Tuesday, February 24, 2015

American Train Trip

Sitting on an Amtrak train heading back to NYC
Pass through Mystic, Connecticut 
Quaint country houses, a huge river
Big bridge with bright lights
Feel like a character in a movie
The guy at the table across talks rapid fire on his cell
About Jack Black who was supposed to
Hit up the presentation today and how in spite of
Jack having that high six figure salary
He's got no experience at this job
How he had to take Jack Black's place 
And do what Jack Black should have done
Patricia is supposed to be his boss 
But he has to tell her what to do
“It's like a marriage,” he proclaims
The train conductor announces
Arriving at New Haven, Connecticut in 2 minutes
Fellow passenger’s cross conversation and my movie end
Inspired I search for my pen and remember 
Mariel asked to borrow it and didn’t return it
I pull my luggage from the corner 
Ransack roughly through my clothes 
Find my iPad, pull it out and write this poem instead

Monday, January 19, 2015

All Sentient Beings Count

Every year 10 billion animals, cows, pigs and chickens are slaughtered for food.  Every single second 300 animals are killed for consumption in the USA. Snap your fingers, yes in that time, 300 animals are killed. That is 18,000 every minute, which adds to 1,080,000 every hour, animals that suffer from birth to death in warehouses. Many people behave as though animals have no feelings. Animals love their young, and suffer. Pigs are smarter than dogs. 

Here in the USA our farm animals are treated extremely cruelly from the day they are born till their slaughter. Baby pigs and cows have their testicles cut off with rusty scissors and are given nothing for pain. When infections follow they go untreated and animals die. Cows horns are removed cruelly by sawing them down or chopping. Cows are artificially inseminated and not permitted to graze and forced to eat foods they are unable to digest. Cows, pigs, goats and chickens are not allowed to walk, feel the sun or graze.

We can talk about repercussions of factory farming or intensive animal farming industry although it is clear not everyone agrees because they want to continue eating meat. Sometimes it is because they don’t have knowledge or facts, some people enjoy the taste and others eat because it’s cheaper to buy a dollar deal from Burger King or McDonalds than to have salad, rice & beans, (rice & beans is an entire wholesome protein by itself) cooked vegetables. Very few people care to consider the horrible conditions farm factory farm animals are exposed to.

How many people think about chickens piled body upon body in cages where they die, bodies, wings and feathers squashed and dried on the cage bars. Cows cannot digest corn or grains, but cows are forced to eat GMO corn Cows cannot digest the GMO corn they are forced to eat because their stomachs are made to eat grasses.. Some farmers have ground up the newborn calves and feed them to the mother cows. Cows are naturally vegetable eating species. All animals are forced to survive standing and living in their own excrement. When workers come and clean they get angry and upset having to shovel literally through feet deep shit and piss. Can you imagine the smell?

Because our animals are confined in small spaces where movement is inhibited, they live in such filth they need antibiotics just to survive. Then they are forced to consume hormones to grow. Farm animals experience fear and pain and very little else. Cows are impregnated through artificial insemination. If this were done to a woman they’d call it rape. Their babies are taken from them and birth because the female cows are only impregnated to make milk. If the baby calves survive, workers pick them up by their hind legs and bang their heads against the cement floor, sometimes in full view of their mother, to kill them. We live like we are in a third world country too where only money has a say. Factory farm animals never get to see the sun, are not permitted to graze, to walk or run. They are not permitted to enjoy their short lives and then the only thing to set them free from their pain and abuse, is their slaughter, often performed cruelly too. Animals are often hit with hammers in their head but are still conscious and machines meant to do the workmen used to do, often miss their mark. There is a reason why Muslims and Jews use a sharp knife to the throat to kill animals for consumption.

Thinking about this same animal as a form of your nutriment and diet, realize that hours standing in excrement and urine will enter the bloodstream of the animal forced to live that way. After birth, piglets are separated from their mothers. Kept immovable between bars is how these pigs live.

We cry about dogs in China, Korea, and other countries while meanwhile we treat our animals the same. I had a pet chicken given to me when very small and that chick followed me all day for months until I left the farm where I’d been living. All animals are sentient beings have feelings. We need to clean up our own back yard before complaining about the world. Our farm animals also watch in fear as others are slaughtered and mistreated.

I am tired of all the killing and cruelty in the world; from farm animals in factory farms who only get to live 2 years the most if they’re lucky to dogs in east Asia. Cows and pigs can live 15 to 25 years if allowed. All of these animals are mercilessly beaten and treated. Why do humans need to eat cows and pigs? And if they must eat them do they really need to eat so much? Do you really look at a pig and baby sow and say wow yummy?

Calves here are killed at birth for the milk industry and they call that veal. They are not permitted to suckle and are taken from their mothers as soon as they are born. Then there's the force fed ducks. It is all too disgusting and I'm tired of all the cruelty. Man's inhumanity to man and animals is disgusting and we need to be ashamed - since we are supposed to be the "highest species.” Pigs are smarter than dogs. Why don't more people care?

Fine - eat your meat – and consider the effect on health. How much mean protein do you think you should consume to maintain good health? How much do you need? Do you want to know the truth about factory farms? Do you want to know scientifically how the animals treated like this effect your health; examine the abuse and treatment of the animals killed for consumption? Eating the meat of an animal abused its entire life, flooded with adrenaline and fear, and force-fed indigestible foods, hormones and antibiotics cannot be good for your health. Animals are forced to consume the antibiotics and hormones to permit them to grow and survive in the filth the factory farm animals are forced to live in. 

Our children living near by factory farms get cancer caused by contaminating ground water. Imagine our outcry if we no longer processed human waste, like Typhoid Mary all over again, only this time it’s caused by waste from concentrated animal feeding operations instead of human waste.  Big money is slowly killing us but we turn a blind eye. March willingly to our demise, like another Adolf Hitler. We assist in earth’s destruction, contribute to the consistent abuse; make the poor more poor, while we all die from cancer. Struggle over pennies rule us and soon with all the runoff waste and fracking, we won’t have an earth to sustain us.

Groundwater contamination from feces from eight billion chickens slaughtered yearly to satisfy the human race. Bones so weak they can’t stand because they never see the light of day, force-fed antibiotics because they live in such filth, so the antibiotic causes a growth spurt. Poison the ground so even us vegetarians and vegans are no longer safe. Tyson escapes pollution regulations through loopholes. How many of you can afford to eat organic food?

Middle class Americans under attack, our country isn’t what it’s meant to be.  We need to take our lives back. Give small farmers back their share and let them care for animals meant to be human food. Let animals graze and see the sun the way they’re supposed to. Agriculture should require waste treatment centers for animals waste just like for human waste. That is how they farm in Europe where they have already outlawed factory-farming practices for being unsafe, unsanitary, unhealthy for consumption, plus creating groundwater contamination. We are led like we wear blinders and rarely do we see the truth, similar to the movie, The Matrix. Were we permitted actual reporting instead of the news we see on TV, our eyes would open. The world is overcrowded and people refuse change. It's ok - another 5 million years will rid the earth of us.

The minute I heard about the dead bear cub about 6 months old found under a bush in Central Park I said, “This bear cub was kept as a pet and abused.” Instead all of the initial reports said the cub’s injuries show he was run over. Over 10 days later it is reported there are slash and stab wounds.

Animals have no voice. My heart can’t turn off the pain so I beg for mercy for them. Please stop the trickle down abuse. My voice is lost on the 1 percent. I turn to you and cry “Mercy for the planet!”

Please pledge to love our earth. Before it’s too late to reverse the devastation and we’ve all been sent to damnation, let’s escape this trickle down abuse Matrix. Let’s join instead to spread the love, create a world where there truly is a greater good for all men together, where every man supports for his brother and sister, a peaceful world where future generations can survive. For those of you who choose to eat meat, buy from small farms where animals are permitted to graze and well treated. Many farmers are now turning to new ways by blocking off tracts of land in a grazing circle; animals are permitted grazing year round. Farmers save money on hay and the animals are happy being moved to a fresh grazing area daily. 

A righteous man regards the life of animals – Proverbs 12:10

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. - St Francis of Assisi

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our sould when we look the other way. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs… (They) are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no rights to neglect, nor to violate by cruelty … - James Harriot


The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated – Mahatma Gandhi.

Link to educational video below:









Thursday, December 25, 2014

Tired Of These Silver Gray Days

Another gray day just like yesterday
And the day before
Makes me wonder if it’s a sign of decay
If we’ll ever learn the way
Just like London
Everyday begins gloomy in the morning and
Later the sun comes out to play
Then by afternoon goes away
Everyday it rains like here in New York City
Watch silver skies and overcast
Stare out the plate glass window in dismay
While I sit and crochet
Imagine living in a chalet on Hudson Bay
Made of stone and glass,
Fine walnut cabinets with stained glass doors
Pull out drawers throughout
Sun streams through my sun porch
When it rains, I close the glass doors and watch
Fine sprays of rain descend
Dream I’m a millionaire – I’ve spent that much
Gypsies believe if you’ve spent a million you are one
A blue jay flies by in 45-degree December
My thoughts stray,
Want to defray the cost of living
Wonder how those worse off pay
Bills in a place so ill the rent’s
Three times higher than salary
Wealthy connive to create anarchy
Pray USA's working poor will survive

Friday, December 19, 2014

The Absence Of Love Yields Hate

Comingle on the corner doorstep
Fate sleeps late at the abyss
Rancid denial of Beelzebub
Waltzes through my brain
Rotting flesh of my bones
Insane in my tomb.
Cell phone rings abruptly
Disrupts me, tear open envelope
Desires, hurts, anger, fear, lust animates me.
She sent outdated information
On purpose to distract me
Life turned to dust
Parked on side streets
Lost causes, and dust
Doubt and drivel hammered in mistrust.
Places fraught, caught naked
Imagination outrun by freedom
cause reductions in usable space.
Distraught and overwrought
Enervated and prostrated
Freedom overrides me
Seek relief, use a cast iron weight
Knock some sense into my head
Whack me into oblivion
All the accusations are true
Guilty as charged
Agree there’s demise in society
Refuse to confess
Turn to empty unpaid banks
Paid in full with retribution
No balance left
Evil can not be undone
Love will not be outrun
Evil never lets go
Love cannot be undone
Evil cannot be out run
Love refuses to be undone
Questions answer questions
Driven to distraction
Sessions single suppressions
Deny any ism is my obsession
Denial analogous to confession
Love's absence insures hate's continuation




*  This time of year drives me to be sad and thoughtful. That combined with all the daily chores and bullshit makes me mad, because I freedom lives in my heart yet I remain prisoner to society too. 

You know how yelp and google are supposed to let you express yourself about any business? Well it's absolutely a farce. Google reviews censored my recent review of Candle Cafe West. Yelp censored my review of a outpatient mental health clinic. This is very disappointing. After Yelp removed my review - they removed all the other reviews of The Post Graduate Mental Health Clinic. 

What does this have to do with my poem? I don't know.

I do know the drive to be free drives me to write as it does to think, consider and design. I write and write and write. It is what writers do. I also do many other things to express myself. I design jewelry, designed my apartment makeover myself, I crochet hats (haven't done knitting in a while) paint, draw and take interesting photos plus, most importantly, I do my rants and raves and poetry. 

You know how yelp and google are supposed to let you express yourself about any business? Well it's absolutely a farce. Google reviews censored my recent review of Candle Cafe West. Yelp censored my review of a outpatient mental health clinic. 

Happy holidays and love to all 

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Panic Attack!

People flow through my veins like unstoppable rivers, like tendered addictions stream through me, rush by me, take pieces of me as they come and go. An unstoppable deluge of unknowns, continue to care, can’t help myself; we get by with a little help from our friends. We want to try to change the inevitable course of romance, like a lifetime dance, we live in a trance.
There are no answers, only questions or issues to resolve. Now-a-days problems are called issues. Don’t ask me why. Like a problem is something demeaning you can’t be absolved of, but an issue evolve and dissolve.  Life is artificial. We play musical chairs, turning in place, exchanging our issues while we struggle to exist.
Haven’t given up hope that love will save me, transport me somewhere; the base overcomes me. I cry, tears run, no tissues. A constant observer, I long for magic, tender kisses, want my wishes materialized, want pain to disappear. Life is ethereal, all problems remedial, but life is too short to let anger stand in the way or miss life while we text our lives away, forgetting true connections. People we see everyday right next to us are ignored while we stay glued to iPhones and iPads.  
I want pain to disappear, issues to be clear, want to get my ass in gear and leave behind the fear that drives me. The consumerism blues take hold and a shopping mood strikes me. Eyes veiled, I only see what’s before me and I want to go where I can buy things.
I get on the train today and am terrified. Tall Blond White Lady turns to me, stares in my eyes. “Don’t push!” She screams in my face. 
For some reason this makes me recall a former lover who said it was nice to be crushed in a massive moving throng of people.
“I don’t want to push, but I am being pushed from behind,” I reply, the important unspoken words being, I’m as much victim as you are. “Anyway,” I say against her, “wouldn’t you rather me shoved against you than some slime guy?” I notice her ASPCA T-shirt. “It’s nice you help animals. I love animals too,” I say.
“I love my job!” she replies emphatically. Our hearts touch for a millisecond of time.
“I have poor balance though I know, there’s not much room to fall down. There’s no place to hold on to. Can I hold on to you or your coat if you prefer?”
“OK she agrees.” I hate rush hour with passion. If she hadn’t been sweet she may have attacked me. It happened before. It was a snowstorm in 2007 and I was on my way to work at 8:15. The train was gray slippery slush, ankle high. My stop is last one outdoors. I am trying my best to hold on to the hanging hooks, lucky in far enough to grab it. The train is crowded. I have a bag filled with papers on my shoulders, long coat and boots, definitely encumbered. Being short works against me, the hooks are up high. I hold on tight. The train lurches continuously, each stop and start, plus people get off and on each stop. I slip each time so hold on for dear life with two hands holding that one metal strap.  The straps are designed to be mobile so they rock forward and back at each stop and start.
Nice old Latina lady never says a word as my knees brush hers. Doesn’t totally acknowledge my apology.
Ms. Latina Meany yells, “What the fuck? Why are you all over this woman?” The lady next to her is an elderly Latina women. At each sudden lurch my knees brush hers.
“I can’t control it. I try my best. I excuse myself a dozen times to her.”
“Girl you better not touch her again. I’m warning you…”
“People are pushing me from behind. I can’t stop my knees bending forward.” Everyone watching the show, I clam up. Ms. Latina Meany stands up and lunges for me. The train lurches. I fall momentarily to the side. Standing Ms. Latina Meany misses me momentarily, but jabs her finger into my belly. I see my demise. “Please,” I beg, “I didn’t do anything.” Ms. Meany pokes me again.
“What the hell? Monday morning … Com’on! It is too early for this shit.” Mr. Handsome Asian guy, jumps in from nowhere, grabs her hand as she’s about to punch me in the face. I take note. Hey, he’s not much bigger than I – dressed with a lot of style, in suit, tie, cashmere topcoat and rubbers.  Stranger looks me in the eye. “Getting off here?” The train is almost in the 59th Street Station. I nod. Mr. Asian grabs Ms. Meany from behind, restraining her by holding his arms tightly around her, her arms held tight to her sides. She jumped up against him, trying to kick him and free herself, but he held her down. Mr. Handsome Savior Guy yelled, “Just go, … don’t look back, go. I walked; half assed ran on that slippery floor without falling.
Ms. Meany yelled, “Let me get th’ bitch! Let me at ‘er. Shit!” Her voice faded as the train pulled out, Mr. Savior still holding her. I remain terrified, forget scared. Scared shitless. Ever since that time, I’ve been gun shy. You understand why. No need to explain. Help me, I beg!
I’m afraid every time I board the train. Keep my eyes down, bury myself, read a story, and most of all, evade eye contact. You never know who will attack. It’s a scary world. I force myself out the door daily. I maintain hope in humanity. Probably I won’t get attacked again, or if I do someone will save me. Take me to the boondocks and let me live with you for a while, whoever you are.
I take trains. I get panic attacks near train tracks. I call my car the escape machine. Can you blame me?






Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Joy's Ranting Again ... Gabriela Rosa

Those of you who are familiar with my blog know I do several things here; present poetry, reviews, photos, original art and my rants. If I am touched by something someone else has done and my editors don’t particularly love it for The Cartier Magazine, or if they do like but feel it is not a good fit, I put it here in my blog. I’ve been blogging steadily for several years now. You don’t get to be #1 at Facebook Networked Blogs in a particular subject by doing nothing! So today I am going to blog about Gabriela Rosa, who I’ve been upset about ever since I heard she was arrested. 
I met Rosa for the first time when she rang my bell and asked me to vote for her for the position as Assemblywoman. I don’t give my vote easily. For starters, I wanted to know her views on abortion and education. I liked her talk and I liked her. Rosa is forthright, outspoken intelligent and thoughtful.
We talked for more than a half hour. Rosa returned the following day, asking me to campaign for her and to first help her to get on the ballot. I live in a building with 202 families, so campaigning in my building alone would win her a great many votes. She told me she chose me because she saw I hadn’t missed voting in one election for over 15 years.
Rosa was a new incumbent running for a seat currently occupied by Guillermo Linares, who has been in public office in various positions since the early 1980’s when he was parent advocate on the school board. This is a rant for another day. I recently made my peace with Linares when I told him my issue with him and why I’d campaigned for Rosa for District 72, where I reside. I worked hard for her. I had no money to give but I had my flyers and voice with me everywhere I went. I talked her up to everyone I know and don’t know. I am a very good talker. I was proud to be part of her campaign and ecstatic to see her in office. Basically Rosa did the almost impossible. In November 2012, she unseated Linares! In January 2013, Rosa was sworn into office.
Gabriela Rosa has always been industrious and a hard worker. Assemblyman Herman Farrell came to bat for her. She worked as legislative assistant for Farrell for over a dozen years. Rosa was a go-getter in our community; pursuing values important to our community and helping to effect social changes. This job qualified her for a seat in the assembly. Rosa is the first Dominican woman to gain a seat in the assembly. I researched politics today and read it is almost impossible to unseat an incumbent, which Linares was. The fact that she succeeded in an uphill battle is a tribute to her dedication and to the stamina of her campaigners; others like me who wanted her to win. 
Rosa was arrested for two reasons, a sham marriage to get her citizenship and filing for bankruptcy and not counting husbands income. I read the court documents. They are available online. Rosa came to this county in 1993 at the age of 27 earning her degrees in Dominican Republic. She is 47 now. She was arrested for a crime she committed over 20 years ago to “pursue the American Dream,” and paying $8000 for the sham marriage. She divorced him in 1999. Rosa was naturalized in 2005. Ms. Rosa filed for bankruptcy in September 2009. In her arrest petition, it says she perjured herself by omitting her cooperative apartment that she’d recently acquired. I happen to live in the same type building. Matter of fact, her building is called our sister building since they were built at the same time in 1950, are both run by DHCR and are Mitchel-Lama coops, meaning they are not regular co-ops; they are state run. In the court documents, they claim she spent tens of thousands of dollars to get her co-op.  I am almost positive that her co-op - if it is a 2-bedroom cost no more than fifteen to twenty thousand dollars.
What is really bothering me is who is behind this and who has the most to gain from uprooting her and imprisoning her? Perhaps Linares has friends in powerful places that wanted her out. Gabriela Rosa is a scapegoat, pure and simple. I mean really, please. Starting with Watergate, then Whitegate, and Travelgate. Really, look up all the political gates. Did you know every single witness to Hilary Clinton’s Travelgate died either accidentally or mysteriously? Oh don’t get me started! Reagan had Alzheimer’s and basically Nancy Reagan was running the country with astrologers and Chief Of Staff. Ollie North took the fall for Reagan’s Nicaraguan initiatives with drug runners and CIA involvement. So much crazy stuff! They tried to unseat local politician Rangel (I felt terrible about this and he still gets my vote) because they claimed he used monies for personal travel. On and on, but Gabriela has to take the fall. Come on! We all know about politicians and their shenanigans.
Rosa knows the area. She knows the people. She was supported by many of the politicians in our area, such as Ydanis Rodriguez, Adriano Espaillat, Assembly Members Herman Farrell Jr.and Dan Quart, Borough President Gale Brewer, and State Senator Ruben Diaz. Wouldn’t our community be better served if she were permitted to do community service for our area for free instead of going to jail? Wouldn’t our community be better off to get her free help and she gets time served. Oh, not only does she have to serve a year and a day in jail with seasoned criminals, but she also had to sign documents forbidding her to ever hold public office again. I really want to know why she was targeted and by who. Her seat was due to expire on December 31, 2014. Someone had it in for her. By the way, Linares ran for his assembly seat unencumbered and uncontested– no one ran against him. He won – whoopee – and we lost a great intelligent compassionate person who really cared for us.
How stupid! I am angry, upset and disillusioned.


Below are links to learn more and to read the original court documents. Also someone should write her up at Wikipedia. Why isn’t she already there?