Take a Stroll...

Hola Everybody...

I happened to glance at one of the many videos showcasing the insanity of “Black Friday.” These spectacles bring to mind the mega-hit series, “The Hunger Games.” These films portray how the powerful and wealthy organize games in which people from poor districts are selected each year to kill each other in a violent media spectacle. It’s a grotesque display in which the lives of the poor are offered up as entertainment for the privileged. It’s difficult not to make the connection in how TV news and other media cover Black Friday. Just now, I’m watching a lightweight newscaster grinning smugly while showing a Walmart crowd fighting over who the fuck knows what.

Let’s be clear: coverage of Black Friday brawls is a big ratings draw, which makes it the perfect place for yet more commercials to promote Black Friday sales. And then, once the working poor falls for them, a privileged segment of the population sits back and dehumanizes them for its collective amusement. Look at these hilarious poor people, struggling to take advantage of a deal on something they might not otherwise be able to afford on items that we take for granted, we joke on Facebook and Twitter. But capitalism and the insanity of consumerism infect all of us -- our participation is a matter of degree.

Today is Saturday, a day for art and poetry…

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Nows [XVI]

Note: A dear friend of the family -- a sister, I can say -- sent me a sheaf of papers of some writings I had left with her over 20 years ago. I used to carry legal pads with me back then and write poems and stories in longhand. In this pile of papers were some poems, snatches of an essay on the short story form, and fragments of an uncompleted short story. The following was one of the poems I found in the group.

Take a stroll outside of yourself tonight
and gaze over your shoulder.

You will see yourself
taller than yesterday,
smiling more,
and quieter
than in those early years.

Watch your hands
as they touch me
everywhere.

It all happened behind your back.

A smug comfort settled in
that says you need me less
but want me more.

Take a giant step back
and see yourself
as others do,
for you must someday
learn the delicate art
of viewing your reflection
in all those eyes
your beauty has moistened.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…