I could only tell you what it's like to be there
And yet you will never know how it can be felt
I would only try to explain what cannot be said
Describe the unknown
The unknown
I could only try to show you how it might be
But still your heart would not be able to see
I might leave you to yourself to think about that
Think of the unknown
So unknown
I can feel this place that is somewhere out there
It is this place that asks for nothing in return
All it ever asks is for me to feel right at home
And without words
I will gladly stay
In the unknown
You might think that some words
Would not dare to fail me
And yet there are none that I can
Try to bring about
You could only try to make me talk about it,
But it stays unknown
It's unknown
All it ever asks is for me to feel right at home
And without words
I will gladly stay
In the unknown
I will never try to find words where there are none,
And yet some will try to follow where I have been
I will always try to keep this place inside me
Name your price to be at ease
To comply is to lose our innocence
Now I am not so innocent
Life size ghosts
Have come rushing through the cracks
Life size ghosts
They have come to push you back
Cut your ties they have lived to die
Trace your hand round an untouched land
Or watch fortune's skill
As it becomes invisible
Now will you be invisible?
Dead of Spring
Like the passionless spring, Still failing to banish the winter snow that threatens April with its shivers, I sit here watching the world go by: Moment by moment Snow flake by snow flake Falling on the rooftops of abandoned houses Melting away like so much of what remains unrealized.
As the world passes me by Time no longer seems the joy born of the boundless unfolding of the present In an infinite variety of forms waiting to be explored.
As the world passes me by Time is the fire in which I now burn Every second thrown into the flames Every moment, a moment I did not capture.
Like this passionless spring, Still hesitant to dip its warm toes into the cold winter air. I sit and watch the city pulse Each face a snowflake melting into the crowd Each a drop of water Secretly waiting for the spring to feed them to the flowers waiting to bloom Each unconsciously yearning for the sun to break the frost
Each drifting by on winds through which I do not travel All of us waiting for something that we can’t identify and that has not come…
First let us begin with an artistic critique of the state and the left/right political division. This video is a critique leveled by the band Laibach and their artist collective. Though it may appear fascist, it must be analyzed beyond the immediate aesthetics of its presentation. The lyrics, for instance, are not those of a fascist dictator, but rather those of the communist revolutionary Josip Broz Tito. They exalt the supposed virtues of the state while claiming its authority is derived from the people. This juxtaposition of fascist imagery and communist rhetoric has the effect breaking down the divisions of left and right, leaving the viewer faced with pure violent force: the will of the state.
To represent society within the state as the division between left and right is to institutionalize division and violence. Not only are the two sides divided against each other, but they are also divided against themselves: the left is pulled two ways by its stance as socially libertarian and economically authoritarian, while the right is pulled two ways by its stance as socially authoritarian and economically libertarian. Society is thus doubly fragmented by its left-right division as well as its libertarian-authoritarian division. In the end this fragmentation produces a paradigm that is both socially and economically authoritarian: this institutionalization of conflict demands more state control, more violence simply to keep things together.
This is exactly what the state does. The state uses violence to keep the situation (the nation), that it creates and oversees, together. It does this by representing the people of the nation to themselves. In this way, the stateis the people, but only insofar as it is the people separated from themselves.
To divide the conflict within the state into left and right parties is therefore to institutionalize the need for the state. The left/right division -unlike the authoritarian/libertarian division- does not pertain to the nature of the state per say, but rather to the specific expressions of its adherent's individuality. By siding with a side in the left/right division, the individual ignores the nature of the state leaving the state with the task of expressing the nature of leftness or rightness (since it is within the state that the conflict between left and right is embodied). The state is thus left to its own devices: first encroaching on society in a "left" way (pushing through regulations on industry, instituting social welfare programs etc.) and then it encroaches on society in a "right" way (taking away personal liberties, pushing through legislation that benefits big business interests etc.). The more the sate encroaches, the more the divisions within the state become meaningless up to the point where we have a system like we have today: a system where both parties stand for the same principles and the same policies.
It is time that we as Americans do away with this left/right divide (or at the very least, relegate it to the realm of social interaction and personal feeling) and adress the real problem: the state itself...
Dreams
of Liberty (The State)
Feel
the force of the broken ones
Blindly
lashing at the branches
Afraid
to strike the root and see
The
end to their negative solidarity
Streets
seethe under daylight’s pressure:
The
negative solidarity movement marches forth.
But
I remember as I stand here watching on,
That
they say the night is always darkest before the dawn.
In
fear the masses converge
Under
banners devoid of vision,
Understanding,
And
love.
No light of freedom glints in eyes
That look for solutions from above:
“The state will cure the sickness
of self-centeredness,
Greed,
And lust.
It will bring the order to our lives
Our cities,
Our nation,
Our trust.”
But the state can protect us only
From the violence we cause each other
Its touch never brings the love we crave
From every man as our brother.
It cements its rule with force’s power
That in love’s absence, projects a veneer
Of a nation’s people bound together
Though, in fact, they’re bound by fear
The state’s hand touches where we’ve succumbed
To the blind hatred that keeps us enchained
To our selfishness that preys on others
And acts on lies we’ve entertained.
The state lets us live with the folly
Of not looking our fellow man in the eyes
And knowing his pain, troubles and joy
While living with him every day of our lives.
I dream one day we’ll realize the truth
That our nation was not of fiat born
But birthed by freedom’s present light
From which the state has had us torn.
I dream one day we’ll see the truth
That love and freedom must lead the fight
Against state slavery and its chains
But ’till then we march:
Left, right,
Left, right,
Left, right.
Finally, I would like to point out that I am adding a new tag called "ideology in prose" which I will use to tag any post where i lay out a piece of my worldview in prose (as opposed to visual art, music or poetry).
