• Bodhisattvacharyavatara
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1
    • Chapter 2
    • Chapter 3
    • Chapter 4
    • Chapter 5
    • Chapter 6
    • Chapter 7
    • Chapter 8
    • Chapter 9
    • Chapter 10
  • collected works
    • 25th August 1981 – count Up
    • askance From Hell
    • Batman
    • The Boats of Vallisneria by Michael J. Redford
    • Bob 1995-2012
    • Edward Hopper: Poems at an Exhibition
    • David Bowie Movements in Suite Major
    • Eglinton Hill
    • FLOORBOARDS
    • Granada
    • in and out / the Avebury stones / can’t seem to get / a signal …
    • Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters]
    • Miller’s Batman
    • mum
    • nan
    • Portsmouth – Southsea
    • Spring Warwick breezes / over Bacharach fieldwork and boroughs with / the occasional shift and chirp of David / in the pastel-long morning of the sixties
    • through the crash
  • index
    • #A-E see!
    • F–K, wha’ th’
    • L-P 33 1/3 rpm
    • Q-T pie
    • U-Z together forever
  • me
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    • William Carlos Williams
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mlewisredford

~ may the Supreme and Precious Jewel Bodhichitta take birth where it has not yet done so …

mlewisredford

Tag Archives: debt

bargain

28 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

'scape, 2011, 20th century, 4*, capitalism, compromise, debt, economics, exchange, Have, history, MacMillan, market, politics, speech, voices

 

 

 

                                   bargain

                MacMillan said most of our people
                have never had it so good
                he also asked is it too good
                to last but too late the machine
                kicked in an end to austerity

                sacrifice for principle was noble
                but poor and grey and make-do
                and foggy and black-smirched and
                conservative and Power gave sacrifice
                a new lease of life – good
                for a century – making Have
                glamorous attainable extendible
                           a need

                the great smoke-and-mirror
                was that you had to pay
                more than you buy that
                you had to become
                the infrastructure that let you choose
                and you had to choose the infrastructure
                that let you become

                the great smoke-and-mirror
                was a deferred compromise
                in the form of a transaction:

                to Have in exchange for
                           the freedom to be
                the freedom to choose in exchange for
                           the freedom to think
                the freedom to have opinion
                           in exchange for a dialectic
                the freedom to express
                           in exchange for a voice

                the provision of health
                           in exchange for understanding
                the provision of education
                           in exchange for growth
                the provision of security
                           in exchange for safety
                the provision of safety
                           in exchange for security

                the opportunity of investment
                           in exchange for regulation
                the opportunity of power
                           in exchange for principle
                the opportunity of beauty
                           in exchange for maturity
                the opportunity to vote
                           in exchange for a colourful market centre

                           ‘mush tuppence a’penny
                           loose ‘nanas ‘a bob
                           ‘berries too fer won

                ‘seems like a good deal
                ‘everything you could need
                for a full and satisfactory life

                           I’m not askin’ f’yer gratitude
                           I’m not even askin’ f’yer loyalty
                           I’ll tellyawot – an’ I’m doin’ mesself in’ere –
                           DONE! fer just a carton
                           of yer long-life debt
                           ‘keeps fresh fer generations
                           summink for yer grandchildren m’luv
                                   ‘taste ain’t so bad

 

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

20th century & history & voices wormhole: green wine
Have wormhole: ‘just because you do not understand …’
politics wormhole: ‘the politics of Have becomes a morality …’
speech wormhole: ‘ ‘noticed how her hair parted back …’

 

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… Mark; remember …

"... the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful; it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe to find ashes." ~ Annie Dillard

pages coagulating like yogurt

  • Bodhisattvacharyavatara
    • Chapter 1
    • Chapter 10
    • Chapter 2
    • Chapter 3
    • Chapter 4
    • Chapter 5
    • Chapter 6
    • Chapter 7
    • Chapter 8
    • Chapter 9
    • Introduction
  • collected works
    • 25th August 1981 – count Up
    • askance From Hell
    • Batman
    • Bob 1995-2012
    • David Bowie Movements in Suite Major
    • Edward Hopper: Poems at an Exhibition
    • Eglinton Hill
    • FLOORBOARDS
    • Granada
    • in and out / the Avebury stones / can’t seem to get / a signal …
    • Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters]
    • Miller’s Batman
    • mum
    • nan
    • Portsmouth – Southsea
    • Spring Warwick breezes / over Bacharach fieldwork and boroughs with / the occasional shift and chirp of David / in the pastel-long morning of the sixties
    • The Boats of Vallisneria by Michael J. Redford
    • through the crash
  • index
    • #A-E see!
    • F–K, wha’ th’
    • L-P 33 1/3 rpm
    • Q-T pie
    • U-Z together forever
  • me
  • others
  • poemics
  • poeviews
  • teaching matters
  • William Carlos Williams
  • wormholes

recent leaks …

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  • under the blue and blue sky
  • sweet chestnut
  • ‘she shook the sweets …’
  • YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW by William Carlos Williams
  • meanwhile
  • a far grander / Sangha
  • Bodhisattvacharyavatara: Chapter VII, Joyous Effort – verse 8; reflectionary
  • Bodhisattvacharyavatara: Chapter VII, Joyous Effort – verse 7; reflectionary
  • Bodhisattvacharyavatara: Chapter VII, Joyous Effort – verse 6; reflectionary & verses 3-6 embroidery

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