When Are We Going To Get There ?
Friends circle around the camp fire :
Lengths of downed trees flame within
The blackened iron fire ring where
Aged wood burns, wafting smoke
To chimney up through the high
Canopy of tall pines .
Burning wood's cave ageless aroma
Escapes flames of carbon as hues
Of white and blue, also shades
Of orange and red, that join crackling ,
Popping gases released finally from
Spent embers to seek again the
Chemistry of union .
Before molecules, pre- atom, both ash and gas
Were big banged into primordial birth
As quarks - positive and negative - then
Chaining over and over, again and again ,
Linking for how many times, maybe into ,
Even my own DNA .
A child sees a journey as a destination, as an ending,
" When are we going to get there ? "
But force and matter, not knowing beginning
Or able to see an end, journey to connect
Into granite, or possibly, into you and either by
Magma or by fire, they are released as
Ooze or as ash to again travel .
Stalking silently within me, multiplying
And dividing, oblivious to the demands
For long life and old age, stealth cells ,
The aggressive minority demanding their
Pound of flesh cheat in line, as they become
The new order .
Downed trees or me makes no difference
To fire's finality of form .
I am, as is a child, as is ash to " there",
Release is to my continued journey .
Giving up their colors embers cool and
Die away, on the breeze ash drifts ,
There into darkness, depart friends .
Ronald C. Downie
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Power Of The Purse Haiku 10
Power Of The Purse
Haiku 10
Power of the purse,
Buys thirty-two page insert -
Money talks, bull shit... !
Shanty Hill's ghost lives,
Pottstown's Tom Hylton tests us -
Structures or children ?
A fedora walks,
Shuns talks, centered in himself -
Dictator logic.
Property taxes
Costs more than a pound of flesh -
They impoverish.
Education woes,
Walkable town - poor test scores -
Edifice envy.
Ronald C. Downie
The crush of property taxes, especially for those on fixed incomes, is breaking the backs of Pottstown's senior population. Taxed out of our homes to pay for sub-par schools administered by highly paid people who live somewhere outside the district is an affront to logic. When are citizens going to wakeup and demand change ? At the least go to county wide districts, at least that way, one man with access to deep pockets can not effect the final board decisions so easily.
The basic principle of insurance : increase the population of the base so each is charged less but the total pot builds to fund occurrences. County districts would act in the same fashion. In Pennsylvania there is little reason beyond cost of living adjustments that some students receive three times the amount spent on another student usually found in a poor urban setting.
Plutocracy is the word i'm thinking about. Look it up.
Haiku 10
Power of the purse,
Buys thirty-two page insert -
Money talks, bull shit... !
Shanty Hill's ghost lives,
Pottstown's Tom Hylton tests us -
Structures or children ?
A fedora walks,
Shuns talks, centered in himself -
Dictator logic.
Property taxes
Costs more than a pound of flesh -
They impoverish.
Education woes,
Walkable town - poor test scores -
Edifice envy.
Ronald C. Downie
The crush of property taxes, especially for those on fixed incomes, is breaking the backs of Pottstown's senior population. Taxed out of our homes to pay for sub-par schools administered by highly paid people who live somewhere outside the district is an affront to logic. When are citizens going to wakeup and demand change ? At the least go to county wide districts, at least that way, one man with access to deep pockets can not effect the final board decisions so easily.
The basic principle of insurance : increase the population of the base so each is charged less but the total pot builds to fund occurrences. County districts would act in the same fashion. In Pennsylvania there is little reason beyond cost of living adjustments that some students receive three times the amount spent on another student usually found in a poor urban setting.
Plutocracy is the word i'm thinking about. Look it up.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Old World Wisdom
Old World Wisdom
Gran' Pa Downie in his distinctive Scottish brogue, rolling his RR's, dropping words of Old World wisdom advised me sixty-five years ago "to look at music and listen to art". In other words, don't be content with the apparent, but rather, see into the depth to which organized sound takes us and, as importantly, hear our inner voice when we view any work of art.
More real today is the need to go beyond the obvious and find truth where it may lie hidden just out of easy reach. Captured as we are by being spoon fed by a twenty-four hour news cycle, we choose not to critically think for ourselves, but rather have some talking heads shout out catch phrases which easily excite the emotion pent up within us, an unthinking public. Easily fed as " garbage in, garbage out" just as easily led which becomes our peril.
Ronald C. Downie
Gran' Pa Downie in his distinctive Scottish brogue, rolling his RR's, dropping words of Old World wisdom advised me sixty-five years ago "to look at music and listen to art". In other words, don't be content with the apparent, but rather, see into the depth to which organized sound takes us and, as importantly, hear our inner voice when we view any work of art.
More real today is the need to go beyond the obvious and find truth where it may lie hidden just out of easy reach. Captured as we are by being spoon fed by a twenty-four hour news cycle, we choose not to critically think for ourselves, but rather have some talking heads shout out catch phrases which easily excite the emotion pent up within us, an unthinking public. Easily fed as " garbage in, garbage out" just as easily led which becomes our peril.
Ronald C. Downie
Monday, March 28, 2011
Haiku 9
Haiku 9
Radiation looms,
Planet life in jeopardy-
Stock prices were good.
Fire or by ice,
One consumes, other entombs -
"Rock-a-by baby...".
Even Popeye sobs,
Spinach now not fit to eat -
Radiation kills.
Pestilence now plague,
Super bug foils Doctors -
No stopping Nature.
Violets, pansies,
Daffodils, tulips, crocus -
Color enlivens.
Ronald C. Downie
Radiation looms,
Planet life in jeopardy-
Stock prices were good.
Fire or by ice,
One consumes, other entombs -
"Rock-a-by baby...".
Even Popeye sobs,
Spinach now not fit to eat -
Radiation kills.
Pestilence now plague,
Super bug foils Doctors -
No stopping Nature.
Violets, pansies,
Daffodils, tulips, crocus -
Color enlivens.
Ronald C. Downie
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Highways In Life
Highways In Life
Ever wonder why highways must cross
One another, intersecting as they will,
Generally in quite opposite directions,
Seeking a quick escape from the other.
Not everyone goes in the same direction,
Though homogeneous, we're individuals
Bent on pursuing a destination sought.
Is your's that differently from mine ?
We are seekers of far off horizons
Cast by our clear eyes while traveling
The highways crossing one another
In directions either familiar or foreign.
Some seek a clearly defined destination,
Others are satisfied by the trip's lure.
Getting somewhere has its own merits,
But travel for travel's sake often's desired.
Being of the latter persuasion, I trust
The road to be my teacher of choice
Leading me toward new horizons melding far
Off hills with lush verdant valley meadows.
Ronald C. Downie
Ever wonder why highways must cross
One another, intersecting as they will,
Generally in quite opposite directions,
Seeking a quick escape from the other.
Not everyone goes in the same direction,
Though homogeneous, we're individuals
Bent on pursuing a destination sought.
Is your's that differently from mine ?
We are seekers of far off horizons
Cast by our clear eyes while traveling
The highways crossing one another
In directions either familiar or foreign.
Some seek a clearly defined destination,
Others are satisfied by the trip's lure.
Getting somewhere has its own merits,
But travel for travel's sake often's desired.
Being of the latter persuasion, I trust
The road to be my teacher of choice
Leading me toward new horizons melding far
Off hills with lush verdant valley meadows.
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, March 25, 2011
Air Conditioning 101
Air Conditioning 101
Increasingly , if I am any indicator,
Us " Oldsters " look backward anymore
Rather than forward ,to find out that
The past mollifies stress and pain
Through the passage of time and
Puts a pleasurable gilding on memories :
Real or imagined ,artful or drab,
Even long forgotten wry old wishes .
Up on the three storied roof of Barker's barn ,
Formerly known to us as the Wade Farm ,
I cut my teeth high up to a twelve year old's fright .
No prior experience , did Mom and Dad know ?
A bucket of barn red paint , a four inch wide brush ,
A simple cloths line safety tie off rope , and
The the rickety , rung missing , extension ladder .
You've seen raised seam barn roofs many times ,
But have you felt the sun's unrelenting
Reflection of vapored , scorching , oppressive
Heat that burns through leather gloves?
Tin roofs have a cruel way of accepting paint .
How much paint was on me , on the roof ?
The Barkers were Mennonites , in dress at least .
They gave me my first lesson in air conditioning .
I came to work there while staying with my
Father's parents ,Wee Annie and Gran'Pa Downie ,
As they were fondly known by Houck Road neighbors .
As usual , mine was a working vacation , no complaints .
Seems I didn't wear a hat since I didn't know I'd be on a roof .
My employer ,Barker, gave me an old used straw hat
To keep the harsh sun rays directly off my head .
After lunch when we all realized how hot it really was
Mr.Barker took me to the garden patch . There he
Pulled off a large , thick outer leaf of a cabbage plant
And handed it to me . " Here, stuff this leaf inside your
Hat and let me know if this doesn't help with the heat ."
Air Conditioning 101 was a huge success . Try it .
Ronald C . Downie
Looking back allows us to look forward with hope for an improved World.
Increasingly , if I am any indicator,
Us " Oldsters " look backward anymore
Rather than forward ,to find out that
The past mollifies stress and pain
Through the passage of time and
Puts a pleasurable gilding on memories :
Real or imagined ,artful or drab,
Even long forgotten wry old wishes .
Up on the three storied roof of Barker's barn ,
Formerly known to us as the Wade Farm ,
I cut my teeth high up to a twelve year old's fright .
No prior experience , did Mom and Dad know ?
A bucket of barn red paint , a four inch wide brush ,
A simple cloths line safety tie off rope , and
The the rickety , rung missing , extension ladder .
You've seen raised seam barn roofs many times ,
But have you felt the sun's unrelenting
Reflection of vapored , scorching , oppressive
Heat that burns through leather gloves?
Tin roofs have a cruel way of accepting paint .
How much paint was on me , on the roof ?
The Barkers were Mennonites , in dress at least .
They gave me my first lesson in air conditioning .
I came to work there while staying with my
Father's parents ,Wee Annie and Gran'Pa Downie ,
As they were fondly known by Houck Road neighbors .
As usual , mine was a working vacation , no complaints .
Seems I didn't wear a hat since I didn't know I'd be on a roof .
My employer ,Barker, gave me an old used straw hat
To keep the harsh sun rays directly off my head .
After lunch when we all realized how hot it really was
Mr.Barker took me to the garden patch . There he
Pulled off a large , thick outer leaf of a cabbage plant
And handed it to me . " Here, stuff this leaf inside your
Hat and let me know if this doesn't help with the heat ."
Air Conditioning 101 was a huge success . Try it .
Ronald C . Downie
Looking back allows us to look forward with hope for an improved World.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Should We Believe ?
Should We Believe ?
Spent fuel rods suspect,
Containment an after thought-
Map - fifty miles.
Safely in water
Pools ? Spent rods still active -
Wool pulled over eyes.
We didn't realize,
Never before such damage -
First is no excuse.
What is your half life ?
Ten Centuries ? Hell no, man !
Cancer ! Cancer ! Can ... !
The official line :
Cheapest, safest energy -
Why worry ? CANCER ! !
Ronald C. Downie
Haiku 8
Spent fuel rods suspect,
Containment an after thought-
Map - fifty miles.
Safely in water
Pools ? Spent rods still active -
Wool pulled over eyes.
We didn't realize,
Never before such damage -
First is no excuse.
What is your half life ?
Ten Centuries ? Hell no, man !
Cancer ! Cancer ! Can ... !
The official line :
Cheapest, safest energy -
Why worry ? CANCER ! !
Ronald C. Downie
Haiku 8
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