From The Jewel in the Moment, recent scribbles. . .


Monks chanting tantras
from my stereo speakers.
Outside, street sweepers hum.


***

My arm around you -
rising, falling as you sleep.
My breath becomes yours.

- for Sarah, of course -


***

Downtown San Francisco (from the 38 Geary)

Tall, blonde and golden,
'cell 'phone in her ear, she glides
completely unaware
right by the huddled mass
begging change at her feet.

Atrocities happen everyday.

Photo may show intelligence officers in charge

Abusive treatment under the supervision of military intelligence officers may have been intentionally used as part of the interrogation of Iraqi captives at the Abu Ghraib prison, according to a previously unpublished photograph of U.S. soldiers and other personnel.

- MSNBC -

Especially, it seems, if one is engaged in CIA fieldwork in a time of complete corruption of power and war for peace.

Leader by leader and member by member, Al-Qaida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al-Qaida leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al-Qaida leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Usama Bin Ladin's second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror.

Despite these successes, we cannot rest until al-Qaida has been fully dismantled.

- snipped from: Progress in the War on Terror, Today's Presidential Action - Office of the Press Secretary, January 22, 2004 - via The White House.gov -

What do you suppose a government which considers hunting down and killing people a positive action, a success, is capable of?

Atrocities?

Family Demand U.S. Answers Over Beheaded Son

The parents of Nick Berg, the American civilian beheaded in Iraq, said on Tuesday their son might be alive if he had not been held for nearly two weeks by Iraqi police and they were angry at the lack of information from the U.S. government about his detention.

Their congressman, Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach, said after visiting Berg's parents that they had been frustrated by lack of information from the U.S. government when Berg was detained without charge by Iraqi police from around March 24 until his release on April 6.

- Reuters -

Why do I find myself wondering if Berg was ever really released from US custody? Fantasy prone personality, no doubt.

After all, I quote The X-Files:

"No matter how paranoid you are, you're not paranoid enough."

- The Unusual Suspects, Series 5/Episode 1 - Suzanne Modeski to a future Lone Gunman -

The Bones of Long Dead Poets

I know a place where they keep
the bones of long dead poets piled deep
upon dusty shelves meant for books.

I go there when I find
inspiration in short supply and,
pretending to browse and nothing more,
I steal those bones by the score.

William Blake's lower jaw, Clavicle of Millay,
two of T. S. Eliot's lower vertabrae.

All of these and more too numerous to say
have traveled home in my pockets
rattling all the way.

I keep these mortal pieces of transient genius
in a box beneath my bed,
hoping at night some lingering residue might
seep into my head.

No luck so far!