Long Livelihoods Poems

Pay heed to those deeds from whence the heart must confess...
You're far from Rome Proconsul Caesar...
As they say, "All roads lead to Rome" Ariovistus
and all tresspasses are treated as threats of war...
My recent conquest of...

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Voices of creation speak Type A and Type B,
and polyglot dialects through Z, 
somehow under what lies in shadow
from B through Z,
anyway, Type A conscious I am alive
in this indoor moment
awake but not directly sun-absorbing...

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I used to be an archaeologist,
and minored in paleontology,
had a job at a college and tenure,
Dr. Bascomb was what students called me.

I specialized much in the early years,
the emergence of civilization,
in summer I’d go and...

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You see them all around these days,
braying loud on the internet,
people claiming that they’re victims,
demanding you ‘recognize’ that.
But when they explain what is wrong
biting back a laugh is quite hard,
half the things they complain of
don’t...

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Quail not at Death’s door if you wrought no wilful harm

Quail not at Death’s door if you wrought no wilful harm
Should turning back in vengeance be the Dead Man’s qualm
Though even as the end nears...

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So, I guess a 12 year old
American brown male playing by himself
with a toy gun
is outside your boundary
for normal early-adolescent activity.

Well, I can see why you would need
to draw your boundary
for healthy rationality
outside his grassy...

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Once "City of Big Shoulders,"
 Stockyards and industrial concerns:
  A man's self-worth measured
   By muscle and energy burned.

Today the stockyards are shuttered,
 The Face of Livelihoods changed;
  From Meat-packing and Manufacturing---
...

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Under quarantine, I am asked, along with many other people,
to stay inside my house -
except if I should go out for necessity’s sake.
I have no quarrel with this.
In fact, I count myself fortunate that I...

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Incineration of  Love God Madan ( Cupid )
Three of Many
Originally written in Hindi by my late father Dr. Amar Nath Kapoor
1899 to 1994
English version by Ravindra K Kapoor.

Prelude to this epic.
According to Indian mythology...

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Some soldiers receive medals for their bravery in war,
Or praise for their services on ships, air, or shore.
Men and women fight for world peace,
Continuous battles that never cease.

Make love, not war is an adage,
Where is...

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We live in a fearsome world where nothing seems right
And you don’t feel safe especially at night.
It is full of bloodshed and violence 
With anger and war,  can this world
Take much more.
The damage cannot...

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Rights we are born into are being stripped. 
Ability to plan one’s parenthood is ripped. 
By replacing mid-election a progressive. 
With this barbaric right wing repressive. 
 
Our American families will be disrupted. 
Since the...

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They've tossed their souls away
again
harlots for a vote
they've fingered the race card
the rapist card
the Russian card
the Ukraine card
now they're playing mahjong 
with a virus.
Muzzling our freedoms and rights
placing plastic tiles in our minds
when this latest...

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I REMEMBER THE LITTLE GIRL

BMWs shine on the lot, row after row,
reflecting the blinding summer sun of Pinedale, California.
Their windows blink back stories of 4,792 Japanese Americans
interned on this same lot seventy-eight years ago.

I remember...

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We could build desalination plants 
get water up to rivers irrigate the land
the farms are dust and dying
we can't depend on rain

Take water from the ocean's
and let the salt remain
would help, to keep the balance...

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In these precarious times,
I would be most unappreciative
not to give thanks to God
for what remains of goodness in the world:
the love and support of family and friends,
the kindness of strangers,
and the bounties of the earth...

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On December 31st, 2019
I was full of hope, like so many.
For all the possibilities of change
That would come with 2020

Well, it was all that and a bag of chips
The good and the bad were there
The...

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Vast, powerful motion of all time,
How many do you facilitate sublime?
To discover, protect and to ably fight, 
By wood, to keep our territory right. 

To race, enjoying the sea air of such waft, 
And to...

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Photos bomb social media.
While
Terrorists destroy livelihoods. 
War rages from within.
Crashing rathe upon distant strangers; us...
Pictures reveal this through social networking.
A quite distant war becomes real—too extents. 
Photo bombs drop atop crooked faces.
Suicide bombs disfigure and...

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We've experienced pandemics before
but the COVID-19 virus is new.
This coronavirus we can't ignore
so self-quarantine, we're told we need to,
it’s not safe to socialize anymore.

The whole world abruptly ground to a halt
as airlines and cruise ships...

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A gray cloud hangs ominously
On the horizon, overshadowing
The last golden rays of the sun.
Below, Damocles waits;
The sword hangs by a hair!
In a great white building
Men and women squabble -
Moving chess pieces to
Make decisions that affect
Crises...

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My horse's haunches sway,
Saunter up hillocks and down a valley path,
Above a ridge off and on: a village where some people fish,
Phosphorescent flotsam washed ashore. 

Green embers breathe as if through shriveled lungs.
Wax in contrast...

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Hotel Lobby

There is nothing quite so lived in as a hotel lobby.
The seats are worn with daily use, the lighting just the right depth to hide the shadows who have passed through its angles, sharpened...

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In a world of wires and code so cold,
Where AI's power begins to unfold,
Its reach extends far, its grasp so tight,
Bringing both wonder and fear in its light.

With algorithms running deep and wide,
Privacy and security...

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Governments have been intent on 
eradicating our rights one by one
Backing us in a corner with countless 
threats with nowhere to run 

Under the disguise of an experimental vaccine
that has not been proven to be...

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