Thursday, May 2, 2013

Pitfalls of Piety





Pitfalls of Piety 

“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation
of words, for when you control the manipulation of words you control
the people.”--Philip K. Dick

When faced with overwhelming odds,
with a foe who packs the weight of wealth,
with weapons & technology that dwarf imagination,
coupled to the arrogance & resolve to continue
iron-fisted control over you & many of your peers,

then at some tipping point it is inherent in your nature 
to say No, rebel, defy, resist, protest, to take up arms,
to become a freedom fighter, a patriot to some,
proudly wearing the sash of liberty, slashing
at the grand behemoth guerilla-style,
hit-and-run, martyrdom, sacrifice, never
facing him on a specific battlefield;

and perhaps History, depending 
on which regime writes it,
will exonerate your cruel excesses
and extol your virtuous results,

or it might just paint you as demonic,
other-directed, overly zealous, misguided,
brain-washed, mentally ill, merely
the willing pawn of some more intelligent
puppet masters with their own dark agendas.

The scurrilous sticking point seems to be
our fears of mortality, our spiritual choices,
our nagging need to find succor in some
religious cartel, to find our inspiration
in dusty holy books & devout crusades--
for religion and gruesome greed sticks to politics
like a honeycomb shirt, like gunpowder residue,
and is not easily preventable, regulated, or 
scrubbed away. 

In a new world where corporations openly own
politicians, where profit & personal gain usurp
all the messages within the sacred texts
and revered constitutions, where amendments,
manipulation, partisanism, & sad accommodations
gum up the great gears of government,
where the hoary prizes of history,
like natural resources, precious metals,
& cheap labor still steer the course of events,

where extant have-not nations are controlled
by dangerous demagogues who are predictably
and easily bought & paid for, where enlightenment
is considered blasphemy, where love
is callously twisted into a commodity,
where compassion is considered a superfluous sentiment,

where we are habitually & continuously conned,
phished, bullied, herded, ruled, and
led by liars wearing the bright mantle of piety
and the valued accoutrements we have 
given up to them--

we need to pause and just wonder
where in hell is the wisdom & purity
of the catechisms we were all taught
to recite, of the treasured words
left for us by our founding fathers,
and where the path to greener pastures
is actually hidden. 

Glenn Buttkus

May 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets MTB

Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?


8 comments:

Claudia said...

...where corporations own politicians...ugh..yeah...it's not a good mix... i recently read an article about the whole problematic in a oh-so-futuristic world.. it's so dangerous..

brudberg said...

I love this word of wisdom... and history was always written by the winners. Great piece.

Brian Miller said...

really strong voice in this man...viva the revolution...and the words we were taught have only the value we give them you know...and soon enough the words loose their meaning or are forgotten unless we carry the flag...there is much we have lost in the name of progress...

Anonymous said...

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom-fighter; it's a question of perspective. We were definitely singing in harmony today. Powerful stuff, Glenn.

Victoria said...

Reading this it felt to me that this just poured out of you effortlessly, Glenn. Here's another one that uses the 2nd person and, to me, it seems like you're voice is just hammering home the message with so much strength.

Anonymous said...

Oh what to do, what to do? This spoke to my own anxieties, and I particularly loved "a honeycomb shirt, the gunpowder residue".

Anonymous said...

An eloquent outpouring of rage directed at an unacceptable status quo makes for a powerful poem which should be written in the sky in vast letters.

WabiSabi said...

Amen! Superbly eloquent!