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Sunday, March 13, 2011

I Protest!


I’m tired of trying to be good. Living respectfully and peacefully in the midst of turmoil is WORK.

For many days now I’ve snatched only two or three hours of sleep each night. Story deadlines, income tax paperwork, and stupid physical pain make sleep elusive. Lack of it makes me irritable, and I sneer at my previous post: Peace on earth, pah! Give me peace in my own bed, and then we’ll talk.

These days I find myself cynically hysterical. Ever heard of “restless leg syndrome,” in which some mysterious force compels your legs to move constantly at night? You can’t sleep because your lower body attempts to propel you around the equator when you lie down in bed.

Just exactly when my overwrought mind suffers from a severe case of “restless brain syndrome,” my trusty legs decided to join the game. They chose to dance along with my carpal-tunnel hands, puny lungs, and disintegrating spine, all new companions since my mother died last August.

Screw Pollyanna today. Coupled with another death, a dire medical diagnosis and a fractured family, this added crap irritates the hell out of me. Enough already! I feel like my Lordly Professor has handed me way too much homework.

I write poetry now only on weekends so I can enjoy the world tour on TFE’s Poetry Bus, always a source of pleasure. This week, the Irish Watercats demand a short protest poem in a strict rhythmic form. (Rebel link) I am thrilled to comply! This is how I chose to vent:

Corporations draft our laws,
Line their pockets in the cause
Of greater wealth, richer men.
Gluttons rule the planet, then.

I’m a political cynic who wishes America would remember democracy for the common people and the theories of the men who designed a government dedicated to equality. I don’t often espouse my beliefs, but this week I got fired up about a revolutionary idea: Strip corporate America of its political power. Lobbyists paid by wealthy special interest groups draft much of our legislation, which of course benefits those interests, while The People sweat to make ends meet. Don’t get me started. I’ll return to my usual optimistic self another day.


(Update on the following morning, a quiet kick-back Sunday)
Got hours of beautiful sleep. Still irritable and cynical, but not hysterical. Note to self: Temporary grumbling allowed ... but never forget how blessed thou art.

29 comments:

Peter Goulding said...

Sadly I believe it ever will be thus but hey, we can't say it enough.
Hope you'll get back to writing more poetry soon. You look at everyday things from such strange angles that I just love your stuff.

e said...

I completely agree!

Elisabeth said...

It's okay to get fired up over things that matter, and these things: your health, your sleep, the state of your country, they all matter.

Unknown said...

I feel your pain and frustration, but you never give in, you never give up and you keep your door wide open. Your honesty and your candid somtimes personally brutal posts have been, are inspirational to me. Thank you :)

RNSANE said...

Everyone need to vent sometime!! Go for it, Ms. Chris. I should be out there picketing while I look so scary. I had my basal cell carcinoma excised on Thursday at the UCSF Mohs Center. I have a pretty extensive scar down the side of my nose...can't see it well because it's coverd with steri strips. My rght eye is swolle and purple ( not eye shadow ). Stitches will come out Thursday, I think. They had to do a skin flap.

This getting old, with its aches and pains and infirmities, is no fun.

Brian Miller said...

the days of rememebreing the commoner died on the lips of men that penned documents the corporations use to wipe their .... ahem it is sunday i really should be nice...

happy sunday!

Dr. Cheryl Carvajal said...

There is no way to optimistic without enough sleep.

Hope you get some soon!

Scott M. Frey said...

I LOVE your politically synical little ditty there Chris! You have such a way with words... I love to write and have been doing a good bit lately. But I see now that I will need to study good writing to get to a more accomplished level myself.

CiCi said...

Your last paragraph is being talked about and espoused in much of this country. It seems we do not have any strength, too many idiots give the power to the corporations and continue to give us the shaft.

izzy said...

Rant and growl away! great piece, thanks-
I have been in a similar sort of mood.
very sick of: my second virus, bored to tears with doing nothing but coughing...

Batteson.Ind said...

Stirring words indeed. Sorry to hear you're going through some rubbish at the moment, hope things start picking up for you soon and hope the journey on the bus this week helped ease even the tinyest bit of crap from your shoulders. All the best things. cheers!

Titus said...

Go EO! Well, Stop! to the legs and the pain and the brain, obviously.

You've actually written a very good four lines there. I love the dying fall of the 'then'.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Well said! I love poems in strict rhythmic form especially when they pack a punch in four lines keenly crafted. It would be a fine day in America if we could get corporate America out of Washington. The more entrenched they become in law-making the more we suffer as the common good is throw out like dirty dishwater. I like it when you get started. I'm sorry about your ailments. I have restless brain syndrome but I imagine the restless leg thing would drive me batty, and some think I'm already out there in a strange place. Heads up! Your tulips are pointing their way to spring.

Monkey Man said...

So true. Big business runs the country. We are no longer a true democracy.

Helen said...

I believe the protesters on The Poetry Bus will be 100% with YOU. I am.

Gerry Snape said...

Don't think you are pessimistic....just being real. I'm with you there ..I had a bit of a rant in church this morning when all they could do was ignore what is actually going on in the world...AHHHHHHHH
Oops! sorry!

Andrew said...

All the very best to you Chris. Hang in there dear one.

Louise said...

Yes, yes, yes but it's not just america, it's all over the place. You should have a read of D'oub verse this week, you will get the irish version!

Nicholas said...

I completely agree with you. And don't worry, I'll stay! I love a healthy challenge. Thanks for your comment!!

Larry said...

Ah yes restless leg syndrome is a real BITCH if i remember right there are several million of us who have it. I'm sorry to hear your mother passed.

Niamh B said...

excellent 4 lines - especially the 4th so true!

Syd said...

Maybe there will be a revolution of sorts when the common man says Enough! I don't know but in time, I do know that the faces of those in power will change to have much more ethnic diversity. Maybe in that there is hope.

Jess Mistress of Mischief said...

I'm so grateful that I slept surpassing expectations of the discomfort of the futon as we gave our bed up to our guest.

I don't know how I slept, miracle!

Glad you're still adding the gratitude and blessings in the end.

Lolamouse said...

sad but true. I've been reading so many terrific rants, I can't wait to see the vitriolic masterpiece the Watercats assemble!

The Bug said...

I've been having trouble falling asleep lately - and now that you mention it I think it might be restless leg. All I know is there's a lot of flopping going on before I finally reach slumberland.

I am fairly fed up about this myself. I seriously can't believe that corporations get the breaks they do. Apparently they're not people when it comes to paying taxes, just when it comes to giving to politicians. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you found a little bit of sleep over the weekend. I suffer from RLS too and it is agonizing. Throw in the days aches and pains and it's just unbearable. (Epsom salt baths work for my RLS sometimes, but not always.)
I hear you and I feel for you. Take care. - G

G-Man said...

Ya know...
Around the turn of the century, The Sears and Roebuck catalogue offered a machine that cured "Hysteria" in women....
Google it...hehehehehe

Totalfeckineejit said...

Well said Chris, how can we change this? We are many and they are few, might be a little clue?

Marla said...

Being good is over-rated.