Poems

..also..

I loved your work too Django. Very compelling and 'lean'. I mean that in the best of ways... it is a true talent that can say so much with so few words.


Stick around and post more poems if you don't wanna argue.

Some of us would appreciate that.

See ya.

Set fire to the poems.
Watch them burn and yearn
to be real again.

The life expectancy of a poem
is nothing
when it is already dead.

Perhaps you'd like to write a poem.
Wouldn't that be great?
Too late.

How do you define a poem?
Is it soft and white
and read all over?

Sometimes.

Bravo!

Watch them burn and yearn
to be real again.


That's beautiful man.

Thank you, kind sir. I came up with it on the spot.

Intense Agony


Intense agony is kind of like war
But it's cheaper than wine
and still fine.
Intense agony is a burial ground
it's fresh
it's delightful
it's creme de la creme.
It's something to aspire to be.
It's something quite like me.

Oh, intense agony
intense agony.....
intense agony.....
intense agony.....

FREE ME!
Intense agony.....
drop
Intense agony.....

Intense agony.....
Intense agony.....
Intense agony.....
Intense agony.....
Intense agony.....

Well, that pretty much sums up what a true poem is.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Teacher, what do you say?
Class?
Nothing?
Okay, close your books.

Stupid poem.
Write a story!
Hail the glory!

Toose, thanks for your words of critical appreciation! I would be glad to oblige you the next time inspiration hits!

Incidentally, I love a good debate as much as anybody--please tell Yoda that. It's just that, of late, I have to devote most of my time making ends meet, so I just don't have the time I would like to spare to spend on debating the issues. Maybe sometime in the future, after I have properly settled down and established myself.

Take it easy and keep the poetry flowing!

Celebrity, your stuff is inspired! Brilliant, man!

Uh, not to start another argument, but did you really insinuate that George Patton is more to be feared than Osama Bin Laden?

Absolutely! Patton was a ruthless monster, a perfect example of a man so driven by patriotic fervor, or, should I say, jingoistic fervor, as to lose all sense of balance or propriety or humanity.

Um, what makes you say that?

Here's a speech:

A General Talks to His Army

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. ALL REAL Americans, love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers . . . Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know . . . My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do. Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War Two?" You won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled **** in Louisiana." Alright now, you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. Oh! . . . I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all."
General George S. Patton, Jr.
3rd Army speech

England, 31 May 1944

6th Armored Division

Are the sentiments expressed in this speech far removed from Nazi ideals? Contempt for individualism, contempt for life, contempt for weakness, extreme belligerency, the glorification of war and killing . . . not exactly Christian sentiments!

It's pretty hard to express Nazi ideals when you're giving a speech motivating people to, well, kill Nazis. And of course he's showing contempt for individualism; you do realize this is the ARMY we're talking about, right? There's not much room for creative freedom and interpretative dance when people's lives are on the line.

I also wonder if you see the irony in labeling "contempt for weakness" as a principle General Patton ought not to hold.

Have you heard of the concept of excessive force?

The fact that the enemy, in this case, happens to be the Nazis is incidental. Basically, in Patton's mind (in my opinion), the enemy is the enemy--the other guy, the foreigner, the opponent. Patton equates "Nazi" with "foreigner" or "enemy", not realizing that his own attitudes that he voices in this speech are not far removed from the attitudes of the Nazis themselves. What makes Patton a controversial figure is that he used Nazi-like tactics against the Nazis themselves--excessive brute force, dehumanizing the enemy, extreme belligerency, contempt for life and individuality, etc. The point is, was it justified? In my opinion, it was not. The end never justifies the means.

Killing your enemy in a war is not excessive force.


Do you have ANYTHING other than utter speculation to validate the claim that this was, in fact, Patton's mindset?


Extreme belligerency is not a Nazi "tactic" -- it's a war tactic. If you're not belligerent, you're a poor soldier. The military standards you're advocating would have us nothing short of demolished right now. So far your only real gripe about Patton is that he said mean things about the Nazis (who were doing horribly inhuman things) during a time of war. Oh, the humanity. How dare he lower the self-esteem of those who commit genocide.

The men you criticize...men like Patton...are the same men that have helped allow you to have the freedom to criticize them in the first place. You're trying to cut off the tree branch you're sitting on, bub.

Maybe not, but surely this is: "We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel."

I'm not speculating about what is apparent in the speech I quoted.

Extreme belligerency is a Nazi tactic. Extreme brutality in war definitely is a Nazi tactic. Have you heard of the term "blitzkreig"? Invented by the Nazis. Tank warfare--the "panzer" attack--again, invented by the Nazis. Basically, Patton was turning the same Nazi tactics against the Nazis themselves. Sure, for those of us on the winning side, we have reason to be happy to see our enemies go down, by whatever means necessary. In a strictly legal sense, however, a war crime is a war crime, and a war criminal is a war criminal, whatever side he may be on.

Patton did not win the war. Patton was a war criminal who was relieved of his command before the war came to a head for his words, tactics and actions. The war was won by more civilized men like Montgomery, Eisenhower, etc.--men who were able to maintain a sense of balance in the context of war and not get carried away and lose all sense of balance, like Patton.

Strange…I’m beginning to wonder what they teach in India... Patton is a hero to the American people and those he helped to liberate from the Nazis… not a war criminal or is it just your opinion that he is a war criminal? And when was he relieved of his duties? Oh wait… you mean after Patton and the 3rd Army swept across France and Germany and Germany surrendered… I had almost forgotten that Patton got in trouble for using former Nazi’s for advisors on domestic affairs dealing with the German people… a move that everyone now agrees was extremely intelligent on his part since Germans were more used to dealing with their own people. Oh… and he also got in trouble because he was a little too vocal about wanting to nip a "little" problem called the Soviet Union in the bud before it got out of hand… hmm... wonder how that would have all turned out if they had listened to him at the time...

And as far as his speeches go… they were designed to inspire his soldiers to over come the fear of their own death so they could fight the Nazi’s… Anyone who knows anything about war at all knows the best way to get killed or to get someone next to you killed is to worry about it… Patton took a bunch of mainly “green” 18 year old kids off the farm and turned them into one of the most admired fighting forces in WWII…admired on all sides btw…

__________________

Is it just me or do you guys love it when she does this?

You're awesome, C.

i know this isn't a poem....actually it's a toast...but i thought i'd put it anyways

here's to you
here's to me
friends we will always be
but if we should ever disagree
f**k you, here's to me

__________________
The wold is full of kings and queens
Who blind our eyes and steal our dreams
it's heaven and hell

Cait's already laid the ideological smackdown, so I'll just weigh in briefly:

It's called motivation. He did not actually grease tanks with Nazi guts. Therefore, there's no excessive force. You're equating Patton with Hitler because he liked to trash-talk, basically. I don't know if you appreciate just how ridiculous that is. Belligerance is a problem at Bible Study. Not on the battlefield. Your complaints reveal a very deep-seeded naivete in regards to war.

His motto was "a pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood." And if you have to scream at your troops...if you have to speak harsly to get that pint of sweat...then you do it, end of story. And he did. And many gallons of blood were saved simply because he ignored people like you floating ridiculous concerns for Nazi self-esteem.

Here's what it comes down to: Patton sees a truck barreling towards you, dives to push you out of the way, and all you can do is complain about the bruise you got when he shoved you onto the sidewalk. Time for a reality check.


Ain't just you, man. She's somethin' else.

Patton . . . a hero? I think the consensus is that Patton was a major league psycho! I don't know where you get your information from Caitlyn, but your opinions are seriously freaky! I will get back to this issue after researching a bit, but I genuinely feel concerned about you, Caitlyn! How in God's name can you feel sympathy for a fruitcake like George S. Patton, not to mention George W. Bush! Incidentally, my remarks are not intended to elicit sympathy for the Nazis, merely to point out that the Germans were not the only ruthless, sadistic, psychotic bastards in WWII--that, in fact, the Allies had their own share of war criminals--and yes, Patton was a war criminal, no doubt in my mind about it. And a seriously deranged character too. But, of course, you folks will start crying for evidence, which I will provide, in due course.

"A hero to some is a monster to others." - Django