If you think----

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance

Damn! Optimisim is Addictive. Better try it while it's still legal....

"Faith" is from the beginning of one of the chapters in the Questioning Way.

We The People

Here is a video done by a group over in Ireland.  Perhaps we should take a page out of these guys book :)

Closing Schools, Cutting Education----

I rarely make political posts on the Questioning Way Blog, and I rarely have guest writers. Today I'm doing both.  My young friend, Ambrosia, is a 20 year old college student who is livid about the fact that many in this country have lately become intent on targeting education for budget cuts.  Ambrosia and I are both astounded that Federal and local governments in the U.S. appear prepared to further impair an educational system that is already a flaming piece of shit. (as we all are quite aware)  Starve the young a decent chance at education to save a few bucks?  What kind of reasoning is that? Anyone who wouldn't be wiling to pay a few more taxes in order to give the young a decent education ought to wake up and fly right.  We all should be ashamed.  I'm sure you all will find Ambrosia's essay to be written from the heart.  --DD

I just found out today, that my favorite elementary school is being closed down, due to budget cuts. This made me furious, and sad. We keep cutting the education budget, like there's still a chance that ruining it will save us. The education budget can't be cut any longer, what we need to do is cut the budget for other things. One thing that would help everyone, is cutting the funding on military purposes. Cut down the spending on the pentagon. If we just protested harder we could get the government under our control. We the citizens are supposed to be the government, not just a select few. To my dismay it's been quite obliviously been pointed out to me, that people don't want or care to do anything against this injustice. They think any sort of fight is useless, because the government is going to do anything they please. No, it's because we the citizens don't fight enough, that our government is taking control. We are letting this big bad government intimidate us, thus they continue to bully. Some people don't want to fight, because they think the government's half assed protection is worth losing liberty. "A society that will give up a little liberty for a little security, deserves neither and will lose both," Benjamin Franklin. This is what is happening, and this is what's true. No one fighting for our rights, is putting us in a headlock. We are making ourselves suffer, and making future generations suffer. We need to not be so afraid of having our voices heard.  Go protest. Protest the cutting of the educational budget, and start demanding a cutting in the pentagon expenses. Make a change, we need a revolution, and we need it now. ---Ambrosia Cunningham

Bravery----

I see several people have been looking for a poem I posted up here some time back.  So, here is a repost of  "Bravery" for those of you who've been looking for it.  This is a poem from the latter half of The Questioning Way

Bravery

When I walked into the bar

Two kids were calling him out

One had a broken bottle, the other had a short club

Steiger was not a big man, and he was unarmed

But good lord, he had a look about him!

A chill went through the room and he stood to face them

Steiger squared up and said

“Before you start

With whatever problem it is you have with me

I'll tell you this--- I don't care

What kind storm you think you are,

I guarantee that you have never seen the like

Of a few of the storms I have been through.

Now, you do what you think you want to do

I just thought you ought to know.”

Steiger waited

The kids stared back at him

I don't think they knew exactly what to do

Finally, one of them pulled his friends shirt

He said, “Shit Jeff! Come on let's go!”

Ole Jeff dropped his bottle and walked out of there

I guess he realized

He'd bit off a little more than he could chew

Steiger sat back down

And I shimmied up beside him

I said “I'm pleased to meet you

I think that's the bravest thing I can recall seeing

Steiger took a drink and smiled

'Said “Hell son, that wasn't brave

That was just solid sense.

Now brave? I've seen brave a time or two”

Brave is jumping back over the wall

To save a good man down

As the bullets come flying back at you

Brave is being alone on your bike

And trying that corner at seventy

When there's gravel, the sign says twenty-five tops

And you know what's gonna happen

If the ground takes a swipe at you

Now, that's the kind of bravery that faces death

But braver still, I think

Is the kind that faces life, son

Brave is being a single mother alone in the big city

You come home every day to two little ones who are hungry

And you know the only thing

Between them and some serious hurt

Is you and your shitty job

Down at the 7-11

There is a kind of bravery

That hopes beyond all hope

And still tries to get things done

When just about everything in life has fallen apart

All the chips are down

And all you've got is a pair of three's on the table

There is a kind of bravery that has a dream

And still keeps crawling on

When you're only half-way done

As all the bills keep coming due

And for all the world it still appears

That you don't have a ghost's chance in hell

Of ever seeing it all the way through

Then there's the kind

That loves deeply and loses

But dares to try and love again

And the kind that loves easy

And dares try to find room in their heart

For everyone

If you face death and lose

Well, you'll be dead and gone

And nothing much will matter to you

But if you face life and lose

Then you have to live

With what has happened to you

Dewey Dirks copyright 2008

God, Fate, Luck and Destiny---

Hey folks, news just in! --- God, fate, luck and destiny are all busy this century.  Damn!  It looks like you'll have to make things happen for you by doing it yourself. 

No matter how bad you have it----

 Yesterday, I was talking to my friend Tee.  I said, "Today's a bitch.  One car blew a tire and the other one overheated."  She said, "Hey, just be glad you've got two cars.  Some people don't have any."  Wise woman, Tee. 

No matter how bad you think you've got it, there is always someone else who thinks you're lucky to have it as good as you do.

Art---

Happiness and laughter are the finest art.  Have you made any art today?

Don't Call Me Collect---

The next two poems go together and are written about a subject we all think about from time to time. “Don't Call me Collect” was actually written in the late 90's, “Route 27,” about ten years later. There are a couple things about the subject of religion and God that you can be sure of. First, the more certain you are that you have answers, the more likely it is that you don't, and second, even if you are an atheist or agnostic, if there is a God, you'd definitely like to meet him/her even if were just to bitch at them for awhile :)  After you write something like "Route 27" people ask you if you believe in God.  Well, to be honest, I've never really figured the God thing out completely, but I'm pretty sure that if there is a God, finding them has more to do with the questions we each ask than the answers any one of us has ever found. 

Don't call me collect --God

Perhaps on some golden throne

alive in the sky, you watch over each of us

--rain warm love, bathing one by one

man and sparrow with most tender care

Or, like a child at play

did you make the clock your grand experiment?

then, called to dinner, you plan to be back at eight

wondering if we'll still be tocking

Are you a big ashen bearded daddy?

with all the answers up there

will you spank us forever if we don't believe?

Maybe you're a cosmic hippie

you say "Hey don't you remember?

ten thousand years ago

we all stood at Salisbury in ecstasy"

Then, with hand to forehead you say

"Or maybe it was nineteen seventy-one

you know, all that acid still gets to me"

Are you a wrinkled old man?

stuttering, the very edge of senility

you wait at the gate, white picket complacency

We come home for a hug and obligatory visit

the younger playing Grandfather for a free dime

Perhaps you are a crone, ancient and wise

living in rock, road, brook, and tree

You made a hard, wondrous, magical land

where stumbling, we acolytes slowly learn of beauty

With fire on your finger tips

maybe you throw lightning bolts

make floods, cause the sky to darken

Perhaps you'll let five thousand faithful in

"All the rest be damned!" you say as the earth quakes

Perhaps one time, some time, ever time

we'll be sitting in the park, you and I

Muhammad, Gautama and Einstein play dice across the way

cool green grass, white daisies, blue sky, shade trees

I say, "You know, I wondered always if you were a figment"

You say, "Don't we all, my friend, begin and end in fantasy?"

Dewey Dirks Copyright 2010

Route 27....

Route 27

Late one night

I was out for a ride on the bike

on a long desert road called State Route 27.

The moon was full and bright.

Stars peppered the warm August sky.

The road was empty

and the night was asking

for a high speed run.

I decided to open it on up.

Let her go right to the edge.

Let her really breath.

I brought her up to around one thirty-five

and settled in for a ride long, fast and low.

The headlight shouted out brightly in front of me

and the engine wound out in a high pitched yell

as the white lines blinked quickly on by

silent and oh so fast.

My senses were as alert

as they could possibly get

and in spite of the darkness

every detail of the passing road

jumped out at my eyes.

I swear I could see

the gravel embedded in the rushing asphalt

and the barbs on the wire fence

at the side of the road.

Like so many times before,

I fell once again, in love with life,

the rapid beat of my heart.

and the quickness of my rolling breath.

Just then in my shimmering mirror

on the horizon behind me

I saw the headlight of another bike

coming up hard, coming up quick.

Ten seconds later

a slender figure on a dark blue chopper

blew by me like I was standing still.

I rolled the throttle wide open.

Pretty soon I was doing about one forty-three

but I couldn't catch her

and I watched her taillight

quickly become a distant dot on the road.

Right before it disappeared,

it looked like she pulled over,

I backed on down.

Before long I was coming up beside her.

I came to a stop

and shut off my bike.

--Figured I'd rest for awhile

and chat with the lady.

Leaning on on the seat of her ride

having a smoke

was a beautiful woman, maybe forty

with deep blue eyes and long dark hair.

She and her bike had kind of a glow about them.

Very subtle but bright at the same time.

Friendly but kind of mysterious.

Very quiet, kind of peaceful,

unquestionably kind.

I nodded hello, not knowing exactly what to say.

She nodded back and said

in a voice like a love song by Dido,

“Evening. Nice night for a drive.”

I looked back at her

and knew I had to wonder out loud.

I smiled as best I could and asked,

“Just who are you?”

She shrugged and said,

“Oh, they call me by lots of names.

You probably know me as 'I am,' or 'Alpha and Omega,'

or some of that other useless stuff humans like to say.

You all really need to learn

any word you want can mean everything

or nothing at all

as you so choose.

Why don't you call me 'Sparky,'

or 'Wiggles,' or 'Effy?'

That would suite me just fine.”

“You're God? Or maybe an Alien?” I asked.

She chuckled and said,

“I'll leave all that up to you.”

I looked at her confused.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Like you, I'm just out for a late night ride,” she smiled.

I still didn't know exactly who she was

but I did know she was someone very, very special.

“I've got so many questions...” I stammered,

“I don't know where to begin.”

“One of the really nice things about people” she said,

“Is that they are very curious creatures.

Always full of questions.”

“So what's the right point of view?

We have so many...” I asked.

“You know all those religions and philosophies

That people bicker over

and fight about all the time?” she said,

“Well they all have a few good ideas,

every one of them.

They all carry around a bunch of bullshit too.

And science is pretty much the same way.

People really need to learn to think

in a many-sided fashion

Instead of just bi-valently.

You can put that in your pipe and smoke it,” she smiled.

I thought about that for a minute

Then I asked,

“So what does the future hold?

People seem so messed up a lot of the time.”

She took a drag on her cigarette and said,

“You know, some guy once said

that the meek would inherit the earth.

Well, I've got some news for you

---they inherited it some time back.

But humanity is kind of a fixer-upper species

and change can happen only so fast

without making a big mess of everything.

Imagine the best of the 20's and 60's.

Imagine the golden ages of music

and the intellectual leaps forward

during the Renaissance.

These are previews of things to come.

But humans have a ways to go.

You've got to get it through

your thick, Cro-Magnon heads

that every time you disagree

it's not good to start killing each other.

And you've got to learn to make governments

that don't attract power mongers quite so fast.

It's also important to learn to make companies

that have a conscience

and a genuine sense of human decency.

And you humans really need to learn

to share a lot better.

“I said, “Geeze, we sound like bratty children.”

She chuckled, “Well, Homo sapiens

Is a pretty young species.

If all humanity were a single person

you'd be around twelve years old, by my reckoning.

So you see, you're just starting to grow up a bit.

Far in the future, when you're much older

you humans will have great adventures

and do great things, if you ask me.

She took a drag on her smoke, then continued,

“I have to tell you,

there will always be some inequalities

because that's the only way to build a world

in which you can strive.

But one day people will seek to better their spirit

with the same enthusiasm

that today they use to build better guns

and make more money.

There will also always be people better and worse

because that's the only way to make a world

where those who need to can learn to improve.

But one day the worst of men

will be as kind than the most generous human

of your time.

One day men will fight their personal ignorance

and fear of their own inner beauty

with the same determination

they use to fight each other today.

All this might sound kind of strange

considering the way humans are right now

but you can make this future

a reality one day for all mankind

by making it a reality for yourself today.

For humans, improvement happens

From the bottom up and from the inside out

One person at a time.

Now, don't think of being a good man

like it means you gotta be

all pansy and syrupy sweet.

One day humans will be kind of like

the good-bad guys of the universe.

They'll have kind dispositions

and big hearts

but with a lot of edge

like a good rock and roll song.

But humans need to realize

that the most powerful things in life

don't always end up fighting each other.

You all have the bad habit

of often thinking the greatest tests in life

involve war and fighting and killing each other

when the biggest challenge a human can face

is learning how to love better.

Effy took one last drag off her cigarette.

She glanced at it and said,

“Did I bother to mention

you really need to get off peoples asses

about smoking these things.

it's really not worse than overeating.”

Then she smiled and said,

“Damn! Enough talking. Lets take a ride.”

She got on her bike and cranked it on up.

I could see the sky move a bit when it started.

I got on my bike

and hit the button to light the tubes.

Effy waited as the ground shook

with every thump of her engine.

Then we pulled out onto Route 27

and pretty soon we were doing around one twenty-five.

We rode beside each other till almost dawn.

Just as the sun broke the skyline,

I felt kindness and compassion wash over me

along with a dose of 'Fuck a fine mess' too.

Then Effy down shifted

and gave me a thumbs-up.

About ten seconds later all I could see of her

was a tiny red taillight fading into the horizon.

But I'll tell you, as the night had rolled on

with us riding side by side

I knew what it was to feel joy. 

Dewey Dirks---copyright 2009

What's Right....

Many days I end up talking to quite a few people for the promotion of The Questioning Way blog and book. Every once in awhile I have one of those really good but really short conversations with someone where not a lot needs to be said, because everyone is on the same page. Today's post is for my new friend Jeanna with whom I recently had the pleasure of having one of those kind of conversations.  "What's Right" is a poem featured in the book.  

What's Right

He was bad news walking

The kind of guy you wish you didn't know

He was in his late thirties,

And had gone too far too early on

He was a big dog in big business

Leaking money and dripping pride

Smelled of Bourbon every day by 5:00pm

He played hardball and bragged of shady deals

Told me all about steamy nights with his secretary

While his wife waited at home

With dinner getting cold, a barking dog

And two children needing to be tucked in

Then one evening I saw him down at the bar

He said, John, everything's gone to shit, and I just don't know

Life is hollow, and I'm all wrong

I think my wife is gonna leave me, take my kids

How did I ever let it get this way?

What I should do? I just don't know

I said, hell Ed, yes you do

You did all along

They say all is fair in love and war

But I really don't believe that anymore

You know, a long time ago, I was just like you

I liked lotsa fat in life, loved only fast lanes on fast bikes

Hung always with bombshell bimbos shallow as a cocaine spoon

Every day I played both ends to the middle

Shot jacked-up pool with the best of them

And thought I'd do whatever it took

To make sure I'd always win

Then late one night out on a jet-black 750

Long, hard and deep on a right-hand curve

Ridin' way too fast, the bike went down

And four days later, I woke up damn near dead

But listen, weeks later, when I walked out of that hospital

The sky couldn't have been bluer

And the May air had never been as sweet and fresh

Standing there with metal in my hip

I held my head high

And looked at the day with bright new eyes

Live each day

As if it's going to be your last

Leave a good word with every stranger you meet

Make sure your ideals are well thought out

And worn on your sleeve

Every day, show the ones you care about

How much you appreciate them

And when the chance arises

To do things great or small

Have some faith and don't hesitate to leap

Because you might not be around too long

Just as every man can love

So each of us has a sense

That tells him what he ought to be doing

Knows what is right and what is wrong

Shows him what is kind, caring and strong

Sometimes it takes losing everything

To take a good hard look

And find out that all you really need to know

To steer a better course in life

Is already written in an open book inside of you

Live life full and hearty

If you find love, don't walk away

But make sure you run your desires

Don't let them run you

Always remember

Each morning begins a day not yet penned

Throw the game a time or two

In someones favor, who has less than you do

Guide your life with a compass that hopes

When your story is all written

And you've set your sail one last time

The blue and white rippling wake

You quietly leave behind

Will be gentle, uncommon and kind

Dewey Dirks---copyright 2009

Lullabies and Legends.....

This is a possible cover for my upcoming book "Lullabies and Legends."  I'll be posting several different covers for this project as we try to decide on exactly which cover to use.  Lullabies and Legends is a book that will include some of the content that has been posted on this blog, such as the poems "Journey," "Touch a Heart," and "The Great Blue Dragon".

Melody----

These next two posts are about the same woman.  The first shows her when she's around  twenty-four years old and a very wild young woman.  The second is about her twenty years later when she is in her forties

Melody

Rock & roll lady, rock & roll classy

rock & roll ride

She's a little too pretty

a little too sassy

a little too easy with her time

Got a blond haired boy in her pocket

two boys in her purse

and another on the telephone line

She's always been part of the music

her soul, pieces of a dozen songs

looking down the years

swaying to the rhythm of the lines

she's said 'I love you' to thirty steely eyes

embraced passion and saw it in the melody every time

She tells little white lies

just to keep the world alive

and she hides like a child sometimes

but the song forever rolls

with a beat strong, insistent & true

where guitar's rebel like a sharp edged tool

while bass notes weave smoky blue doubts

and the music makes strong men fools

Each night I move over her body

and do what I want with my time

I can touch the music, caress a lullaby

but lyrics are fleeting shadows

the song, a secret question

hidden in the sparkle of turquoise eyes

Dewey Dirks copyright 1992

For Elaine