a balance of powers

if we put ideology aside, for the purpose of shining a social science engineering glance at power, how it seems to function at this point in the world as we are living in it, in the cultures playing more noticeable parts on the world stage. my limits: i have no experience with the power dynamics of jungle tribes, or mountain communities, harems, cabals… in my experience, limited as it is, i see a pattern of sorts. there are two kinds of power: centralized and diffused, it is called totalitarian and socialist, but how does it function, this two power concept?

the more fundamental two powers, the famous ones, power over others or power over ourselves... we abandon for now to concentrate on systems governed by conceptualizations having to do with power over others.

in a biological, material world such as ours, immersed, as we are, in an emotive-psychologically entrenched view of power as influence over others, there are two ways to do this - we can cooperate and organize ourselves into a group which is then powerful enough to wield power over others, or we can be vicious and deadly enough that we can extend our two year old need to be the ruler of the world long past its sell-by date. those are the two ways to power over others.: organize and dominate or simply bully. (the ways to achieve power over oneself are infinite as are the beings who might wish to do so)

global power, historically, male told and made, his-story-call, has fallen to the individual who successfully combines hatefilled, infantilism with a skill for organization i.e. combining the two sorts of power to create an hypnotically appealing reality for those people still enthralled by power-over stories. as far as i know, there is no "cure" for this dynamic. this is the "wheel" that brings suffering.

venus has many faces but not one of them is organizing, this is left to the household goddesses who have vanished in our days to disturbing images of slutted out housewives polluting the air space with greed. a perfect balance to the sheiks covered in white concealing their secret insecure selves beneath even more insecure images of highly competitive means of cooperation.

genuine cooperation is conversational. as in the first meanings of the word. to turn together, through the days. to communicate by living together in the circles that our lives encompass, delineate, reveal. this type of functioning is the highest form of household "management" i.e. no management at all but an awareness of power within as the guiding light of each and every one of us.

women stay away from power over, this is not just because the political situations keep women as second class citizens, this is also because her-story will have to be about power within and, until we can manage that in ourselves, we cannot lead it or teach it or even represent it, especially not largely enough, politically enough, to be noticed, noted.

the emergency emory board

so this is what happened
exactly as i can be
i had split my nail and it was coming
very near the nailbed and i didn't
have an emory board
so i was in manhattan
where you can get anything you want
and i walk about ten blocks, then
fifteen and there's lots of places
to pick up matches
but nowhere a girl can get an
emergency emory board
this, thought i, is exactly how we know
that this world is organized for the benefit
and to satisfy the fantasies of men and not women
if we were matriarchal, i would be able to acquire
a single emory board for 5 or 10 cents along with
my solo cigarette
i am now half a block from my destination
a two hour bus ride awaits me
with ample opportunities amplifying in my imagination
to split my nail into its nailbed
suddenly i see a beautiful young
woman dressed in white
spandex pants, a flowery short shirt
under a sporty leather looking jacket
long blonde hair, ten inch heels
she towers above me - what eyes!
and was not a man
a sweet mien met my request
for an emory board
she looked quizzically at me but
just for a moment while
i was showing her this split
and then offering that
i didn't have any diseases
or anything
like that
she was reaching into her purse
bringing out and reaching towards me
a wide emory board decorated
with pink 1960's deco flowers
back and forth the emergency emory board
eased the split in my already
very short nail
quietly realizing
her jet black
pimp was standing next to me
and
perhaps a few customers waiting
was the explanation of the men lurking
all around us, shoulder length away
i finished - nail smooth
handed her the emory board
said thank you so much
she smiled - what a smile!
said to me
"welcome to new york"
i ask you: does this woman
not deserve free health care?

whirlwind

one of my daughters explained her view of the venus mars debacle: women think men are retarded. men think women are crazy. i get that. my other daughter says that, when in doubt, thrive; you are in the system so your thriving brings thriving into the system. i get that too. my new vision of utopia is a world of thriving retards and crazy people.

impertinent scowls
watch me live
stay on your side
the moral divide
feel horribler and relentlessly horribbellerrrr
stretch your skeletal muscles
hold yourself biased braced for the pain
inflicting yourself choosing
affront your life with the constant threat of your death
we walk one road
consciousness can only track one reality at a time
in this framework each step
is both concluding and resuming
as we conclude damage, our new step brings brokenness
as we conclude with faith, we resume with grace
and, if we place our stance in joy?
flying in the door
smacking me in the face
whipped cream madness
honey in my hair
plant roses ease despair

est-il dimanche? lundi?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

just past the equinox

i have
the right
to live my life
to love my life
whatever shape she takes

i can even choose peace
isn't that almost unbelievable?
i can live peacefully in a time of war
wollstonecraft living on the outskirts of paris

fraternity
means equality in relationships - a relationship between equals
a dream as distant as a safe way to dispose of radio-active substances
but i have faith that the boys in us will figure it out eventually

what could sorority mean?
women coming together as sisters?
is fighting for the advantage in the pursuit of wealth and the alpha male - is that the best we can do?
could sisters come together
using their agencies, their agentic selves
not to recreate rigid lines of value
hierarchies of pain
i respect this genetic memory of a biologically-based protocol
but um
when
does our responsibility to evolve
into something less lizard-like
kick into gear?

balls flash

how can you stop a poem
when she wants to be written?
how do you stop loving when
the wall goes up
the wall that screams - don't touch me!
i can't feel anything
without raging
sounds an odd harmonic
while the loneliness in their being cries
connect with me please fuck
me please touch me, lick me, kiss me
jangling blues rocks the daydream
men flash balls then
quick as night
hide behind walls
searing fear, a comet searching for a war
a fiendish fear passing over
the star on my door
a baby on board
driving through the dark imaginings
headlights on the highway

2 kinds of good

on my spiritual path, i've found that there are 2 kinds of good: one is the kind where you toe-the-line of some tradition and/or expectations (yours or anyone else's). the other kind of good can only be reached by being bad first (or simultaneously).

the left-hand path to enlightenment resolves the duality between the shadow self and the persona, integrates the personality without falsely unifying it.

as i prefer democracy and diversity in the patterns of my love and life, the ecology of my beingness, i prefer the left-hand path as it feels more responsable and courageous (i.e. responsive and heart-centered). and walking this path has made me steadily healthier and happier.

my observations of people walking the toe-the-line paths is that the inner violence they must perpetrate on themselves to repress so many of their own inner urgings/voices/desires/talents, their light so hidden under such a heavy bushel, that they either crash headlong in some kind of saturnian-inspired reality check or dissolve irrevocably in a narcotic neptunian illusory projection.

my observations of people walking left-hand paths is that they sometimes experience deeply disturbing passages and emerge from each one lighter and more effective in their love.