paranoid delusions of being “patriots,” [the underbelly of our Nation] is an existential concern. It is our view that such danger can likely be ameliorated, over time, by (a) a flexible and rational program of needed adjustment to our universally identical, failing educational system, and (b) the maintenance of an ever-watchful reconnaissance, and when applicable, strict deterrent action, for those who would threaten existence of our intended, and ever-developing, morally and egalitarian Nation. 

-p.

For the limited purpose of highlighting the subject matter of this writing, let us engage for the moment, in a fictional stroll through that huge, well-attended, hall of THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, which features many life-like “panoramas” of re-created ( by taxidermy) animals, portrayed in their recreated, respective natural habitats. In our fantasy stroll, we unexpectedly come upon a newly installed exhibit, (strangely, of a small group of humans) apparently, labeled by the Curators of the Museum Anthropology Department: “CHRISTIAN WHITE SUPREMACIST,” [Modern Era, sub-Species Domestic]. For further edification, there is an information placard hung to the left of the lighted exhibit, reciting:” homo sapiens; species: “beserka,” worldwide breeding range, multiple varieties, bi-pedal, omnivorous, selectively predatory, unpredictably volatile, Neolithic intelligence. The museum exhibit had effect of raising questions as to the bizarre exhibit itself, and to a restorative recollection of past experiences on its subject.

We would candidly make the express disclaimer that, unlike sociologists and other professionally qualified experts, on the subject of Christian White Supremacism, we rely, solely and entirely, upon our deductions derived from anecdotal experience and the literature.

It is our perception that Christian White Supremacists are fundamentally, loners, emotionally insular and apart from others, inclusive of those, jointly included in that pernicious population; they do appear to be capable of having situational brothers-in-arms or “buddies,” but as perceived by us, are utterly incapable of true and intimate “friendship.” The latter relationship requires personal qualities such as empathy, unselfishness, confidence, shared sense of humor and disinterested affection, none of which is on the list of ingredients of the insular, eternally angry, gun-toting Supremacist.

Despite a mandatory façade of “cool,” it has been our observation, that internally, they are hot boiling cauldrons of anger, conceivably, founded upon some past experiences of disappointment and frustration, the etiology of which might possibly have its roots in familial, (i.e., lack of required early nurturance, abusive or alcoholic father), romantic or sexual experience or recognized general incompetence. The disturbing results are productive of frustration, anger, insecurity and self-hate, which reactions seem to be dealt with by the creative projection of calumny onto others,  “rich Jews make us poor,” white skin is an indication of superiority over dark, especially black skin,” “liberals are Communists and Socialists” (as if the combination were ever possible), homosexuality is an anathema, America is controlled by Jews, or the coastal elites, immigration of Mexicans and Central Americans and the colored races are “mongrelizing” our (white) country. Profound personal insecurity, appears additionally,  to render the individual vulnerable to defensively supportive, albeit irrational, tropes and to the shared confirmation of ignorant and reductionist views of others with dominant and ostensibly confident persona.

This is our understood genesis of “tribal” mutuality, which offers neurotically needed acceptance and comfort, through  “group think.” It is our view that such origins of fear and lonely feelings of insecurity also provide the psychological basis for the ardent desire to own firearms; the more destructive, the better. The coexistence of a conglomerate group with low personal esteem in common, and the insecure need for reliance upon groupthink, are fertile fields for the snake-oil demagogue and the enhancement of bigotry and hatred. Given some manufactured cause, and the call to some irrationally perceived and shared, faux patriotic duty, to address the cause, and the ingredients are present, to create the flammable tinderbox. Add a perniciously tactical, sociopathic, and demagogic leader, such as Donald Trump, to actually strike the match, and the result will be, as recently seen, in the criminal insurrection at the Washington Capital Building. The foregoing is not intended to imply that such troubled persons need always act in concert, viz., Timothy McVey, the Uni Bomber, et al.

Complicating, but in no degree, mitigating, the aberrant criminal behavior of such “domestic terrorists,” acting under the banner of Christian White Nationalists, is the regrettably large number of Christian Evangelical Churches that continue to oppose Civil Rights. Apparently, hundreds, if not  thousands, of Churches, favor segregation and tactically employ, not- so- subtle messages and  dog-whistle euphemistic tropes, in their  sermons such as:  “Protecting our community,” “Saving Western Civilization,” or, “We are losing our country.” Such Churches view slavery as authorized by the King James Bible, and so, toxically influence millions of Church-affiliated Christians. We would also note that The King James Bible, which is universally considered by Christians as the ultimate reference to authoritative, ultimate (God’s inspired) answers to moral problems, by virtue of its flexibility of interpretation, is as well, cited by people in opposition to the moral monstrosity of owning other human beings. If racism is to be rationally comprehended and eliminated, the significant, popular interaction between religion and racism needs to be universally acknowledged.  

With reference to Christian Evangelicals who consider that the ownership of other human beings (who happen to be born with more melanin coloring in their epidermal tissues than they) as moral and righteously within the preachments of Jesus, we can, optimistically, suggest some ameliorative and consciousness-raising solutions. These would include interracial participation in holiday celebrations, dinners, picnics and events, membership in interracial organizations (including right-thinking churches) and social clubs; getting to know and identify with each other, is a predictable route to the dispelling of dark ages mythology. We also especially recommend the pursuit of relevant education.

We would now return to the above referenced recent museum panoramic exhibition, viz., the militant variety of the North American species of Christian White Supremacists. Based upon our perceptive understanding of their psychologically systemic need for the extreme and violent assertion of irrational and biased tropes, we would assume that any proposed solution, short of psychiatric therapy and if indicated, relevant medication, would be ineffective. To the extent that we can perceive, the underlying problems are, undoubtedly, deep, and of long duration.

Those that cannot be helped should be kept under surveillance and incarcerated, when clearly called for, in the interest of the protection of the public. As future deterrence to repeat offenders, licenses should be revoked, including drivers’ licenses and, notably, gun ownership.

In addition, as stated in previous writings, the mandatory vetting of all candidates for high political office, would prevent the appearance of another Trump-like, shameful inciter to insurrection, and, importantly, be of general benefit the Nation.

We would look forward to a time, when this panoramic exhibit, will, at long last, be transferred to the Museum’s Hall of Extinct Mammals.

-p.               

Suffer no fear of* tropical storms,
They do relent, rebalance, reset.
Have no fear in the long, black night,
Its only day without the day.
But do fear the awful sound of wuka-wuka!

Do not fear the mighty blow,
All wind dies down before too long.
There is no fear for heat and cold,
It all just moderates in time.
But beware the wuka-wuka sound!

You mustn’t fear black smoke too much,
Firemen are surely on the way.
Nor panic from excessive speed,
Reduce will follow shortly on.
But so much fear in wuka-wuka! wuka-wuka!

Never fear a try at love,
Yet another may do the trick.
Do not fear to fail at goals,
New starts will show before too long.
Only wuka-wuka sounds are dire!

Do not fear the surgeon’s knife,
The goal’s to free you from disease.
Never fear the longest road,
The end’s in sight before too long.
But you must escape the wuka sound!

You must avoid the Black Carousel,
Grim wheel that just* gyres and turns
No music here, all wooden gears,
That speak in fearsome wuka sounds.
Do fear those clacking wuka sounds.

Foul beasts are seen to stand and glare
From on the platform of that wheel
With vicious smiles and carnal teeth
I could stretch and* see but few,
Of this wuka-wuka menagerie.

Better hope it will pass by
The wuka-wuka at your face,
All would be lost, all good be gone,
Your fate-to see the beasts up close
Wuka-wuka, wuka

The first beast is called, “The Trail of Tears”
One,” Armenian Death March”
The white one bears the name, “Jim Crow”
“Dresden,” is the German beast
“Appomattox”, another horse
Next to a black one, called “Babi Yar”
A Yak who answers to “My Lai”
Behind an ancient hound, “Pogrom”
“Nagasaki” is the reddish beast, before
Twin ogres, “Isabela” and “Ferdinand”
“Hutu-Tutsi” both on the side
And* to the right of one, “Nanking”
Wuka-wuka, and then wuka-wuka, ever on* it clacks.

To the smiling skull, atop the pole,
Above the center of the wheel
I screamed: “Please answer me!”
“When will it finally* stop?”
The faint reply was wuka-wuka, wuka-wuka

Leonard N. Shapiro, N.Y., (11/16/16)

Moist, ethereal breezes intimately whisper
Cooling balm to sunbaked foliage.
Trees, now attired in military raiment,
In styles bespeaking revolutionary riot,
Proclaiming in eye-sparkling manifesto,
The swift advent of seasonal overthrow.
— There’s no time to lose!

Boughs strain heavy with seasonal fruitage.
The bounty, tho’ forsaken by large mammals,
In search of* safer havens
Alas, no time for juicy gorging,
Time’s to be spent on*seasonal survival.
Smaller ones, storing food, burrowing deep.
Instinct warns, dalliance spells disaster!
—We must not tarry!

Winged creatures depart aloft
Huge flocks with little hesitation
Escaping to safer geography.
Could one but hear deep in* the forest floor,
The excited chatter of woodland critters,
Anxiously nose-wrinkling reconnaissance
—Is there yet time?

Darkening clouds bespeak woodland calamity
Soon, winter gales, storms, sheets of ice,
Snow, that covers safe niches and hide-aways*
Cold, that delights in shivering death.
All must forsake the Fall magic.
–And once more,* we will be ready!

Leonard N. Shapiro, N.Y., (Sept. 2018)

*(edits)

-p,

Floated in on foamy tide,
Or wafted here by ocean breezes
Life comes to our coastline
Keen to take root and abide.

No farmer can create new life,
He can but husband well the soil,
And nurture roots and emerging stems,
So that nascent life will wax and thrive.

The soil’s the arbiter of new life,
Its not man’s place to decide,
The valid judge, only Mother Earth,
As to which shall sprout and then abide.

Her dad’s print* T-shirt said “Peru”
And, feeding his three-year old, her
Jet black hair and shining eyes; they then
Rubbed noses, softly, when all through.

Leonard N. Shapiro N.Y. 3/11/18

-p.

Attend it close, excluding all
So *to sense and mindfully hear
The cardiac beat of planet Earth
Those pulses soft in depths profound
Life’s vital tattoo, its organic sound
In synchrony to man’s own heart
In star set, Universal time.

If you would hear, go out of mind
Attend the Earth, embrace its sound
Enfin,—do you mark the base tattoo?
That all may hear and apprehend—
It ticks the steady tones* of life
With its eternal* measured strikes
That beat, indeed, from babe to crone
And then, from crone to dust so soft.

My sight is only for your “self”
And not your lovely eyes and limbs
It is perforce your heart I seek
That beats along with that of mine
Both timed unto that earthly drum.

What I would see and do salute
My planetary heart and earthly “self”—
The pure, ethereal love of you.

*(edit)

(Leonard N. Shapiro, NYC, 7/2017)

-p,

The soil curates small slips of man
His life, his work, his resume
Some petit detritus of his life
A library of tales again retold.

No need to search with system code
Items are best secured by chance
With lucky use of spade and rake
Close searched where man did live and die

A rusty nail, a piece of tool
Both witnesses to man’s resolve
To raise a shelter for repose.
A fragment of a printed page,
Reveals a ken that there’s yet more.
Old cans and jars and rusty spoons,
Betoken victory over want,
And man’s resolve to live out life.

The grassy fields perforce* are doors,
Enclosing bits of lives past lived—
Far better than some* research “App,”
With cold results in digit code!

Leonard N. Shapiro, N.Y. 9/1/16

*(edits)

-p.

Can one describe a chocolate’s taste
Or find soft words for baby’s smile
Can words tell honey’s sweet bouquet
Or express relief to rest awhile

Can one recount a rainbow’s arch–
With words to bring to view its sight
Or portray the shadows of the Moon
And thus reveal its pale, cold light

Are there apt words to sob relief
When the lost toddler’s tearfully found
To describe the lilac’s inebriate scent
Or the Ocean wave’s full basso pound

Is there a word for the brush of lips
On newborn’s cool and silken brow
Or the splatting sound of dripping rain
That strikes the verdant leaves and boughs

Can one describe a rose’s red
The weathered hue of an old windmill
Tell me please, where those words go ?
With so many heartfelt thoughts to fill

One need not fret, nor search in vain
When it seems words do not ensue
The sentiment is so well conveyed—
Most times, a subtle tear will do.

-p. (Leonard N. Shapiro N.Y., 1/2018)