PEACE... Moving Beyond War

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Whitman White Papers

 

Dove Above
International people with megaphones
Peace

Valentines Day be a day for fun, l'amour
Peace, love and joy

It is not my time to be laughing happy
It is as it is

Too deep sometimes
I look
For that be my nature

Then be right now
When shallow
And simple
Seems to be my course

And I be the silly dreamer today
And not wishing for more
Of the callow tit-for-tat
Violence and recrimination
Spilling out in the world
And broadcast live
Or on film
To your nearest TV, radio,
Or computer

It is a time to come together
A time for couples
To do what couples do
To give white or yellow
Or red roses
And sweets to our specials

And not merely a time to forgive
Our foes but to forget them
A time for moving past sins
To make a better tomorrow

As I say sometimes in write
It is a day to be a little naïve
To hope more than hate
Accept small differences
As smaller things to get past
And seek the common ground
And seek the better natures
Of those we might oppose

Blow a kiss to the wind, my dear
Blow a kiss to the wind
That another may be touched by it
Blow a kiss to the wind...

As a poet, and free lance writer, I live and love the power of words.  In 2006, the world has seen a level of turmoil that rivals the time leading up to the second world war. Economic and religious differences threaten the peace.
Terrorist reprisals, religious intolerance, and neo-colonialism all threaten the established world sense of order.
The world is in throws of a new arms race and  leaders from around the world have lost sight of the forest for the trees.
It is time to look toward our children and begin to build the gift of a legacy. A legacy that builds tolerance and cooperation. A legacy that respects the bounty and beauty of nature. A legacy that treasures and values and respects human life.
"Some people say that I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." -John Lennon Imagine-  

We are facing difficult times, but many of the problems, we have created ourselves.
From conflict abroad with cultures not our own
To domestic policies that inhibit freedom
  and the free exchange of ideas
 
From policies that corrupt the land and sea and air
To wanton greed that corrupts our institutions
  and punish our children with debt and social weakness
 
From some say we have lost the once held vision of American greatness
To the cynical spector of the strongest nation
   growing fat and weak and no better than our foes.
  
    

Whitman White Papers

dear child
[at my age i can call nearly anyone that
for i feel old today in the cold rain]
is it for me to guide you
and another you to help a habitat for humanity
or to give to a food bank or mission soup kitchen
to donate clothes to a good cause...

or perhaps join some folks to clean up a neighbourhood
or take a bunch of teens on a bright day with some paint
and scrapers and just pick a house or two to spruce up
[though in america someone would probably sue
for not selecting their house]

to say i would not help would be a lie
and who is to say what words from my heart
-i must chuckle- are or are not practical
as if poetry should ever be -oh my G-d; practical...

or for a you to plant even some bright blossoms
just to enjoy for oneself and for others
passing by to share in their beauty
-is that not a gift...

you worry for what one who has little
[but now has some feeling of art]
of what i do and i worry for those
who hoard and desire only for themselves
and what they could do...

i claim no righteousness of my own
i am a small and tired and poor writer
musing about peace and love and tolerance
and and am totally enamoured by feminine beauty
knowing full well that complete beauty exudes from within
and the canvas of the form alone;
though it be lovely -is of one dimension.

one person alone can do little
one person quiet and unseen can do even less
people together can do so much more
-is winning by division that much a victory...

and but what is accomplished by hating another
by enslaving another by claiming superiority
over another when we all bloom
as flowers of different hues
of the same garden...

and you allegedly worry about me being practical
[and what today i am doing and what project is ongoing and do not worry this be a mere counterpoint]
as if sculptures and paintings and songs
and ideas and poems are suppose to be practical---

never mind, that's okay; sometimes we must tear down
so that people can rebuild
others would rather just tear down
while others want what is here
all to themselves and their own...
    ***************************************

berrybikini.jpg

Halle Berry -Perhaps the most beautiful
celebrity in the world-

-rebirth-

by pj whitman



hello and what are you so much thinking? ...

it be a lovely day of soft breezes

and hanging the laundry to dry

and spring smiles like a happy baby

new grass and high skies are brighter

along with the first blossems

are so brightly grinning

like the first day new picture

of your brand new television

that gives that sweeter colours...



would you help me try to stay angry

and sell me things because i might me ill

and tell me what i don't have

and who doesn't like me because i am american

and others want to tell me who else to hate

because of their colours or religion

or what someone else owns

and and and or or or



perhaps i be the angry hypocrite for not sharing

what so little i have

though so much more i have

than others even more challenged...



what little so i care

if you might wear a turban or a yamaka

a white robe or the mitre of a bishop

a floral kimino or a tailored armani suit

or givenchy gown or tattered jeans

a ball cap and a tee shirt...



rather to judge by the content of the heart

than colour of skin

or cut of your covering fabric...



and again it be spring in my half of the globe

and again the natural hope of rebirth

and perhaps a rebirth of peace on earth

and why should we all not want peace

and we not want hope

and we not want more

for our children

and for all the children to come



[and by what exact faith would it matter

if when we can

to lead others from anger

and if their anger cannot be abated

to turn their anger back against themselves...]



and again it be spring

another spring though one less to see

though but sharing only his last name

uncle walt would chuckle and likely agree

that i would bathe naked in cool spring waters

at the height of a glorious sun

and loll about on green pastures

beside rainbows of the new flowers

between the daily toils we all must endure



and would i, we, you sing gentle songs

in any tongue that translated to a new peace

like another new spring

a rebirth again and again rebirth

again and again and again...



PJ Whitman

pjw1.jpg

"We are one people, of one community, united by interwoven destinies, together on this one earth. We ourselves only choose to be divided; by culture, by religion, by the colours of our skin, by national borders, by social or economic class.

there are certain days-

and there are just certain days when you know
when you know there may be a better day a coming
the skies are brighter and the sun a little bit warmer
the palate of the flowers are warmer and the textures
of the petals and the grain of the wood
of hand hewn furniture rises to the surface...

it may be just be one of those days
the lovely little hints that a new wave
of the continuing of endings and beginnings
we all of us can better live with
and live between us in a gentler acceptance
indeed with each ourselves.

-have played a scholar in the past
and have a thought for curricula
for a class in the infamy of hate speak
for new generations to hear and see and read
the awful words that spewed from those
who have that great empty in their souls.-

there are cracks showing in the walls
of anger this brighter day
and now is a good day to open these cracks

see, all one has to do is remove those peoples named
in that terrible speak and insert the word you and you
identify with as 'your people'
with the peoples first mentioned
as that 'evil' people and then
imagine how that must feel...

and then you and you go back to looking for solutions
to problems I and they and you seem to feel
as insurmountable as impossible as beyond us all
this I believe was what John was saying in his song 'Imagine'

and when these opportunities arise
when the chances for new words
and new hopes of old dreams knock upon the door
and re-introduce themselves; now and as then
as the call of "Carpe Diem" -sieze the day-
arise and present themselves for any reason
-real events, random circumstance or dumb luck
the real success is to be open to solutions
solutions that may not be ideal to anyone
but acceptable to those willing to give
to get something desirable back...

to take words of someone who might be a foe
and build upon those words if such a compromise
can be achieved and enough is given
on both sides to get back enough
to claim a victory on both sides...

and I would say -can only say
I have dabbled in places most folks
could never be willing or able to go
but this is where and how and why I have
gone to those places inside
where some poets are taught about
what is called 'process'...
and process is about making decisions and choices
whether personal or economic or political
or even faith for oneself and is from that person's
own special daily human experience; take all that
and give yourself knowledge of that one another person's life and experience, walk in their experience
where and how they live and if one can see
all that from another point of view;
it becomes not so hard to see through
a small bit their eyes as one see through
the eyes your own

it is one seeing a single circumstance
from the view one would call victim
and victimizer and back again, for whether
right or wrong to even reverse the roles
and the watch and listen to who and why
we each decide as each we would do
and would one do in the position of another...

if this be complex it need not be so much
the old 60's song; 'before you abuse,
criticise, or accuse,
Walk a mile in my shoes...'

putting it all on the line
this I believe I have done
to make our place a better
and more peaceful place
for what I see as the right reasons.

take all my previous words in many places
some of each many have seen
though perhaps not all have seen
in all those places;
with these all gathered thoughts considered.

circumstances seem to say that someone indeed
may have listened to some of my words
spread about over a period of years
some understood the totality of such words
and some took only what they wanted to see;
and this again I know and know this is what
people would normally do; for I myself
have done this myself to hear what indeed
one would like to hear.

for those who in life are buried in thought
perhaps even in thought beyond life itself
who we in our own ego would call this our life
and our creativity; would reach out to; would
latch upon to words and thoughts others have
but cannot develop or share and build
upon those thoughts even beyond nation
and personal loyalties to make a
statement about what in be this heart
to be our own or even a higher truth
as we would indeed see...

for this is developing -voice- each our voice
within our own truth as we each would know

and this all rolls back to this day and this day
and I see openings and opportunity
to grasp such chances that do present themselves
if one can accept giving to get as much back
to speak out and listen back and make the right deal
at the right time in fairness enough to take back
to all the rest an idea of peace
and an idea of hope
a belief in dreams
in full knowledge that all have hopes
and all have dreams and if
we can find the right balance
of insuring my dreams and your dreams
we can build a better today and tomorrow
of oh my yes together
and yes together- 23 may 2006