values, ethics, morals are left in tatters
conveniently sacrificed on the alter of economic greed
moral responsibility is abdicated in fiscal matters
bruised and cast aside for their misdeeds
it's not me, just following orders
it's not my department
I was just the warder
its all in separate compartments
careers built on careerism and obedience
orders coming from persons above
no regard for others, expedience
non ideological, and no thought of the actions thereof
as good as saying the devil made me do it
its gods will
the cry of the uncaring hypocrite
is enough to give the victim a chill
as the the chorus beats its drum
and the new song cuts to the core
the new mantra now oft chanted has become
oh for a few dollars more
Creative Writing
An Idiot Wind Blows
a wind is sweeping the land no wait, across our planet the wind blows through the halls of power no country is sacrosanct mediocrity our new political watchword on a good day! on every other day we would be considered blessed to have mediocre leaders the wind of the bigot the ignorant the illiterate autocrat blows with vigour no stone left unturned all that stand in the way bashed, broken, ripped apart theocracy takes flight the hot air of idiocy blows with venom from the open gaping vacuous mouths of our elected leaders even when they are eloquently hoisted on their own petard their praise singers and chorus lines run to the fore like court jesters of old the halls are silent laughter is absent intentions are real, deceitful wrestling power and control from the blind electorate who have realised to late the error of their ballot cross has now become a cross they cannot bear
© 2015 michael d emmerich
A Sonnet of Requited Passion
Trying my hand at writing a sonnet… lets see how it goes (my first sonnet) inspired by and dedicated to my wife 🙂
Oh the journey of danger Begins with the form, Of one who is not a stranger But rather with a burning storm Passions unleashed by ones love As the dangerous flowing curves Of her female form are void Of all clothing and other womanly reserves Laid bare to the silhoutte Of the fading streaming golden sunlight, As the two-tone colours on an artists palette Raising raging desires to a height All these passions can only be sated Once heightened passions have abated
© 2015 Michael D Emmerich
The Ven of Life
Over the past few days a good friend of mine passed away, and upon his passing, and it has dragged me along to think of death, the fragile state of our existence and how quickly and unexpectedly the candle can be snuffed out. It made me remember something my dad said before he died: that its a sad day when you get to the stage of your live when your friends start to die around you … having lost a few friends of late, all in their mid 50’s, I have had cause to gaze introspectively at my navel, and just contemplate life.. and all its joys, friends, family and time spent with them, recollections of past events/encounters, and all the pleasure that these interactions have brought.
For those who know me, they would say that it is an irony that I get so closely caught up in death, with all its pain and emotion, seeing as though I have seen so much of it in my career, in so many places and caused by so many different events. All that prevents me from getting dragged into the quagmire of death; is my ability to insulate myself, build a wall…although that has also been to my own detriment, and I have, of late become more immersed in the death and pain which I encounter in my daily walk.
All these thoughts, emotions and reflections have moved me to pen this poem:
The Ven of Life
all that we are and have is our emotions interactions and experiences all that we have is the ven of our lifes as we journey through life we cross paths with strangers friends, family and loved ones it is these paths that cross intersect which drag us into the ven the bigger the interaction the greater the ven the more we interact the more we ven we cannot exist without interacting the extent of our interactions increases our circle the more we interact the more we overlap seeking to be apart of the greater universal circle the commonality of our existence increases our ven the more walls we break down the more we interact the more expose ourselves to risk and become more fragile this fragility increases our ven which then enriches our lives only through the ven of life can we fully enjoy and appreciate all that life has to offer so ven on!
© 2015 Michael D Emmerich
Thoughts on getting lost as a means of finding oneself…
Rebecca Solnit, whose mind and writings are among the most consistently enchanting of our time, explores this tender tango with the unknown in her altogether sublime collection of essays in A Field Guide to Getting Lost
I thoroughly enjoy her writings, having indulged in a few of her books and essays. And Getting Lost is one of the more personally transformative collection of essays I have had the pleasure of reading. Solnit, explores themes and issues of uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire, and our place on this planet.
Solnit writes in the opening essay:
Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go. The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Love, wisdom, grace, inspiration — how do you go about finding these things that are in some ways about extending the boundaries of the self into unknown territory, about becoming someone else?
Henry Miller wrote: “On how one orients himself to the moment, depends the failure or fruitfulness of it.” we are all apart of this transitional process called – Life.
“There is an illusion of ‘end,’ a stasis seemingly like death. But it is only an illusion. Everything, at this crucial point, lies in the attitude which we assume towards the moment.”
Henry Miller
T.S. Eliot’s poem Four Quarters – expounds on the journey of life and its self discovery, and ultimately learning to know ourselves. we are on a never-ending lifelong journey of exploration – of our self, environment, the world in which we live.Life is a destination, but prehaps we never really travel further than we really are at this present moment, all that changes is our understanding of the now …
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
Four Quartets
The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Sometimes we have to lose ourselves to find ourselves. Never to get lost is not to live.
mikesnexus 