Chapter 1 

I could see now, from a distance, what the purpose had been. One was to get the human being to objectify his life, his identities, his planet and see himself as he was. The other was to calm the damn animal down so he wouldn’t prey so much and run over what obstacles he perceived. This is what the words were for, some of the actions. Few listened, really listened. It was a shame because I realized at that distance what a beautiful thing Earth and life could be, often was. One thing I noticed: the poets have control for a brief moment and then it is jarred loose and taken from them. The changes so to speak, when a way shifts one direction and there is nothing but newness and the mind is all lit up with possibility and this surging plasma in the mind that fulfills rather than destroys. The poets try to hold on for as long as they can but the task is too much. Sometimes it’s the military guys, other times it’s the priests who have been born from the poets and turn on them, sometimes and often it is the politicians who have developed the same speech for the same people for over five thousand years. I’m not sure they recognize that yet but there it is.

David Eide
January 24, 2014