UnderCover

I decided that the best way for an audience to witness the growth of a creator is to analyze and get a taste of their earlier works. Here are a couple of poems that I published while in the later years of middle school and early years of high school. The graphic for the first topic is graphic and for this reason I have chosen to just put the link to its original source. To give you prior warning it is a picture of the remains of a suicide bomber.

http://fara.cs.uni-potsdam.de/~mhass/ogrish-dot-com-remains_of_suicide_bomber_in_iraq.jpg

Incantation of the Suicidal

Silent requests for an end(ing)
Underneath the coils of pretend(ing).
This life can't bare no more Existence.
There's nothing leftover but my
Persistence-
But mere Resistance.
Resistance to breathe continuosuly
It'll soon be relieved,
Thoughts appear sinuously.
Far more treasure Far more fair.
Nothing is pleasurable
Than the absence of air.
Therefore my nose and lungs
Are no longer of vitality.
What is done, is done
Down with morality!

For more information about suicide, please visit this link: www.suicide.com

What's So Different

Our hands intersect
As the pressure of our love is measured.
All that we can detect
Are the far more desired and treasured.
(What's the difference?)
We have already proclaimed
Our love for each other.
We've past the stage of shame, he's almost like my brother.
I tell him everything,
He's my confidante, my best friend.
One day I'll wear his wedding ring,
True lovers 'til the end.
(Is there a difference?)
Nearly incomprehensible - other's ignorance
When we kiss - oh, how it feels like butterflies.
There's only a slight difference (in our relationship) -
We're both guys.

For more information about homosexuality, please visit this link: www.pureintimacy.org/gr/homosexuality

Set Back

Nazi rule allegedly diminished 60 years ago. However, recent news in Taiwan proves different. For 19 months, college students have formed an organization that is geared towards the study and understanding of Adolf Hitler. With their presence at parades and protests, these students have sought out to use the tactics of Hitler's programs as models of influence. The leader of the group has stated that the purpose of the organization isn't to flat-out repeat the acts of Hitler and exterminate an entire race, but to analyze the potential of his "welfare state" proposal.

Undoubtedly, many protestors against the National Socialist Association of Taiwanese Students have argued against their cause. Many see the group as being mentally ill. This doesn't seem to surprise me as much as it has others. Why? It doesn't surprise me because, so many social groups that have faced hardship and judgment, always find some kind of way to set themselves "back". Racial slurs being accepted and used as words of salutation as well as nations who are politically confused after having achieved democratic stature.

In regards to the Taiwanese students, I wouldn't place any judgments on them so quickly (if at all). They are searching for the positive in Hitler's past tactics...it's their choice? I am interested to understand their frame of mind. We are living in a "diluted" democracy and a lot of individuals here, still have psychological issues and civil unrest. We want freedom for all, yet we shun those who have a difference in sexual orientation.

Photo taken from CNN.com
Taiwan President dressed as Hitler

- Falling Backwards -

and just like your marbled necklace, I too was MADE IN TAIWAN.
Created amongst an island of political unrest.
Here, my lifestyle doesn’t belong to me, but it belongs to them.
I haven’t had enough time to form my own personality or beliefs,
They are ever changing.
One day, we are a Republic, the next we are considering independence,
Now, we just might go backwards into those years of discrimination
And ignorance and contempt for those who appear different.
Our youth has violated all that we stand for and has resorted to
Seeking influence from he who bears a mustache…
He who flaunts a swastika.
The disloyalty when we ourselves have been judged,
Confined as laborers and reluctant members of the KMT.
Those years of victimization have come to mean nothing.
Just like my generation, I travel backwards.
Go back!
Go back!
Stop here!
Our educated children are no longer our future, but our past reincarnated.
just like your ceramic kettle, I too was MADE IN TAIWAN.

- Sidenote - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258886,00.html

This story is too ridiculous for me to dedicate an entire blog...so check it out and leave your comments if you want.

What's "Real News" to you?

There lies a bittersweet truth concerning today's media outlets. As the years go by, we are constantly bombarded with a new definition of "real news". Ideally, we all expect news to be the recent crime that occurred right outside our house or the brutal lynching that is still going on in Southern states. It could even be the recent casualty that occured a whole continent away. However, these "crucial" issues have taken a backseat to the more "popular" events.

I can not begin to describe how amazing and surprising it is to see that a whole segment of the news reports are primarily dedicated to the latest contestant booted off of American Idol, or the tragic breakup of the entertainment world's most "hottest couple".

All of these convenient distractions only enable us to frolic in the failures and pitiful lifestyles of others; which only serve to make our lives seem 10 times better. It is no secret that we all love to see ourselves in a higher light. Not to mention, these distractions are so much sweeter and softer to the eyes. Who wants to see a graphic photo of a sick civilian? Who wants to see those shots of a worn body? No one.

Façades can be seen as tarnished visuals or ideologies that blur our sense of reality. They are seen as helpful, because it is so convenient for us to indulge in entertainment news.

It's so ironic that blogs have even taken to being a person's primary source for news. No longer do we read the newspaper or watch impartial news...we choose to go for what is convenient and cost effective: the Internet. It is now easy for anyone to become a writer or a journalist. You've got the scoop, you've got the ratings.

Don't mention bad things to me,
I want to hear the latest gossip.
I want to know who broke up with you and who is sleeping with who...
Who has a child by who and how old the child is...

We are so caught up in other people's business that is mostly (half of the time) false. I can't say that I am not guilty of this intellectual crime. No one seems to pay attention to their media outlets anymore. Half of the time we consume these juicy stories and never even notice the fewer instances of stealth marketing or product placement. We're just so distracted.

I guess I'll just have to get accustomed to what the television dishes out to me at the expense of knowing what is really going on in the world. I have to come to terms with the fact that more people vote for the next American Idol or the Top Model of the week, before voting for president or state officials. After all, the future of our country doesn't matter; we can't make a difference there.

I doubt I'll want to pursue my past hopes of being a journalist...I couldn't fathom giving out bias information...the world has no place for objectivity (or so it seems).

What's your take on it? What is your definition of "real news?" Is it the viewers who have determined what they see? After all, we are the ones who want to hear the gossip.

God Can (not) Hear

I had to place a disclaimer first to inform everyone that I do not consider myself to be of any religion...not yet. I am a believer in God, but honestly I have not found a sanctuary that I deem comfortable enough to call my holy home. I do not look down upon any religion, even those who have not...everyone has a reason for their choice and I respect them all. Anyone of any religion is free to comment, because I am primarily looking for critique on my poetic style. If you have something more to say, that is fine but I don't expect any back-to-back arguing. Everyone's comments are just that: their comments.

God Can (not) Hear

O holy ground
That graciously scratches the sole of my feet
Leading me to the altar where I often pray
So much has changed,
So much has been sacrificed
Your holiness has reincarnated in a different way.
A sanctuary turned into something more unheard of,
Shunned, something more perverse
In manner, in general,
A bludgeoned curse.

“My Father wouldn’t do this, so how could you?
You’re anything but heaven-sent…I dread the presence of you”.
He’s told me that this is best for you and that I take this now –
“You’re doing inappropriate healing, one that the Almighty would never allow.”
I’m the spiritual guide and icon he gave you, I’ll do as I please,
now be a good person and drop to your knees.
“Oh sinful demon, go away because God will protect me from fear –“
For the last time, He won’t, for He can not hear.

I’ve lost all hope in religion and I’ve tried to forgive.
But how can I forgive a man who is invisible to me?
If he so loved the world, he’d let us all live
And let utopia be.

Yet we will not be able to suffer
Travesty and unjustly wraths;
We’d have no need for rationale and no ounce of feelings
That guide us on diverse, necessary paths.
Feelings of guilt, compassion, strength, feebleness,
Contempt, righteousness, and withdrawal –
All serve as testimony of believers who have or will hear God’s call.

****************

There is no doubt that the poem above was done with the epidemic, that has plagued the Catholic Church, in mind. It also is geared towards the silent matters of adultery that go on in every church; issues that haven't been broadcasted as much, but we all know they exist.

Credits:
photo 1 courtesy of http://religious.gmu.edu
photo 2 courtesy of www.hindunet.com.au
photos 3-5 courtesy of www.spaceandmotion.com
photo 6 courtesy of www.religion-cults.com
photo 7 courtesy of www.onickz.com

D.A.R.F.U.R Crisis

D.A.R.F.U.R.

Darkened skies cover dead bodies
Spread across the reddened clay.
Children here know no sense of hope,
and lying distant…is a brighter day.
Government utters silence,
choosing to speak from the barrel of a gun.
Robbing families, raping women,
killing off infants and the innocent whose corpses decompose underneath the sizzling sun.

Anti-genocide, anti-war;
My fists clench as I choose not to witness this anymore.
Poverty and apartheid –the history of this “Motherland”.
We’ve placed our own selfishness ahead of Sudan.
Have we become supporters or culprits in the cause;
We’d prefer indifference and no action by placing reality on “PAUSE”.

Revolutionaries are created by their fascist governments,
seeking justice and change in humanity.
Their only crime: being victims of frequent brutality.
So let us shut our eyes!
Let us weep for them from a distance,
across the Atlantic.
Let us pity them and pretend to comprehend their plight;
Because we will do anything “convenient” as long as we aren’t called to fight.

Frown upon hungry sufferers who know no better.
Mock everything they stand for.
It’s so hard to care,
yet easier to ignore.
Bounded hands bleed profusely,
coloring the scene crimson
Dare to look into alerted eyes of those dead souls
filled with disdain, revenge, and turmoil.
Bury these slaughtered bodies deep below the worn soil.

Unite the scattered limbs –that’s the least we can do.
Protect this land of resource; give them spiritual life anew.
Stop the recruitment of child soldiers who welcome inevitable death.
How we salvage humanity before there is nothing left?

Reality shows itself during a crisis like this.
Our true feelings are given light as we instantly “dismiss”
unwanted truths and apparent faults.
Less words signify defense as we all hide behind routine lifestyles of pride.
To forget is to be neutral when really,
we have increased the instances of genocide.

Credits:

photo 1 courtesy of www.usafricaonline.com

photo 2 courtesy of www.interfaithnews.net

photo 3 courtesy of http://ec.europa.eu

photo 4 courtesy of www.villagevoice.com