New Poem

I haven't updated the blog recently, because I've been writing more or less solidly for the past three weeks - but here is the new poem that I performed at Worcester SpeakEasy last night . . . .

Rules

Rules – more rules and regulations,

hierarchical domain.

They make the rules to chain the mind –

how to sit and what to say,

what not to do, the shoes to wear,

as though it were the only way.

They say, “Accept these blinkers, never look

to right or left, aside from what’s in front,

or see the full horizon and the sky,

just move on artificial rails, defined

like carriages pulled after the express,

who cannot speak their minds or show dissent,

just following the engine and the laid-down track.”

I say –

“Come back to life and break the rules!

Break every rule they give you, then some more!

De-couple from the engine, jump the rails,

find a different course, ignore

the things that you are told you should obey!

Have no belief in status – just because

a person wears a suit, a badge, a hat,

that doesn’t make them your superior,

it only means that they can’t disbelieve

in rules that they themselves were one time taught;

they kept their blinkers on, and didn’t see

your vision, the horizon, or the sky.”