Compulsive Masculinity

In the era of unrealistic standards for women,
With the plastic precision  of barbie dolls,
and the physically impossible bust to waist ratio of Laura Croft
where the only thing that mirrors the warped results of a first attempt at photoshop
is the very standard that editing is trying to match.
We cannot ignore the corner that women in our society are literally being painted into,
but we also cannot ignore the reciprocal for our young men.
For every scantly clad, computer generated model on the cover of a magazine
there is an action figure being placed into the hands of a little boy.
That action figure has hands that are forever closed fists
that action figure comes complete with kung-fu kicks
that action figure is telling that little boy the exact opposite
of everything I have ever been taught to tell kids
See my kids have mantras that they echo around the classroom
"Hands are not for hitting"
"You can't just take that from me"
"I need help please"
That action figure, and the movies that spawned him
they tell kids that asking for help is for the weak,
they tell kids that the quickest way to solve the problem
is a combination closed fists, bullets and explosives,
and you can be damn sure whatever you want is always for the taking

I want us to remember and weep
for every little boy whose dreams are stained red
by the bloody myth of redemptive violence
whose games are permeated by deus ex machina guns
whose bullets only penetrate the bad guys.
I want to tell these kids bad guys only exist in nightmares
and political campaign speeches
but then I would have to explain to them what politics are
and there are rules about using filthy language around kids.
I want us to remember and weep
because damnit, it is OK to cry sometimes
Despite every movie, every adult, every cultural representation of MAN
that tells us boys dont cry
that tells us boys are meant to fight
that tells us boys are meant to chase down women or objects
that tells us boys are meant not to know the difference between the two
that tells us boys are all biceps and bravado
and it makes me sad that at age four,
I can already see boys looking at their hands and forgetting what they're for
so I want to remind them:
Guys, hands are not for hitting even when it seems like your heart is just for hurting,
they're for holding and writing and making
and even though you'll never see a Michelangelo action figure
with realistic brush stroke action,
or an MLK video game where players hold signs while marching and write speeches
that change a country
you can know that your hands are not molded into plastic fists
I want to remind them:
Guys, they can't just take it from you, your innocence and believe me they're coming for it,
they want to take it from you, replace it with extra helpings of testosterone and misogyny
but you can't let them.
Hold onto your hope,
because even though no one wakes up thinking:
"today I will tell a boy that manning up means hiding behind guns and knuckles
and forgetting any kind of empathy"
that seems to be the lesson the world has to offer
I want to remind them:
Guys, it's OK to ask for help, if we are helped when we need it and help when we are needed this whole world thing works, and I dont know of any obstacle that isn't lighter with an extra pair of hands.

But I can't say these things to four year olds,
I can only say them to you.
We've been sold on this definition of MAN for far too long
it's about time we asked for our money back
it's about time we canceled our societal subscription to compulsive masculinity.

A Recipe For Start

From grades 6 to 12 I was always familiar with the administration,
and trust me it was not because they wanted to show appreciation,
generally I was faced with aggravation
or poorly disguised attempts at intimidation
which I could always shrug off without the least bit trepidation,
because by 13 the lie I told was an easy one:
"I'm sorry."
I often came home to the line "You know, you're teacher called today."
and went to bed to the line "You always have something to say."
It was ironic criticism coming from professional activists'
who would always say after shutting the door "we did name him for an anarchist..."

By 15 I could identify and diagnose a mark at 30 yards,
they usually had me pegged at 50,
They knew I was the kid that never learned he should be seen and not heard,
They knew I was the kid that didn't get beaten for back talk,
Because for every smart mouth wise crack, mom had a come back word
or two, or three,
So it went that, every figure of authority,
Pegged down a a part of me
There were those that knew I was a trouble maker,
but also an instigator,
on top of that a procrastinator,
and thus they tried to run me like a dictator.
and wouldn't give me the time of day,
but would throw it like a knife,
yelling "ABOUT DAMN TIME TO GET A WATCH!"
Then there were those that let me play the role of entertainer
like a solid comic that they kept on retainer
and for me it was a no brainer,
I liked the laughs, with jokes all things are better.
But my best teachers knew what to expect.
They never had to demand respect,
That they earned, only yelling to be direct,
These were the ones who would scratch out
"Trouble" on tests and write in "difference maker"
gave me the tools to preach peace with Mennonites and Quakers
Recognized I came from a long line of movers and shakers
Like my ma, they taught don't give up but meet halfway with takers
They took me off using labels like "haters"
Pointed out people are just needers
those who help them are leaders
those who prey upon them? conflict breeders
and if you care enough to be an interceder
then get in on their behalf,
gave encouragement to use my gifts and make 'em laugh
they were honest saying:
"sometimes you'll get the shaft.
but never, never stop giving what you have,
the truth. Not all of it, not even most of it, a small part
but with that, a steady heart
a touch of art
you can go and fill your shopping cart
get all your favorite ingredients
 because you've got what you need
to make a start."

American Skills

We are good at a few things here in America.
First of all we're good at killing,
follow up on that and we're good at billing,
which in the case of the poor, is essentially killing,
so like I said, here in America, we're good at killing,
and when you think about it, it's awfully chilling
that we focus on murder when we could be filling
empty stomachs and cracks in the wall,
and some of you dont understand at all,
how long and how low some kids must crawl,
looking up to men who snatch purses drop verses or know who to ball,
and it's ironic that despite being so low, they still have so far to fall,
I'm inspired by the kids who manage to deny death,
with each and every embattled bailout breath,
now I dont want you to be confused,
I reference not the money with which the economy was infused,
with my subjects the politicians are far less enthused,
and that is why a presidents bipartisan bullshit promises leave me unamused.
We need to get past this pulled up by boot straps mentality,
come on people there is no such thing as meritocracy.
I protest the pund of my flesh versus coins held preciously,
because if there is anything else we're goo at in America, it's defying authority.
I dare you to price check my labor, you couldn't possibly pay my fee,
if for no other reason, than the fact that it is imaginary.
Here have some advice, have no fear it's free,
try a taste of the American Identity,
Fuck the system.

A Complaint, a Commendation and a Call to Conscious

Dear American Representative Government,
I would like to place a complaint,
I take issue with a type of your product placement.
The item in question is your democracy starter kit,
Product ID #107-56 "writing a Terrorist Watch List."
Formerly known as "How to fight a  Communist."
Subtitled as "Unmalleable  Leadership Replacement"
Originally sold as "So You Want to be Imperialist?"
See, the problem I have found is that the kit doesnt work,
and at first I thought maybe just mine had a quirk,
and I didn't want to say anything and be the jerk,
but I've looked and know where the problem seems to lurk.
I called some friend in Iraq, Egypt and Iran,
then a few more in Palestine and Afghanistan,
Guatemala, Panama and Bolivia,
Ecuador, Chile, El Salvador and Columbia.
Then I went and chatted with Cambodia,
alongside Laos, Vietnam and Korea.
Then of course Greece and Bosnia,
Germany, Poland, former Yugoslavia,
and they agree,
Your problem is that you think you can export democracy,
on the backs of bullets
that end up buried in the bellies of peasants
you need to know that this does not qualify as diplomacy.
Between Shahs, Generals, Presidents and all the problems you didnt see,
there is one fact, and this is key:
Violence is not conducive for a state that's free.

Dear Revolutionaries, marchers and occupiers,
protestors, and indeed all other kinds and creeds bullshit deniers,
I would like to issue some congratulations,
yes you are receiving most sincere felicitations,
as opposed to the usual martial condemnations
and the God-Bless-'Murica-screw-you-hippies  damnations,
You folks are my favorite flavor of societal aberration.
I want you to know that your faith is not misplaced
With heads hooded, hands cuffed and wrists chaffed
your cry, your pain is a prayer most chaste.
Know that in your stone and bars tabernacle
where you worship with chain and shackle
you can let loose a laugh, a delirious cackle
for you have the war, even if they have the battle

Now, to you average citizen I'm glad you have waited.
I need you to take these folks we've got nominated,
and work towards getting them defenestrated
they're just part of a system from which our problems emanated
let's get agitated, let's get aggravated
damnit folks we're so close we've almost made it
I have an idea and here let me demonstrate it
This all comes down to power, to information
so come here listen, I'm talking dissemination
cause I am sick of the freedom imitation
I want love and life, lacking limitation
and it all starts with a legitimate administration
free of big buy lobbyist contamination
free of candidates that are simply a sensation
I'm asking a lot, but your presence here is an indication
That you know something is wrong within our nation.
So this is what I've got to ask,
I know it seems like a daunting task
but this is something we can't just let slip past
and we have got to act fast
cause the way things are going this chance wont last
because we are lining up, our roles have been cast
the stage is set, the actors amassed
get ready folk, this will be a blast,
what I need you to do is simply say no.
Tell the leaders that you wont just let this go,
that your signs and songs are not just a show
that you really are in the know
and that once our chants start to flow
once our numbers start to grow
our trumpets start to blow
our hearts fires start to glow
that autocratic mountains will be laid low
the process is one that only starts slow
then picks up pace until it takes off with a country in tow.
Dear average citizen, it all starts with you,
it only takes one to start or maybe two
but in case I havent gotten this through
you have power, possibly more than you knew.

Little Bits of God

I called the man who taught me God father
But he was not a priest
Not an ordained one at least
But still he lectured and lead men
Abandoned souls he did defend
And I sat beside him for enough car rides
That he made it clear where God resides
So when I cradled that baby in my arms
When I did what little I could to shelter her from harm
I knew I was holding God against my soul
I sang little rhymes in a language she would never know
I cooed and danced I hummed and I bobbed
I tried to give her back what humanity robbed
And as I circled around the room
I saw more little bits of God trapped in that tomb
And in a judicious sense of mind
I sought to more evenly divide my time
I tried to put her down while she slept
But from her mouth a fierce cry leapt
And though my flesh remained whole
Into my heart her voice stole
The pain raged through me like a filthy fire
Compelling me to fill the child's desire
Then sickness took me like a plague
forcing me to yield to what she did beg
So I took her up again and the cry did cease
And on her face rose a look of peace
Then falling sand did call me to depart
But before my exit could be made one last scream did she impart
and though I left the room with my prayers said
The sound lingered in the dark corners of my head
So I yet see her minuscule body wailing in her bed
 I recoil as though she could strike me dead
And I remember what that man taught
Then without a second thought
I devoted myself to the scattered
Because outside of those tiny pieces of God, nothing else mattered

"Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them."

Dorothy Day on how to love enemies.

"The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world"
Ammon Hennacy on what it means to be a Christian Anarchist

"We must use the weapon of love. We must have compassion and understanding for those who hate us. We must realize so many people are taught to hate us that they are not totally responsible for their hate. We stand in life at midnight, we are always on the threshold of a new dawn." 
Martin Luther King Jr. on how to fight hate.

"We are spending all this money for death and destruction, and not nearly enough money for life and constructive development....when the guns of war become a national obsession social needs inevitably suffer"
Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War