I am in search of anyone maybe knowing the Artist to this lithograph. I purchased in Cape Cod back in the 90’s – The artist signing is a bit ambiguous but maybe: `Sable ` or Gable’ date <1977>
Yesterday, I was no one,
Another common face on the street.
Then, with a gift of talent I’ve been given,
I’m the one all seem to want to meet.
Catapulted to fame, wealth and glory;
It’s as much a surprise to me.
Mine is not that unusual a story,
I guess, I was just quicker on my feet.
But, now that I’m somewhat famous,
There lies a sad irony to this claim to fame.
The true friends who knew me back when,
Don’t treat me the same.
They say I am now different.
I ask: `Different in what sort of way’
They hesitate, then answer:
`You have a presence, your words can sway’
I look to my mirrored reflection
What I see is the person I am
Why should celebrity make me different
For I am the same person within
Funny, we all glamour to shine above the rest
But once it happens and recognition is finally won
Those with whom we most care to share it with,
Are first victims to transiting the realm of stardom.
Traversing the next threshold of time-phase passage
Lives of untold many stand to be impacted
Human talents once sought and justly rewarded
Find their advances suddenly thwarted
Marvels of invented advances decompose as dump-site fodder
Fading into obliviousness of civilized history’s record blotter
All that comes to live charts a reality, digestive cycle
First, the joy elation of emotion to a new arrival
Exuberance expressed over its achievement gains
Then, complacency, its presence a struggle for survival
As its reason of purpose increasingly wanes
Thereafter, forever lost, forgotten, to remain.
The more one delves into the psychopathy of this world
Increasingly it is realized; it is beyond any level of the absurd.
The few sane minds whom rally against the majority lot,
Rather then be heard, are more likely to be shot;
For the evil capacity to kill and maim that resides within us all,
Gains increasing prominence, drowning out calls for civility and calm.
The perfect storm to catastrophe is beginning to stir:
Global economic disparity inciting greater exposure of nationalism,
Unemployment and domestic hardship fuelling racial delineation,
Calls demanding closure of borders to limit foreign migration,
Civil unrest stirred by loss of hope for things to change,
The power elite accumulating enormous wealth at the expense of all;
With clear certainty there will arise a situation to make `IT‘ happen,
For the more one delves into the psychopathy of this world
Increasingly it is realized; it is beyond any level of the absurd.
T’were this 21st century era represented as a societal rubber-band,
Stretched each opposite way by caste’s differing hand,
Taken ultimately to a point it will no longer expand,
Forces unleashed by its breaking, a revolutionary fire it will fan.
Appeasement and contrite rhetoric will become increasingly hollow,
No longer will the meek find reason for it to swallow,
Nor for the mire and muck of impoverishment to wallow,
It is then the true wrath of the downtrodden will follow.
Barbed-wire and gated-walls will the outbreak resist,
But when all hope is lost, death becomes a virtue to enlist,
For the goal is not to the unfortunate whom now exist,
But to their progeny: for the same struggle not to persist.
This potential, destructive path need not find its birth,
Were each human-being given their common worth,
To equally share in the wealth given to this earth,
That life-lived be with fullness of happiness and mirth.
Preamble: Irony of ironies: As I am about to post my latest poem which could be taken as quite contreversial, having logged-in, the following article posted came up
`Aware of your audience……REALLY???
By Kenneth Justice
~ Yesterday a kind reader mentioned the importance of ‘knowing your audience’ in reference to job interviews and whenever you have to talk about yourself; if you go overboard with the wrong audience you can end up doing damage for your reputation but if you don’t go far enough with others you can end up making the same mistake.’
Though of radically different context, in light of what I am about to post, I found it rather poignant. You decide:
Minute by minute,
Year by year,
Slowly creeping
Toward a time to fear;
Judicial, legislative and
Political manoeuvring
Toward a repressive goal,
Leading to generations to come,
Oblivious to what they stealthily stole.
Those informed and opposed to this devious skeem,
Shedding light of truth upon this insidious plan,
Suffer wrath of persecution for what they know,
Being denied their Miranda Right and fairness of trial,
Silenced, into prison they are likely to go.
Even these words, being seen here,
Can give rise for concern for the LAW;
For as it has become so widely known;
Expression in the public domain,
No longer safe or truly free from harm,
Still remains; as challenge to the FEAR!
Stealth through the darkness of a moonless night,
They stole their way by shrouded candle light,
Not knowing if another would see their flight,
Desperate to escape the suffering by their war-trodden plight.
Time and again the still quietness of the late night hour
Is broken by the muted thunder of advancing military power;
Each cannon-boom causing all to instinctively cower,
Wanting only for their freedom to eventually flower.
Long has been their suffering under tyranny’s rule
By dictatorial oppression meant to be harsh and cruel;
Propagandized from the moment they entered school
But, for these refugees, no longer wanting to be played the fool.
The path to freedom’s gate is arduous and dreadfully long;
Emboldened, all seemed more determined and quietly strong,
Marching silent, forward, toward peace and harmony’s throng,
Knowing deep within, this is where life-lived does belong.