Including Toy Guns

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, a student brandished a gel blaster gun and began using it in the hallways. The student was immediately apprehended by staff and was detained by our Student Resource Officer. The campus was placed on a "Hold" from 1:30–1:55 p.m. while staff and [redacted] police made sure the area was safe.

Please remind your children about the dangers of students bringing certain items, including toy guns, to school. Possession of any type of weapon — including a toy — is a serious violation of the [redacted] Student Code of Conduct.

...

We need to have a talk, my children
You're old enough to hear the deal

You do remember, we've had the sex talk already
All that stuff about the birds and the bees

We've had the race talk also, a puzzler that one
When I brought up ignorance, that social disease

But, mark my words, I'm raising you in America
That land of opportunity, with all that it means

Cringe, I know, your father's message, but hear me out on this
Lest I ever hear of you saying that you can't breathe

Far too many lives have been lost, consigned to thoughts and prayers
People just like you, brought low for the most dubious of reasons

Truth be told, this society is funeral minded
I can barely keep up, the litany of hazards we face daily

Knocking on the wrong door, jogging, or simply reaching
We can now add another, but this one is easily avoided

The subject is weapons, the danger is the perception
Some might say that it's a matter of possession

Albeit you might be having a little bit of fun
Careful of the things you carry including toy guns

True, in our family, we've always held that education is war
But the new warfare is metaphorical, don't bring in bows and arrows

I kid you not, it's unfortunate, there's no foolproof protection
Even a raised umbrella can cause no small amount of trouble

So if you must wield a weapon, let it be in the form of your thoughts
And express them judiciously, for no one is promised tomorrow

Your words will carry you but remember
It doesn't cost much to bite your tongue

Do go out of your way to make others comfortable
Proudly wear, as you do, that mask of civility

But make sure that it is only heartfelt outrage
That causes you to be accused of disturbing tranquility

That's all I have for now, I cry at night that you can be viewed as a threat
Despite all of our efforts, this country decidedly fails to protect

That we live in this strange world full of perils including toy guns
Carry on as you were, you're my favorite daughter and son

See previously: Prone, Action Items and Response Consultant

File under: USA, blood, violence, absurd, culture, observation, weapons, modernity, perception, language, bureaucracy, life, poetry, outrage, guns, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log. May 8, 2023

Drone Operator

20/20 vision is a minimum, the requirement is nigh perfect eyesight
Also an ability to forget mistakes, perfection is a matter of hindsight
Twitchy sharp reactions, prior experience required with video games
Competitive and driven, a team player who is willing to inflict pain

The best candidates are baby faced, call them bloodless assassins
On-the-job training provides numerous opportunities to crash weddings
With major flexibility in working hours, you can embrace the impromptu
And enforce the home truth: "Visit America before America visits you"

A tapestry of pixels pored over for distinctive signals
A keen test of reflexes as you launch the predator missile
GPS-directed, with spotter verification to paint the target
Like the Brimstone missile, the system is designed for "fire-and-forget"

Working at a remove from the ground action
Remote control, pushing buttons with abandon
The bearer holds to the belief in things unseen
Detachment of spirit, signature strikes, this is the American dream

Classified findings laid out the executive decrees
Gave the benefit of the shadows, the veil of secrecy
Thus protected by covering memos providing limited liability
A free reign, then, to sow the seeds of excess mortality

Someone who takes pride in their tools, a skilled master
Nicknamed their vessel the mobile widow maker
An early recruit, adept at the drudge of targeted killing
Televised slaughter, quiet as it's kept, can be so thrilling

Yet it's not all fun and games, even with precision munition
This daily front seat, private viewing of target acquisition
Spheres of influence, inventive vehicle for force projection
Delivery platform, artisanal even, for heat-seeking execution

Gamer heroes
Beast mode
Player ratings
Cheat codes

The new warfare, defense authorization for collateral damage
Our benefits package leaves you anesthetized from the foreign carnage
Sharp maneuvers, joystick exertions that satisfy
Pax Americana, raining vengeance out of the sky

Top Secret. The role calls for security clearance with polygraph
Mentoring skills are sought after, you'll be managing junior staff
Pinpoint expertise wrought from a distance while wearing a headset
An exciting workplace, with only the occasional regret

Burn out is a possibility, but is cast as acceptable loss
For this kind of wet work, even at a remove, has its costs
Conscience optional, foot soldier of the war on terror
The clean and delicate hands of the drone operator

Drone Operator, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Remote Control by Loose Ends
• Out of the sky by Van Hunt
• Cold Blooded by Rick James
• I've Committed Murder by Macy Gray
• Cold Blooded by Common
• Remote Control by Beastie Boys
• Cold Blooded by Gary Clark Jr.
• From a Distance by Bette Midler
• Kill Screen by Shadow Shadow
• Automaton by Jamiroquai
• Drone Operator's Lament by Radarcave

Bonus beats albeit very destabilizing: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Killer by The Meteors

File under: humour, satire, hatchet job, blood, war, alienation, modernity, USA, politics, culture, outrage, observation, perception, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: December 18, 2022

Response Consultant

America bestows gifts
To its favored sons
But exacts a heavy price

Giving rise to job titles that confound,
The nature of the dream is a patent lie
This land of plenty
Dispenses the characteristic headline:

"Active shooter response consultant shares insight"

Threat readiness, crisis training.
Developing situational awareness
Uneasy phrases marketing a lucrative industry.
A growing corporate business

A proud legacy
This bloody exceptionalism,
The fruit of tribal sacrifice

A balm of thoughts and prayers
In this austere ceremony
Roaring while closing one's eyes

After: Retired police officer, active shooter response consultant shares insight after Walmart shooting

Tuesday’s attack in Chesapeake is the 15th mass shooting location that Marko Galbreath has visited since he began his training.

(November 25, 2022)

Action Items, a playlist

A soundtrack for this lament (spotify version)

• What's Going On by Marvin Gaye
• Right and a Wrong Way by Keith Sweat
• Prayer by D'Angelo
• The Moment I Feared by Slick Rick

See previously: Action Items and Prone

File under: USA, blood, violence, absurd, culture, observation, modernity, perception, language, bureaucracy, corporation, work, life, poetry, outrage, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log: November 26, 2022

On the Death of a Poet

That’s fine dude, I'm not mad at you
The masked man's video footage revealed the poet's last words

Some men can't bear the thought of not being feared
And, faced with an incandescent smile instead of a stare,
He fired three shots in rapid succession
He let her know who was who

In his own way, he dispensed some American home truths
Call it the imperial boomerang, that obscene point of view
Visit America before America visits you

I couldn't bear to watch the clip of the death of the poet
But from the still, I could see in her smile, the sense of bemusement
And knew all too well what would have happened, later, when she got home
That that masked man - puff, with his big weapon
Would end up as a minor character in a poem


After Renée Nicole Good


See previously: Prone

File under: grief, blood, outrage, murder, USA, crime, violence, rogues, culture, observation, perception, creative process, hatchet job, The Rough Beast, poetry, toli

Writing log: January 10, 2026

Dark Milestones

A dark milestone, they said, and a "terrible toll"
A profound loss repeated so many times is awful
Easy words out of the mouth of these opportunists
Spewed in profusion as a shield for their mistakes

Their blather rather underscored the lack of concern
As if one could be saved by platitudinous laments
What was once unthinkable became the norm,
 we heard of incalculable loss
Mass extinction on a regular basis, so many were paying the cost

The unending daily tallies were duly consigned to the middle pages
We heard of fatigue and, after false starts, a return to normalcy
Time to move on, they said, we should resign ourselves to mass death
Fatalistic even when the evidence showed that things could be mitigated

The brief moment of solidarity had passed,
 the clapping and shared sacrifice
It was all up to individual choice,
 people should be left to their own devices
The previous narratives reasserted themselves
 in this renewed torrid zone
The rest is history, all that remained was to mark the dark milestones

After a dark milestone (January 2022)

See previously A Panoply of Mistakes a year earlier

Wrong, a playlist

I might as well recycle the previous playlist, nothing changed in the interim, only the body count. (spotify version)

This internal displacement is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: failure, coronavirus, pandemic, hypocrisy, outrage, hatchet job, culture, observation, England, incompetence, politics, language, humour, Observers are worried, Buyer's Remorse, covidious, poetry, toli

Writing log. Concept: January 10, 2022. June 1, 2022

Giant Checks

"The Prime Minister then handed out giant checks to the bereaved
A sign, he said, that the state would take care of those who have lost so much"

— Thailand nursery attack (BBC report, October 7, 2022)

Giant checks, devoid of meaning
Thoughts and prayers, the theater of grief
A parade of penance and ritual tributes

Giant checks, post-facto regret
Consolation payments, the language of impotence
The wages of acceptable loss

Giant checks, base calculations of uniformed men
Seasoned with blood, whither the monopoly of violence?
Witness the performance of authority

Giant checks to the bereaved, a duty of care
Not to mention the provision of little urns and coffins
A fine display, the toll unbearable, the final indignities

Giant checks, props for a national calamity
The sobbing and shrieks, a symphony of despair
An unending stillness in others, more worrying are these vacant stares

Giant checks, empty gestures
Roused by tragedy, the coup maker's show of concern
Balm for communal numbness

Giant checks, strictly by the numbers
Effigies erected to solace, pain underwritten in large print
Sorrow in sans-serif and block letters

Giant checks disbursed in the aftermath of death
Survivor's guilt by way of comfort and healing
Mandatory compensation for those still breathing

Giant checks, lottery winners
A failure to protect, pageantry in the wake of slaughter
This too could happen to you

Giant Checks, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Check out your Mind by Curtis Mayfield
• King of Sorrow by Sade
• Can't buy me by Femi Kuti
• Sorrow, Tears and Blood by Fela Kuti
• Meaningless Money by Kuber Bhaskar
• Sorrow doesn't Resurrect by Ark Patrol

Bonus beats: Sorry ain't enough by Sault

See previously: Ritual Tributes and Action Items

File under: language, hatchet job, outrage, satire, violence, blood, theatre, Thailand, military, crime, humour, culture, observation, perception, grief, mourning, Observers are worried, Buyer's Remorse, poetry, toli

Writing log. October 7, 2022

Drop, Chain and Accordion

Harbingers of malnutrition
The Four Horsemen of hunger season
While the first three duly entered our vocabulary
The fourth, left to shame, was pushed to the recesses of memory

The drop was the most embarrasing of these musketeers
Because, when first encountered, he caught you unawares
The sudden drop of your clothing - you were now half your size
Exposing your nether regions to the fresh air and curious eyes

By the time you got to the chain or the accordion, you'd find yourself spent
Having long made your peace with this state of affairs: eternal Lent
Accustomed as you were to - call it by its name, starvation
After all, you were living through a proper People's Revolution

Marking the spot on your belt where you would pierce the extra notch
Or wearing belts where you previously had none - acceptable loss
Improvised contraptions for your skirts and trousers hopefully holding
Under military rule, we were at a remove from skirt-and-blouse voting

The second horseman, the chain, spoke to tears and sorrow
A cynical description of a neckline that was now hollow
Jewelry of a sort, a macabre, if fashionable, decoration
Thriftiness embodied in your very person, a celebration

The third horseman, the equal opportunity composer, the accordion
Orchestrated skinny rib cages visibly appealing to both old and young
A skeletal music of fatigue, unmet needs and quiet exhaustion
He devised a twelve bar blues, if you will, of quotidian suffering

As to the fourth, rickety, he mainly dealt with little children
Confounding in his physicality as should be readily apparent
Kwashiorkor, quite a mouthful, the dreadful disease
The characteristic bloating, the ironic mark of the beast

Weight loss, hair loss, failure to thrive, and apathy
And then we come to those now-distended extremities
And even with the outrage and the sense of violation
The question still remains, why were these men laughing?

Nature may be a cruel companion, what with droughts and brush fires
Yet it was a man-made disaster, preventable, and caused by these liars
With limited food resources, this had all the makings of a tragedy
Worse, they were warned well in advance at the time yet they carried on stubbornly

Quite bewildering though, and damaging to the psyche
To be branded as requiring all the world's charity
Stalking horses of hunger seasons past, harrowing and dubious legacies
Ancestral memories passed across the ages, fear and survival strategies

The fourth horseman, although it must be said, was rather solicitous,
Didn't lend himself to a coinage that was quite so felicitous
The lived experience was stark and dispiriting, disturbing in its dismay
Awful enough that even that angel Euphemism couldn't summon an uneasy phrase

Drop, chain and accordion, then, were the fateful entries
Albeit History gave unkind placement in the dictionaries
They would be prefixed in the lexicon by his name
To the Flight Lieutenant's great and everlasting shame

Such however is the way of privation, the nature of its exigency
That, even in the darkest hours, in the depths of an emergency
Gallows humor reigns, it calls forth linguistic innovation and whimsy
Proverbial zingers, sharp aphorisms, etched forever in memory

...

Basket cases
Tiny coffins
Circling vultures
Calmly watching

Weeping mothers
Hunger pangs
And the crowds
Scrambling for crumbs

...

Starving children don't cry
Tears waste too many calories
Shame, that so many had to die
Shame, again, their swollen bellies

Hunger, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Pearls by Sade
  Melodramatic as befits the tragic scene she describes, mournful this ode to wounded pride.
• Hungry Blues by Jimmy Johnson & His Orchestra
• Never Mind the Hungry Blues by Larry Carlton
• Got the Hunger by Alice Russell
• Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) by Bob Marley
• Man Hungry by Sugar Minot
• When Hungry Walks by Gregory Isaacs
• Hungry Belly Pickney by Freddie Macgregor
• Hungry Belly Dub by King Tubby
• Very, Very Hungry by Brian Eno & David Byrne
  An instrumental track from the experimental album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Bonus beats: Hungry Belly by Frankie Paul & Pinchers, mainly for the title for this is a story about girl from Flatbush named Aisha. And of course, three live versions of Sade's Pearls, a show stopper ever since she composed it.


...

After Hunger for Sale (Talking Drums, October 3, 1983)

And also for that friend who startled me with the vehemence of his reaction when I teased him about his short stature. "Some of us didn't have our growth spurt during those years, we had Rawlings chains instead". A brief, damning silence ensued before joviality made its return. With my vaunted exile meshed with his explicit denial, our friendship, perhaps, was salved by the balm of the musical imagery. But the bitterness lingered.

And if archeologists can detect the evidence of famines and stunted growth like tree rings, etched in human bones, linguists and social historians can similarly escavate matters. Both earthquakes and man-made disasters leave their marks. Dzorwulu becomes 'the place that dropped', the valley of urban remembrance. Drop, chain and accordion as pointed modes of resistance in our hunger season.

Poetry as cultural memory then. Coinages bear the tide marks of social distress. In any case, this one's for you.

See previously Identification Haircut and, retrospectively, AFRC Member

File under: humour, hatchet job, satire, culture, observation, perception, language, Ghana, Africa, coup, rogues, dictator, military, famine, disaster, failure, outrage, memory, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: September 18, 2022

At the Africarib Market

Late afternoon at the Africarib market,
The brothers in the know were picking up some yam
Man cannot live on bread alone
(A fresh shipment of puna yam had just arrived from the motherland)

I was more interested in the kenkey
 that had also arrived that Wednesday,
Driven up from Houston by an ex-military man in a jeep;
His wife was the one who prepared the kenkey
The Nigerians were out in force -
Yam for their swallow obviously, and much more:
Stockfish, herring and even snails.
The shop was well stocked today

One of the elders recounted a long tale
 about how hard things were back home - believe him
We learned about the three year old child who was suffering,
  crying when he'd last called home
The story was that two ears of corn had been prepared in the morning -
 his share for the day
But that before it could be given out, a fowl -
  unclear whether it was a chicken or guinea fowl,
Had gone behind him - poor thing,
  and absconded with the corn

And the child had set about on the chase,
  and duly tripped and fell,
And was now disconsolate,
  bleeding, and still crying hours after the deed
And hungry too, for the corn was long gone
There was an object lesson in the tale
 about the hardships that our people were facing,
Inflation, poverty and worse - how for do? Na wow
Now even little ones have to compete with fowls for their daily corn

Just then we saw the headlines
On the screen above the check out counter
Breaking news, school shooting... CNN...
Two children killed... many injured... More to follow
"So these people...
School don open just this week and they go shoot am...
America..." Shaking heads all around.

Our laments about the continent were cut short - these people
I quickly settled with Walter. And made my excuses to the circle:
"I need to pick up the kids from school"
Head nods. We all sobered up promptly,
The expected banter postponed for another time
I'll admit, I drove rather fast to the school

Defensive Posture, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. Musical protection. (spotify version)

Bonus beats: Immigrant by Sade

See previously Silt and Sediment, Action Items, Prone and Defensive Accounting

File under: immigration, culture, observation, perception, social, Africa, USA, blood, violence, modernity, guns, outrage, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: August 28, 2025

The Incident Is Under Review

The incident is under review

...

The Israeli military said
There had been a "technical error"
With a strike targeting an Islamic Jihad "terrorist"
That caused the munition to fall
Dozens of metres from the target

...

An initial inquiry
Regarding injured individuals
Suggests fragments from a shell
Fired during operational activity in the area
Hit the church mistakenly

...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said
It was aware of the "claim
Regarding casualties in the area as a result"

...

The IDF "regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians"

...

Israel deeply regrets
That a stray ammunition:
Hit Gaza's Holy Family Church

...

The IDF directs its strikes solely at military targets
And makes every feasible effort
To mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures,
And regrets any unintentional damage caused to them

...

Every innocent life lost is a tragedy.
We share the grief of the families and the faithful

...

The IDF works to mitigate civilian harm "as much as possible"

...

Israel remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites

...

Children Among at Least 10 Killed in Israeli Strike in Central Gaza, Officials Say

The victims were gathered near a water distribution point, health workers said

July 13, 2025

...

Israel says it regrets deadly strike on Catholic Church in Gaza

July 17, 2025

...

Israeli Strike on a Gaza Church Kills Three

...

Israeli forces killed at least 27 people in attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including the three killed in the church strike, according to medics and church officials.

...

The cause of the incident is under review

...

Israel is investigating the incident

...

The incident is under review, the military added

The incident is under review, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Under review by Master Planned Music
• War by Bob Marley & the Wailers
• Can't buy soul by Hebrew Rogers
• Eastern incident by Sonny Clark
• Under review by Fabrice Ravel-Chapuis
• Geneva Convention by John Sloman
  

  You can kill them all / But just kill them nicely

• War by Edwin Starr
• Ain't it the truth by Catalyst
• Isn't it a pity by Nina Simone
• Geneva convention by BYU Synthesis
• Under review by Luuccid Dreamur
• Geneva convention by Peter Wiberg
• Geneva convention by Dow Brain

After a few news reports this past week

See also: On a Man who was Protected by Another Man by Hilaire Belloc

Perhaps we can file these expressions of regret under the banner of The Rough Beast which asks: who is writing the script?

File under: outrage, blood, language, war, obfuscation, misdirection, Israel, military, Palestine, hatchet job, rogues, atrocity, culture, observation, perception, The Rough Beast, poetry, toli

Writing log: July 17, 2025

Default Deny

Default deny is a very simple policy
Easily defended on grounds of complexity
What with the ease of implementation, even if cruel
With the golden excuse, we were just following the rules

Insurance companies often take refuge in it, it's a frequent addiction
Imposing on their customers by default, as it were, this untoward friction
Cynical, in their time of loss when they need rapid compensation
They instead offer up the burden of these inconvenient fictions

In the full knowledge that many won't bother and simply drop it
Their bean counters salivating in the back office thinking: profit
Mind you they're quick to pretend that the end result was not intended
And that it is perfectly normal to shy away from services rendered

Even if the sheer outrage is hard to countenance
It speaks to the perils of living with your fellow man
It's the injustice of it, all those years you duly paid those premiums due
Then it turns out that, all along, they were taking you for a bloody fool

Hence the importance of norms, rules and regulations and enforcement
But also the stick of tort, laws, oversight and, ultimately, punishment
The constant need to redress the wrong and put them on notice
To do the right thing by default and resist the temptation

And shame too has been known to work its charm
Applying the fear of god to prevent such harm
Brand damage remains a powerful tool for compliance
Eternal vigilance being the price of soul insurance

II. Coda

Default deny is also well known in networking technology
Firewalls, those gatekeepers, often turn to this strategy
Out of the box it gets you up and running very quickly
It's the low hanging fruit, good enough, the poor man's security
Protection from without but, sadly, it doesn't cover every layer
'Tis quite the pity, you still need to guard against bad actors
The real world is complicated, it's merely the start of a fight
Trust in Allah, goes the proverb, but always tie up your camel at night

Default Deny, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• You Can't Deny It by Lisa Stansfield
• Turned Away by Chuckii Booker
• Strategy by Archie Bell & the Drells
• You Can't Turn Me Away by Sylvia Striplin

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File under: humour, strategy, culture, observation, policy, insurance, economics, friction, regulation, law, standards, capitalism, incentives, outrage, networks, technology, security, poetry, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log: September 18, 2022

The Sense of Violation

A wrong has been done, there's no doubting it
It's hard to contain the sense of violation
The damage is done, there's no comfort to be found
Regret is all, it's proving hard to move on

Your cause is just, it goes without saying
Basic fairness should have made things go your way
Honor, decency, you've now run the gamut of emotions
To hear "wrong place, wrong time" is no consolation

It's only human to be subject to the vagaries of fate
We realize our place in the world and duly accommodate
But it's hard to bear the altogether capricious
Let alone the impact of the actively malicious

The hurt, the outrage in its wake is volcanic and all consuming
It's hard to control the righteous anger that you're feeling
It's probably wiser to keep a straight face and your own counsel
But, in this mood, the slightest thing could spark a conflagration

And we all know very well where this could be heading
How unproductive it will be, think of the recriminations
Indeed you can't understate the peril of this volatile situation
But, after this injury, there's no hope for reconciliation

Sense of Violation, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. (spotify version)

• Right and a Wrong Way by Keith Sweat
• The Hurt by The Jacksons
• Anger by Marvin Gaye
• You Done Me Wrong by Al Johnson
• Outrage by Booker T & The M.G's
• Sacred by Amel Larrieux

File under: outrage, emotion, life, culture, observation, perception, strategy, anger, poetry, toli

Writing log. July 16, 2022

Identification Haircut

There's a dictionary of revolutionary justice to be written
And the Ghanaian contribution should be self evident
Whereas in those heady days, we became familiar with choice terms
"Economic saboteur", "hoarder" and so forth
Far from original, most of these last were imports

Radio bulletins with orders to report to Gondar Barracks
"With immediate effect"
Dismissals from one's decades-long job
Overheard as you worked on the weekend

And then there were those eruptions
Showing just what was thought of our respect culture
Chants of viciousness:
"Let the blood flow", "We no go let them pass"
To strip a market woman naked and make her walk the streets

Shame

Still, our depraved champion was "identification haircut"
The practice might have cruel antecedents but they gave it our local spin
With blunt knives or bayonets, soldiers would shave their victims
The shaved head, scarred and bloodied
The mark of the conqueror

Shame, but linguistic gold
The Ghanaian interpretation of the Scarlet Letter

Shame, a Playlist

I can only recycle a previous soundtrack for this note. It imprints something in the mind. (spotify version)

See previously

• The Wages of Thermidor
• June 4th
• AFRC Member

File under: shame, outrage, violence, coup, mobs, cruelty, language, culture, observation, perception, Ghana, Africa, military, blood, rogues, The Rough Beast, memory, Buyer's Remorse, poetry, toli

Writing log. May 1, 2022

Gremlins Do Cry

His was a belated conversion narrative,
   Adequate perhaps, and seemingly benign
But it rather belied the question,
   Was the structural adjustment genuine?
For the jury was still out
   Amidst this veritable parade of hand wringing
To the keen eye, the pose of faux humility appeared to be opportunism

Not so long ago he was so adept at using the bully pulpit
To tar many others with the broad brush of cowardice
The charge was, variously, weak wills and muddled thinking
War was justified, to oppose it was to be a quisling

With ivory tower bonafides, his credentials could not be questioned
He'd write odes to manifest destiny and similarly well-crafted paeans
Loud and obnoxious, spouting claptrap and cheerleading all the way
His world-historic, record breaking hubris prominently on display

Now he tells us, witness the tears of a gremlin
Finally recognizing the "unfolding catastrophe"
That others pointed out was bound to happen
And the concerns raised that he dismissed so easily

Now he tells us,
   And only after flirting with a debased reputation
Pray tell, which of his previous bromides does he now disclaim?
That he was gloriously wrong in every way,
   Witness the horrific death toll
Let alone the huge amount of money squandered
   In the wartime black hole

No one seeks a public flogging
   Or the penance of ashes and sackcloth
But it bears saying that his tribe
   Were the ones who got all the rewards
We should assign responsibility and blame accordingly
   - That is the path of honor
Instead it's manifest destiny revisited as farce.
   A savaging is still in order.

Apologies, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• I Apologize by Anita Baker
• I am Sorry by Gregory Isaacs
• Penitent by Suzanne Vega
• Apologize by Timbaland
• Sorry Sorry by Femi Kuti
• I'm Sorry (Wake the Musical Baby) by Dwele
• Sorry Ain't Enough by Sault

...

Like others I wasn't impressed by the immediate fit of buyer's remorse. If I recall correctly I was even moved to write letters to the editor. Somehow the muse has deemed that verse might be a more lasting contribution.

This note is part of the Shell Games suite.

Previous entries considered Shame Cultures, discussed The Skeptic's Credo, proposed A Taxonomy of Useful Idiots, and observed a Change of Tune.


File under: culture, observation, perception, strategy, hatchetjob, humour, opportunists, media, war, Iraq, shell game, outrage, Buyer's Remorse, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log. Concept: August 5 2007; April 18, 2022

Ammunition Analysts

Once again, the bean counters are having a field day
Ever since the tanks started rolling across the border
Every bullet, every missile, even if wayward, must be tallied
Every drone, every tank, every bomb matters in this accounting

Overflow flights, satellites pressed into service
High resolution images, surveillance analysis
Logistics is all in reality, feel free to talk strategy
Paying lip service to achievable political objectives

Ammunition analysts expound on dogma and distress
Manpower conservation and combat effectiveness
The fool's paradise of precision munition
The ultimate hubris of force projection

The subtle difference between annihilation
And the term of art, the war of attrition
Distinctions raised between regrouping and retreating
Sustained gains by ground forces and unit cohesion

Summoning tallies of the losses and casualty rates
Execution with poor coordination amidst endless debates
Fuel shortages and the care of the supporting cast
Envelopment of forces along the axis of advance

Armies need to be fed, there's the danger of diffusion of effort
The arrayment of infantry troops and their artillery support
Planning salient offensives and platoon positions
Competing priorities of squads, their bounds of operation

A crying shame, as ever,
   That we have normalized the machinery of death
Even the global pause was only temporary
   Viz the return of this madness
Futility, the marshaling of doctrine
   In service of chimeric victories
For when it comes to blood and sin
   There can only be routs and defeats

War, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• War by Edwin Starr
• Louder than a bomb by Public Enemy
• Choice of Weapons by Guru
• This is Madness by The Last Poets
• Isn't It a Pity by Nina Simone

A nice coda with reflective piano is The War of Northern Aggression by Van Hunt but sadly that isn't available on streaming services. Nina does the honors here to close things out, isn't it a pity?

...

I wrote this piece in 2022, it strikes me as perhaps even more timely today as I check the headlines. Isn't it a pity?

File under: language, war, culture, observation, perception, bureaucracy, military, economics, capitalism, absurd, outrage, blood, Observers are worried, The Rough Beast, poetry, toli

Writing log: April 3, 2022

Action Items

Oh! I think I'm going to have to end this presentation now
I... I just got a message... It's on the news?... Oh wow
There's... there's an active shooter at my daughter's high school

What's that? Yes, yes, I have a number of action items
Look, I'll.. I'll schedule another teleconference
I have to go now. Rob can handle things. Um, Rob over to you

Mics unmuted. Gasps. Harrumphs.
   Worldwide expressions of sympathy
This is America.
This is the country's regular brand of insanity

Still, action items?
Who asked that? Poor form. Absurdity.
What is wrong with you, man?
Where is your humanity?

...

Michigan High School Shooting: 3 Students Killed and Several Critically Injured

A 15-year-old sophomore was taken into custody with a semiautomatic handgun that was bought by his father four days before the fatal shooting.

...

Action Items, a playlist

A soundtrack for this lament (spotify version)

• What's Going On by Marvin Gaye
• Right and a Wrong Way by Keith Sweat
• Prayer by D'Angelo
• The Moment I Feared by Slick Rick

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File undebr: USA, blood, violence, absurd, culture, observation, modernity, perception, language, bureaucracy, corporation, work, life, poetry, outrage, guns, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log. Concept: November 30, 2021; December 12, 2021

Speak, Memory

To walk around with your conquerors ever present, and in your face
Forever mindful that their whims are fickle and were previously unrestrained
The mask of civility, if not servility, renders you knowingly abject
For when survival is all, the imperative is to protect your neck

But life is not static, and these things have an eventual reckoning
The arc of justice, even if delayed, affects the event horizon
But in the interim we see the mobs with their brand of injustice and pogroms
Purity tests and shibboleths, the taunts chanted, the blows bestowed with no qualms

Settler colonialism leaves its mark, the imprint might even be genetic
The bloodstains that resound from walking through crimson soaked streets
Shame will out, humans love storytelling too much to forgo living testimonies
Truth and reconciliation rendered even as inconvenient flesh. Speak, memory.

"The past is past. I've accepted it. I don't want to remember. It's just asking for trouble."

— survivor of the Snake River massacres in Indonesia interviewed in The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary about the ghosts of the Indonesian slaughter of a million so-called communists.

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File under: memory, reconciliation, history, blood, legacy, culture, politics, observation, perception, Israel, Palestine, Indonesia, violence, outrage, justice, conqueror, colonialism, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 15, 2021

Talk True

First the slap, then the heavy blows
"Talk. Talk true."

Then, well... that was your welcome
"Talk. Talk true."

They did warn you
"Talk. Talk true."

But it seemed like a verbal tic
"Talk. Talk true."

The blows came so fast
"Talk. Talk true."

You never had time to respond
"Talk. Talk true."

You just made to protect your head
"Talk. Talk true."

But they were indiscriminate
"Talk. Talk true."

About where the blows were inflicted
"Talk, Talk true"

The punishment was evenly distributed
"Talk. Talk true."

Dad chuckled after recounting their mantra
"Talk. Talk true."

But it wasn't with glee but irony. It was macabre
"Talk. Talk true."

He had borne the brunt of the soldiers' blows
"Talk. Talk true."

When they'd picked him up after the coup
"Talk. Talk true."

The human rights lawyer
"Talk. Talk true."

The august law professor
"Talk. Talk true."

The head of Special Branch
"Talk. Talk true."

Then, later, it was the turn of the police
"Talk. Talk true."

Before the trial
"Talk. Talk true."

During the trial
"Talk. Talk true."

And then death row
"Talk. Talk true."

Those years in limbo
"Talk. Talk true."

He never talks about it
"Talk. Talk true."

Well, would you?
"Talk. Talk true."

Some things are best left unsaid
"Talk. Talk true."

The only hint he's ever given
"Talk. Talk true."

These three words
"Talk. Talk true."

Mind you, his pedagogy stressed the importance of human rights
"Talk. Talk true."

He spent his life trying to redeem the security services
"Talk. Talk true."

But knew, full well, the kind of treatment meted out on a daily basis
"Talk. Talk true."

His mandate was reform
"Talk. Talk true."

It's hard to say that the battle was won.
"Talk. Talk true."

Even after all these years
"Talk. Talk true."

Brutality. The trail of tears
"Talk. Talk true."

It's hard to change institutions
"Talk. Talk true."

Human beings have the most perverse traditions
"Talk. Talk true."

Rituals and initiations
"Talk. Talk true."

Even today they all join in
"Talk. Talk true."

No questions asked
"Talk. Talk true."

It's an automatic reflex
"Talk. Talk true."

That's all you need to hear
"Talk. Talk true."

Bonding. Esprit de corps
"Talk. Talk true."

You're duty bound to join in
"Talk. Talk true."

Sure the poor sod might lodge a complaint
"Talk. Talk true."

But in the moment, he needs to be taught a lesson
"Talk. Talk true."

About truth and reconciliation
"Talk. Talk true."

And so God help you if you're ever facing an African prison
"Talk. Talk true."

For even in the most enlightened police station
"Talk. Talk true."

You'll get no sympathy
"Talk. Talk true."

Your station in life doesn't matter
"Talk. Talk true."

Big man. Small man. This is the police station
"Talk. Talk true."

Friday night, when the burglar is brought in
"Talk. Talk true."

Whether thief or completely innocent
"Talk. Talk true."

Having a bad day, mental health issues
"Talk. Talk true."

Caught in a dragnet. Arbitrary. Mistaken identity
"Talk. Talk true."

Failed to pay the bribe, argued with the officer
"Talk. Talk true."

You're wasting police time
"Talk. Talk true."

Police everywhere
"Talk. Talk true."

It's not a matter of bad apples
"Talk. Talk true."

You'll take the blows
"Talk. Talk true."

If you know what's good for you
"Talk. Talk true."

Eventually they'll lose interest
"Talk. Talk true."

But in the interim you'll have to bear witness
"Talk. Talk true."

An education of sorts
"Talk. Talk true."

You'll learn about time dilation
"Talk. Talk true."

The laws of physics
"Talk. Talk true."

Colliding bodies
"Talk. Talk true."

The uncertainties of biology
"Talk. Talk true."

Anatomy lessons
"Talk. Talk true."

Material science
"Talk. Talk true."

Fluid dynamics
"Talk. Talk true."

Human factors
"Talk. Talk true."

Psychology
"Talk. Talk true."

Neurology
"Talk. Talk true."

Sociopathy
"Talk. Talk true."

The limits of religion
"Talk. Talk true."

The pain of loss
"Talk. Talk true."

Buyer's remorse
"Talk. Talk true."

Regret
"Talk. Talk true."

Wist
"Talk. Talk true."

Pain
"Talk. Talk true."

Groups
"Talk. Talk true."

Despair
"Talk. Talk true."

No one is coming
"Talk. Talk true."

Dysfunction
"Talk. Talk true."

The thin blue line
"Talk. Talk true."

Trauma
"Talk. Talk true."

And then finally you'll talk, and talk true.

Talk True, a playlist

A playlist to soften the blows of providence. The watchword is reform. (spotify version)

• They Gonna Talk by Beres Hammond
• Mr. Cop by Gregory Isaacs
• True by Spandau Ballet
• Talkin' What I Feel by Young Disciples ft. Masta Ace
• Cheap Talk by Loose Ends
• Fast Talk by Stephanie Mills
• Talkin' Out The Side Of Your Neck by Cameo
• Black Cop by KRS-One
• Ronny You Talk Too Much by Ronny Jordan
• Come and Talk to Me by Jodeci
• Talk to Me by Anita Baker
• Have a Talk with God by Stevie Wonder
  I think Stevie said it best. I reach back to him whenever I see another instance of this rote brutality.

...

Poetry as soul insurance, for such is my asylum.

I nominate this internal displacement for the Things Fall Apart series under the banner of The Rough Beast.

File under: Ghana, police, culture, violence, brutality, tradition, trauma, history, family, memory, coup, personal, outrage, sensory, life, Africa, Things Fall Apart, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: April 16, 2021

Prone

Trained officers
A tough job, we all know,
Policing

Jogging
Uppity
A stare
Traffic stop
Or sometimes just reaching

One wrong move
And your life slips away,
Your chest is heaving

Pleading for God and your mother
Or simply lying there
Bleeding

After the killing of Daunte Wright.

Soundtrack for this note

• Breakfast at Denny's by Buckshot Lefonque
• For Trayvon by Jose James

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

See previously: Goody Two Shoes

File under: outrage, murder, violence, guns, USA, police, death, grief, race, displacement, rage, culture, observation, perception, loss, waste, poetry, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log: April 13, 2021