Poetry Museum- War

Poetry and Politics:

Poetry often acts as a catalyst for civil action. The poet hopes to  use the condensed wording to punch the hearer with a message full of  impact.  Abolitionist Thinkers of the 1850's utilized poetic forms to communicate their platform.  The enlightened poets of the 1850's felt that the Judges and great men and utilized poetry to move their stoney hearts.
 Herman Melville also used the impact of poetry to communicate his belief in the evil of slavery:

The Portent

By Herman Melville

Hanging from the beam,

      Slowly swaying (such the law),

Gaunt the shadow on your green,

      Shenandoah!

The cut is on the crown

      (Lo, John Brown),

And the stabs shall heal no more.

Hidden in the cap

      Is the anguish none can draw;

So your future veils its face,

      Shenandoah!

But the streaming beard is shown

      (Weird John Brown),

The meteor of the war.

1855

Arrested by Time's Goon Squad

Old age comes to Me

Hair grows in my ears. 

Why did this hair grow so long?

Hair grows in my nose.  

1855

Andy and Michelle Move to Portland, Oregon

Oregon awaits 'em,
Good times lay ahead, gold sea
foam: Rogue Micro Beer.

Good Luck to Andy and Michelle.

Oakland: Colorado County

Gregorio Roth Mows the Lawn

Urban lawn cowboy

Electric Chord in Hand,

Reigning in the Seed.

Reviews: Life of Lujan

Reality bends to myth
life the strange thing, story makes
life's pain dead-defunct.
-RIP Gilberto ‘Magu’ Sanchez ledesma Flores Lujan

1855

God is in the Gap
Greatest Obstacles, Disguised Gifts;
God celebrates: OOPS!


God celebrates: us
we burn the oatmeal again, 
God loves the melange. 

melange, mélange [meɪˈlɑːnʒ]

n

1. a mixture; confusion

2. (Earth Sciences / Geological Science) Geology a totally disordered mixture of rocks of different shapes, sizes, ages, and origins

[from French mêler to mix. See medley]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003 

1855: Moby Dick Chapter XXXV

Our Stand at the Mast Head

We fish away from the mangroves,
staring out, praying for bites.
We know to keep weather eyes open.
But I think of forms I loved.
There on the dock we stand,
casting for dreams on our lines.
But I dream of pantheism,
not of fish far removed.

1855

Moby Dick Chapters XXXII-XXXIV

Stubb

Throw away the rod,
we aint on the path;
set by God,
walk slim on the lath.

For we toil in mire
our backs loaded, bent;
may aspire
blue whale's disfigurement.

*To Read with more clarity click on the Moby-Dick Label and all of the Moby-Dick responses will be together.

1855

Queen Mab-XXXI

Stubb

Rest in the bottom lay,
his peg leg went up me,
like a tentacle from a many handed creature,
his peg leg went up me, his wood leg - up me.
It did violate my sensitive nature.
His peg leg went up me.

Flask

Oh put, story to rest
of whale bone cane and ye silliness
your dream a good laugh at least-
and what of the Merman's weariness?
Look whales from the North-west!

1855

Chapter XXX: The Pipe 124
Elijah, and Ishmael Discuss the Man that Is Ahab.

Ishmael: 
_"Be Humbled by God and pray like a child?
persevering through our LORD?"_
Ahab's an Anglican?
He uses faith instead of stars, how sly.
Ahab's pipe highlights a pale, pale man,
who uses God's power as alibi.
Ahab's an Anglican?

Elijah:
But this is not his WaY,
We know that all things work to HIS PLEaSURE.
Our ship has been foreordained, before first DaY,
Where we lay our eyes, will be our TREaSURE.
So, this is Our God's WaY.

1855

We see the Silhouette of Ahab. He is talking madly to himself, on the open deck.   He does not pay any attention to the men who are in the shadows preparing the ship for this part in the voyage.  He does not want to disturb their sleep. The old man would emerge, gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled way.

It is the magic hour when the sun is just about to go to bed for the night.

Ahab:
"Not so my heart, but there is fruit
And thou hast hands."**
Nights like these I sing like a cage
bird, but of what dream, ending dispute.
Truth's a whale trapped in a wettened iron cage.
The horn did sound -
awakes my courage to fly up in me;
my nerves, flip flop, cartwheel, aha;
I'm raw. I'm raw. (Rubbing an apple on his forearm).


Stubb enters:
Stubb: 
Captain, are you blind? What is it you see?
Ahab: 
Ass, clear your head!
Stubb: 
Your ghost is aboard;
and the men are sinking in great fears.
Concious forbears
it, sailors are in need-
Ahab:
-Dont want my load.
My load will make the most sane man wild.
I give my word,
be Humbled by God and pray like a child:
persevering through our LORD.
(Looks at the apple, and gives the apple to Stubb).

*George Herbert _The Collar_ (Lines 19-25)
**Ahab began talking aloud at this point in the story from last time.

1855

Captain Ahab Some More

Shadow closeted behind captain's door.
The woe aboard,
now consuming Ahab, rotted pine;
steered the ship straight as a Roman Road,
towards Miss Calamaties' shores.

Captain Ahab's starch suit,
did not move in the wind, still born
of the cross-roads purpose it bore.

A white whale, Ahab's craved fruit,
ate from sea's vine;
swam towards the Pequod around Cape Horn.
Last time, Moby-Dick, she bit
into the currents of Ahab's sea.

Swore not to say, "Our Ships been hit!
It's Blasted!
Alls  Wasted!"
But despite the cold winds of memory
the ones tainted with sorry,
Ahab smiled and knew his story:
"Not so my heart, but there is fruit
And thou hast hands."**

**George Herbert The Collar (line 17-18)

1855

 Old Addresses Moved On From 

150 South Clarkson
Dog friendly Washington "Spot"
Ordering Fat Tire


I know I need to move on from these old places.  Wow! It seems so long ago that I frequented these Spots....but sometimes they mess with my head... old dreams and old places are clogged up in my memory....Feelings of loss for every place I dreamed of living in.    I pray that these dreams can get unclogged from the space inside my mind that I hold onto.  I also pray that my quest has not distanced me too far from old friends and old places.   I pray also that I forgive my own mistakes and people that may have tried to harm me along the way.    I pray that one day all will be made full in the likeness of my LORD Jesus Christ, the ultimate balm for all that we use to do harm.   (I know this is not a necessarily a Christian website but my principals are shaped as a reformed Christian).