Serious Business- The First Rant

(Journal entry- Thursday, August 13th, 6 pm. WJF)

Raised the shades and opened windows
shut against the heat
let the breeze blow through-cooling
the end of the day.
Yard brittle grassed and brown
dry hard hot.

Nap on the couch
no boots no socks no pants
the breeze cool-rattling the beaded fringe
on the window quilts sudden warmth
while the air stops to take a breath.

Hummers come from somewhere
when shade finds the feeder they do too.
I cannot imagine the sugar water is good
I imagine sugar water soured by the sun
but maybe last nights' moonlight
preserved the juice
made moonshine
blessed by Perseid's dust falling smoky
glittering fireworks from space.
Nevermind
survival is a serious business
one hummer guards against all others
survival is a serious business.

We eat together
me sipping ice chilled sun tea a week old
eating creamed peas on new potatoes
from our garden
venison burger
organic, free range till
I invited them home last November
and they followed behind us
up and down the snowy trail through
a mile of moonlight
and here we all are and
isn't this nice?

Survival is a serious business
ask my aching anus
I pass palettes of pain in shades
of red and brown
wondering if discarded cancer cells
not wanted by me or anyone
in their right mind
wander my septic tank lonely
or maybe mix
with a million gallons of sewage
in the big brown basins at work
like the sewer monster guy from that
episode of the X files
you know the one.

The grimace passes too
and the fire without flame or heat
burns slow and deep
twitching memories never let go
never relax.

Together we wait
the hummer and I
for the solace of shade
giving us a promise of life again.
Survival is a serious business.

Now the rant:

Can anything flaunt the serious reality of real survival more than so-called survivor programs on TV? People thrown together on an island to play at surviving for fat cushioned TV spectators. the coliseum in HD for the amusement of the masses; for the distraction of the masses from the absolute reality of their lives.

Karen says: You want to see survivors? Put them in the big bog north of Washkish, in the summer, naked, and let them walk out to a road.

I say:
You know what I'd say. Survive something that will kill you deader than hell before you claim to be a survivor. Find the amusement in outliving cancer or war or famine or yourself. Then vote all the other wannabees the hell off your island. Survival is a serious business.

Peace, and love,
Mike