Love Is

the word that willfully
thrusts itself everyday life
and popular song
with unceasing regularity.

Would that it wore
a condom more often,
the less to be a breeder.

If Only...

...and minds could be opened through opening their ears...

Manners Maketh Life And Death

At family meals when I was young
at mother's command I parroted
'Manners maketh man'
as if it were The Grace.
Eating was learning how to swallow my curiosity,
keeping my self to myself, and never asking
who said that grace first? Or when?
And what did the phrase mean?

By example Mother taught me
that manners madeth deference
and with that acquiescense
a blindness to the convenient lies
we taught each other by then.
They eased life in the short term
and that was all we could ask for.
We made a virtue of not examining
the unexamined in our lives.

My forced uncuriosity eventually
undid itself. The original was in french,
'Manners maketh man as clothes
and food [but not prayer] maketh
the monk'. It was a criticism of gluttony.
'Manners makyth the man' was the family motto
of Bishop William of Wykeham-1320-1404.

I note what he did for education.
I learned nothing from the deference
which so well disguised all fear of truth.
I prefer a mutuality where humour graces
criticism, when both given or received.
And even more, humour leavens praise.

Lies

are the oldest human made I.E.D's.
When hidden and tripped, for not being seen
they help humans maim each other
and the planet more effectively
than anything other device
in the history of creation.

Signs Of Greater Age (4)

1-having nobody to send
anyone, or receive post from,
after having had plenty to say
to so many correspondents
through your life so far.....

2-being surprised by how
some everyday items cost more
than your memory says they should. 

3-being surprised by
how helpful and genuine
strangers can be when you
have a minor public crisis.

Obedience Is Not

what makes man what he is.
Man, like the planet he
haphazardly mismanages
is made by his errors.
Whoever stops others
from learning through
their mistakes halts how
they grow in understanding,
through their own error, also.
 .

Self Education

won't get anyone into the cliquey networks
where jobs are assured for the few
through discreetly exchanged favors,
or flashing the old school tie.
Nor will it make a person rich,
or get them the kind of references
that  employers pass on to each other-
where the referees take the credit
for creating the stability that ensure
the employer's maturity,
to the discredit of the employee.

But given a lighter means
to a living, self education
means choice where people
captain themselves through
life's ebb and tide, and change
is the biggest constant as much
as any heart could want,
even beyond wanting.