db,
Although I suppose I can understand Al Gore’s...reluctance...to pursue the matter again. Having already so gamely embarked on such a goal...& to have SUCCEEDED handily, only to be...rebuffed by........uh, ...circumstances beyond logic and raison d'état.
&, sorrowfully, to be the Prez nowadays is liken to filling the shoes of Louis XIV-XVI, a twisted Estates General intact, but with the added luxury of a wall-of-guns surrounding thee fortress-of-fortresses to the sky. One could find himself wielding a mighty... berserker...bastard sword of guaranteed lifelong salaries & trouble-free-tyranny,
...and the Bill of Rewrites to boot, with the casual swath of hand on icy heart....
...But then, that’s just one cat’s coda. Just lyrical stuff, really; ...hey, I’m a
glass-half-full sort of gent...but come on. There must be more to be done.
If you cats are drinkin’ buddies, or social acquaintances or the like, ...and he’s given you the idea that he’s not interested in the office anymore, ...then where does that leave the American people? Many more years of the lesser of two evils, ...or even the greater of two evils? Just fodder to the chaff? ...Load-up the supplies, sisters and brothers, ...and prepare to duck?
Mr. Gore,
Although, like my neighbors to the left, I’ve misplaced my system of beliefs in the Constitution to the point where its difficult to raise my sons with patriotic answers ~ no, not the yearnings and core.......notions of its well-born meaning, but as to its present effects and provisions in the hands of an ambiguous government of the [affluent] people, by the [well healed] people, for the [seeded] people. ...I am an American & a glad veteran, a wholehearted husband and a deeply involved father of future generations. I surely salute the flag, even though it’s a rag, because...I feel something vital there when I look at it before the sky; ...I can still well-up while listening to America The Beautiful & certainly This Land is Your Land, ...& while looking into the eyes of folks listening to The Star Spangled Banner. &, while I have no respect for the work of John Wayne, ...Clint Eastwood is still the schidt. Using a theatrically conceived metaphor, born of a life lived from the 60s through to the 21st Century, a simile that can take on so many personas; e.g., the dialogue between Graham Greene and Kevin Costner’s characters in the movie Dances With Wolves is, alone, enough to sustain the notion of a slow rebirth of wonder. That’s just one example, the list is boundless. Hope & Wonder, are contained in the works of so many well-meant authorings and performances of songs & fiction & flash-poignant documentaries, ...in the best efforts of learned people like yourself...& a portion of the scientific community, ...& in the dark reverse-catharsis* of Triage, the album & the short film by your pal Baerwald. &, though I am in earnest and lifelong mourning for the injustices at Wounded Knee & other pusillanimous massacres...wreaked upon the Aboriginals of EVERY continent by the greed and blind self-sustenance of the able arrogant and fortified, I do celebrate the dynamics of victory & effort. I’ve read-well your ambitious and benevolent words, been a broadcast & sound bite spectator to your best endeavors past & present...or just simply looked into the solemn eyes of a happenin’ American cat named Al Gore in photographs and @ the dais, ...&, sir,
...you’ll have my vote [again] ...should you reconsider.
Just...please, if you hold the office, ...
go the distance...with the best energies
of the vital spirit and the hope
...and the people.
If you build it...
...if you build it....
[What whole cabinet can;
...& does our form of government allow for truth & honorable nobility anymore?]
~
This is not to say it’s all on you, ...
Or those like you who’ve aimed to stand
Upon that higher ground in daylight.
I think we’re just, ...in the interim,
Hoping that you, yes you et al., can...
Figure-out a way to re-open the floodgates...
Of Liberty & Perseverance for a people
& th’ blue planet whereupon we all reside
After all:
The Earth is in the Balance....
~~
* I guess what I mean by reverse-catharsis is: ...Well, you can show someone the light of hope & benevolence & vital energy in a story of triumph over evil, or in a fervent notion of a farmer and a seed, or at perfectly blessed place beside a river bend in the spring that purifies one’s expression and sends them soaring, etc. Or she can find it herself in a... personal creative search...or by realizing it on a difficult path...or on a stage...or in a sweat lodge with a small group of kindred people....
...Or...
...you can trap him in the corner and beat him repeatedly upon the head and shoulders with derisive fists of purest vitriol & ignorance & spite...until he finds his outrage and just...plain...fckn...won’t...take...another...hit!! In my humble opinion,
that’s the poetic effect, I suppose, of TRIAGE.
