Buddha Never Worked A Crowd

never stayed on message

          when talking to the troops

couldn't even mouth a sound bite

          at a phony photo-op

wouldn't earn 500 hundred times

          as much as a simple follower

never told the other pilgrims

          they must be with him or against him

never had his hair styled

          or dressed down just for the cameras

never chased a ball around in a little cart

          on an expensive moonscape of artificial green

didn't owe expensive favors

          to those who paid his way to the top

never funded greasy politicians

          to gain a seat on policy control boards

had no fancy offices or other executive perqs

          or confused an empty life with a meaningless corporate work

never watched the markets

          or bond interest rates

didn't smoke cigars with cronies

          or exchange insider tips

never clawed himself to the top

          putting knives in others backs

couldn't push a sponsored agenda

          or work a friendly crowd

never smelled of aftershave

          and owned no tailored clothes

hadn't even one new car

          nor a single second home

never slashed jobs and benefits and pensions

          to haul off another surreal & unearned bonus

couldn't pump bad stock to chumps

          while dumping all his own

never spread fear among the people

          just to quiet unfavorable revelations

didn't combine government with business

          into a cozy ruling class

had no statements for reporters

          and prepared no press releases

couldn't fly for free across the country

          to read another speech he did not write

never cast artificial doubt on the work of others

          creating more confusion just to stall for time

didn't lie awake at night

          plotting strategies against his greedy foes

had no use for fat and cheesy spokesmen

          or media damage control scenarios

never imagined himself saying

          that god was on their side

never made a corporate fortune

          lying to and stealing from investors

wouldn't call for spending cuts

          while sending wasted pork back home

didn't pay out lavish settlements

          while denying any guilt or involvement

had no phony spin doctors

          pushing hype to the crowds

couldn't disinform using bald-faced lies

          in the name of national security

never changed positions

          based upon the opinion polls

didn't create false pretexts

          to make war for natural resources

had no need for slanted position papers

          or industry think tank support

was not unable to admit to big mistakes

          did not sleep better for a blind faith in some god’s will

did not preach the rule of law even while grabbing power

          had no need of makeup during a homey video chat

was not recorded sounding stupid and transparent

          while mouthing other’s explanations

never made decisions first

          and then tried to twist up evidence to match

could not deal with big donors or true believers

          his greatest skill was not raising political contributions

did not place his career in the hands of venal strategizers

          had no need to spy upon either friend or foe

crafted no cosmetic advertising images with an eye to voting blocs

          never talked in code phrases to assuage his scowling mullahs

had no private jet in which to survey great disasters

          could not conceive of a lifetime as an elected official

never called by their first name those that he had never met

          was not posed with working people just to culture an image

did not artificially morph from foolish incompetent to elder statesman

          had no rehearsed QandA sessions made to look spontaneous

was unable to sacrifice heart and soul to his ambition

          did not have to act normal despite monumental guilt

never made war upon the earth while praying to some fuzzy heaven

BackWash

Roiled into suspension and then expelled with swirling energy

          Blended to a random grace by mixtures of unrelated forces

Shuffled together with cast-off hopes and spoiled dreams

          Spinning for a while with quaintly off-base notions

Left to try and comprehend the deepening aftermath

          Thrown off by the motion of the bleeding edge

No longer sharing the same up and down

          Evaporating slowly in the hazy contrail of progress

Accelerated briefly into a trailing vortex

          Quietly reclaimed by the good cosmic background

Swirled up with others by mere and simple chance

          Disappearing quickly behind the passing lights

Spun off by the force in an incomprehensible motion

          Settling on back into a dreamless entropy

Cast aside without malice or conscious intent

          Now drifting quite at ease among unrelated detritus

Displaced by our ungainly movement in this wondrous medium

          A small byproduct in the wake of our unfocused propulsion

Mixed fully with the exhaust of its incomplete combustion

          Falling behind with other wastes as they are expelled

frothing bubbles caught between the guidance of their wake

          unforeseen emergent effects from unconsidered acts

left bobbing in the chop as the chaotic center passes

           wisdom granted by random orientations to our space and time

mere collateral disturbance stirred by the small pressure of your passing

          dirty froth created by rapid progress towards unknowable goals

left behind to mix with other effluents and re-coalesce with the void

In A Far-Off And Careful Land

 In a careful land, each eldest son breathes in his father's dying breath

and the generations form a flowing river

When the leaders do not embrace the Tao

the people have no links to their past

Not aware of the great wheel's turning,

They cannot provide for those that follow

In a quiet land, there is music to be heard in the sound of raindrops falling

and even people's clothing reflects the deeper patterns all around

In a rowdy land there is no time for turning inward

And though people’s lives remain empty they are filled with constant noise

Rushing ever forward, mindless, until, in the end -

They plummet like frightened cattle off unseen cliffs into a black abyss

In a land that knows its past, the future must remain consistent

and there is an unspoken consensus going forward

In a land ignoring history, greed makes up the rules as befits its daily needs

and then these are packaged into ideology to be sold as moral virtues

Freed from the yoke of history, without any tribe, safe from tradition

Nothing must be sacred, all may be bought, sold and subverted

In a carefully tended land, people know the farmers and what is in the fields

they are grateful for the rain and rejoice upon the autumn harvest

In a land of manufactured, pre-cooked and shrink-wrapped foods

the sun must always shine and dirt is to be studiously avoided

water logically appears and wastes go down the drain or vanish out the door

Thus, living without wonder and dying without grace

In a land that plague and war have devastated, where fire and famine ruled

perhaps their tragic echoes may lend a steadying hand

In a land of milk and honey fantasies, where the miserable are outcasts

media delusion bonds the mindless sheep into propaganda-herded flocks

Safe from the burden of collective introspection

Freed by a proud ignorance to satisfy only their induced consumer needs

In a land where revered ancestors lived, the people take on responsibilities

Change requires consideration because things have been built to last

In a land of form instead of substance, people spend more than they earn

And such as mere teachers are viewed with just a bit of scornful pity

purchases increase an empty arrogance and define shallow personalities

and the people maintain a very vengeful pride in their angry ignorance