I’ll allow a songwriter to do it for me:
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12. Then I want to shout from the hilltops that humans are not born to be enslaved to money, or to a debt cycle forcing them to work BS jobs
— moonbird (@moonbird) October 5
, 2016
13 We’re made for more than this. I believe I am & 1 day I’ll be free. Until then I’m gonna fight economic injustice IF IT KILLS ME. The end
— moonbird (@moonbird) October 5, 2016
Deauville
, Rehoboth Beach DE
There is space between each grain of sand that holds me up…
Each lapping midnight wave unlike any other a cohesion of subatomic history
The peach light of the moon is a trick of the trade in swoon
And this breath I’m taking, divined air of salt and murk, a plentiful oratory.
Ordinary isn’t a word, there are no standard miracles here,
This, the thin veil of skin and blood that is the birthplace of ancestors unnamed
Ten minutes of return to my childhood beach dissuades the I;
Experiences collectively forming my perception, the Universe’s imagination untamed.
We are flickers of light, the darkness in between, and all that jazz…
The reflection kneeling, summoning the sea to wash over the hands, becomes placidly small
Pronouns dissolve into the accepting tide- me, we, you, all returned
Even as lungs heave the time to go, the child within kicks sand, in the dark of the ocean all becomes all.
Amid fireworks, they shot a black man down my street last night-
Nobody knows the trouble between the first heartbeat of wrong
And the last breath as he was knocked on his feet in plain sight
Of kids in the projects playground, seen enough of this, first person shooter,
Bang bang you’re dead motherfucker was once a game now an angry song.
This brutal world stops for a moment to remember, till the next headline
Throttles us into indignation but the ivory towers know we’re content
To feed on scraps of justice thrown from on high, the sorrow sidelined
Distractions of Caesars and Brutuses reenacting ad nauseam the takedown
As we spin seemingly helplessly
, lowered shades too dark to grasp the portent.
A night later, the percussive eve of Independence Day explodes over this part of town
The bombs bursting in air proving through the night that turned backs were still there
The projects locked down tight, and as boots scrape asphalt eyes cast awkwardly down
Nobody knows the trouble of living on the edge of knives and bullets from a comfortable distance
Yet when faced with a mirror, our fist is thrust to stop the world, only to see ourselves in the raining shards of our town.
Andy and Charlie
Two homeless guys, sheltering under the awning of an urban church
They don’t complain
The streetlights oversaturate their weathered bodies, harsh shadows of scant rest.
Andy and Charlie
Don’t ask for much, I don’t know if they are “good” or “bad,” but they are alive that is chore enough.
The streets are cruel
Rich kids throw soda at them, people walk in wide arcs, yet we’re all justiced up with causes celèbre
Andy and Charlie
Are American refugees- ignored, because we own the conditions that make their beds cardboard
No cups for change
Too dignified to beg, just looking for a place to sleep; will those doors open unto weathered men,
Andy and Charlie,
Perish the thought that the last shall be first if we have mantle to muster more than just this
,
They are not the least of these,
Andy and Charlie are us, bereft of the American dream, under streetlight glare, holding out for hope.
Bang to the beat of the drum
Bang to the beat of the drum
Bang to the beat of the drum, we’re gonna
Bang… to… the… beat… of… the… drum.
Bass notes have floated countless times through this body
Vibration on the cabinet speakers, boom, boom, boom, boom,
Taking headtrips to ancient lands where the dancers around me
Jumped and leapt and intoned magic through fire, the pounding
Driving us all on, thriving together into a mass where no one’s looking,
Some crazy iteration of one flesh in the heat, a single surrounding, resounding,
Beat- a heart beat- a pulse that runs deep, beyond even blood, lost in the dance.
And yet our blood gets spilled, our pulse is stilled… I’ve lost the beat.
The lights in the club go out, the music is off, all is dark,
Bring that beat back.
Naturally we cower when overpowered,
Yet our music from those towers is too damn sweet
Bring that beat back.
Fire up even a single candle
, because when you have the light,
It’s the darkness that becomes afraid of you
Bring that beat back.
On with your fabulousness, on with your glitter, on with your strut,
This family is so big we are all the glue
Bring that beat back.
God I’ve been struck down, my pulse shaken- someone always found the beat.
People we gonna illuminate da house, show the world that love’s got no last call
One thing we heed and timeless is its creed- we take care of not one, but all,
I have risen from the broken glass ceilings reeling yet feeling not my fall
A strong flight of resistance, the unfurling of spine, not back to wall
Dash the flames with newfound feathers the sky is your birthright
Wings upon the crimson sunset, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,
Take up thy body to dance celestial, shimmer over the city
While we…
Bang to the beat of the drum
Bang to the beat of the drum
Bang to the beat of the drum, we’re gonna
Bang… to… the… beat… of… the… drum.
This poem was written and performed for the benefit of the Rosser family in Asheville, NC
Long before a people could sing
There were winds
Long before the first harmony plucked a string
Gusts resounded through canyons
Before there were ears to hear it, Earthsong was such a thing.
Can you imagine the first band jamming a million years ago?
Music exuding from fossil throats now studied under glass
Feathery folktunes, gorilla gospel, amphibian ambient
The rhythm, the movement, begat our bloodlines, down to the first vibrato.
Along we come, toe tappin’
, vocal chord rattlin’,
Hollowing gourds for drums, primordial shouts and hoots,
Finding… our… VOICES! Refining reeds for flutes-
Circle dances around fires, lutes and lyres, sacred village incantations,
Orchestras, wandering minstrels, choirs.
Even now, the music still finds itself in everything-
And the musician found in everyone,
Even with the hand quavering over the eager piano key;
With the throat quivering with the permission to sing FREE!
“I got the music in me, I got the music in me, I got the music in me…”*
Here’s to those who uplift music from the heart;
To those who summon up vibrations for this art;
To those who struggle so others may upon this path, start;
To those whose hearts feel broken, the love they reflect surrounds;
With many hands, broken hearts are mended, sweet music forever abounds.
*”I’ve got the music in me” (c) 1974 Bias Boshell, performed by Kiki Dee
“We do not discriminate.”
We do not discriminate against gender, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, physical ability, mental illness, history of addiction, criminal background-
Except when we do.
We do not discriminate against looks and body types, expressions of self in the Universe, those who’ve earned their way up, those who’ve lost everything going down, accumulations of merit, karma, or doing the right thing-
Except when to do so isn’t good optics.
Pat me on the back, what you touch isn’t a demographic
A life not lived as a statistic to take back to the team and gauge the metrics-
We all sort and strategize, this we know-
Reduce me to characteristics most beneficial to power broker eyes and
I’m a number lost in a sea of tactics
When I’ve really always been a single word flying a sky made intergalactic
in letting all these classifications pass by,
Needless distractions need not ask why in the horizon they fade as we glide
to an expanse of wordless, label-free, beingness to boundlessly be.
See, these worlds we parallel here aren’t interchangeable
Filtration down to the most valuable iota,
or uplifting to the most universal quanta
The only gray area we have ‘tween these two is the one from which they emerged.
Discriminate against this cloud of atoms so I can freely be.
I’d rather you not choose me so I can be free and pass it on…
The fuck has been discriminated out of everything- drained of any passion,
stripped to bits of productivity and actionables for the higher ups. Fuck that.
My only no is to the naysayers-
So that I may participate in loving charges to translate restrictive words into one single YES and every passing moment seized to liberate.
Stand beside
, walk astride, come inside-
No signs hang on the doors of this heart.
Written and performed as a component of “My Intimate Companion, My Body” by Community Choreography Projects, Barrie Barton, Artistic Director
Presented as delivered verbatim, 15 May ’16,
“You man enough?” 
There’s a box to check, M or F, the crossing of chromosomes X and Y,
And of my time, how to measure that?
All those rites of passage, and the wrongs left behind?
Categorically I am male, Caucasian, American by persuasion
I prefer Earthling-
I’ve been many things in this lifetime…
I’ve been tadpoles, black holes, bottle rockets, holes in pockets,
Birdfeather, turbulent weather, purple flowers, passionate hours,
“How much adds up to make me man enough?”
The answer, I think, is more in the soul’s eye and the mind’s dreaming than in a
Banner’s star spangling or whatever’s anatomically dangling,
It’s your own meaning, your own re-birth panging.
My feet are tree roots that pulse to the heart of the Mother-
My guts: clusters of garnets and rubies, my lungs:
Sails of ancient ships plying deep waters-
My head is in the stars, from whence it came.
I am just like everyone else.
Listen.
Men, Women, Trans, Genderqueer,
The time is now to forsake duality, and flush the fear.
Let not your body be concealed by a shroud of should-be
,
Be unbound, fly the sky infinite, beyond the what, where and why
Of the ordinary to classify, to have the power to say
“Spirit is the gender that I identify.”
Listen.
Receive these words as an invitation, an exhalation… [exhale]
Spirit is the gender that I identify.
…
Find a box to check- for that.
(Inspired by the Write Or Else Literary Bootcamp Group of 7)
“What’s all this about stem cell therapy?” she shouted from the sidecar of the 1962 499cc Velocette Venom motorcycle I suddenly found myself driving, my teeth clenching a cigarillo, the smoke blowing across my face just as the veil of fog that was my memory fell away. What in the flying fuck is this about I thought to myself? Another thought retorted, you know damn well what this is about, shut up and drive.
“Stem cell therapy was the worst possible choice they could’ve made for you. It’s bullshit,” I found myself yelling over the motor’s incessant growl. “Where we’re going will reverse the damage, then reset your bios to an earlier timewave.” Jesus, the night before I knew I had whiskey straight no chaser, not on the rocks, and it was the good stuff. I didn’t expect to lose my grip and slide this far away from the relatively comfortable me in my little bunker. I think I’m going to swear off soul hopping until they get the technology down.
“How much younger do I get to be this time, Duke? How much are they paying you for me? I’m not a goddamn guinea pig, if you didn’t notice. I went from 44 to 85 in six years. Technodyne and your competitor don’t know shit about subatomic medicine.” No. What did “I” do to this lady? Her raspy voice emerges from a frame garishly and gaudily wrapped in kerchiefs and scarves to conceal everything that seems to be wrong. I can barely see her eyes, but I’ve gotta keep my eyes on the road. This me never rode cycles- ancient tech. I must be way in the Outskirts. “Duke” seems to have everything under control, all I can do is sit back and watch, until the hop ends.
“Ma’am, this is a public service, quality fucking control. Your only job is not to worry and keep covered, sunlight and cameras. My job is over in about two miles, and the shirts in the lab will restore you. Maybe for free. Good for us. Good for you.” The rest of the drive was quiet, until the roa
dway led to an underground entrance. Gunners asked Duke if anyone else was on the road- no, just them for the last 50 miles. A hum prevailed over all other sound. The shirts helped the old lady out of the sidecar, eager to rush her to the collider lab.
“Do I get a goddamn cigarette first? They give ‘em to all the sad shits that get the firing squad.” A tech tried to reassure her, perhaps patronizingly; “Mrs. Mezvinski, we can’t allow contaminants here.” She began to undrape herself, and with a laugh said “You let him in here… seriously Duke, thank you. This is my last best chance.” Duke tipped his hat, as her elderly unstable face surfaced in the orange glow of the lights. “I” recoiled as I heard Duke think ‘It’s what you get for too many bio-mods.’ Indeed
, her rapidly aging face seemed to be falling apart, and her third eye only stared blankly ahead- dead. Her sixth fingers were curled in paralysis. She was her own guinea pig.
“You’re done here, Duke. Your deposit will appear within 24 hours. We’ll signal you if this reversal goes well, then we’ll expect at least to re-mod three retrievals a week per our deal.” Duke spat the long extinguished cigarillo at the feet of the head honcho.
“Stop making them then. Get that deposit through in 12.” Duke wheeled his Velocette back out toward the sunlight. “And another thing- you get those vaccines ready yet? Some jerk’s hopped my soul for the past few hours, I hear his nervous little thoughts. At least, filter out the dudes. Organic females only need apply.” He squealed out as the engine roared. He thought loudly, ‘YOU HEAR THAT, HOPPER?!’
I snapped out of it- back in the bunker. I grabbed my keyboard and entered the code to cancel my soul hopping subscription. It is unfair, I thought, that the hopped person can’t say no. Such is the way of our time. I flexed my fingers, and the sixth one was only just a little tight, all my mods are guaranteed anyway.
Going out for a whiskey on the rocks.