• 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
  • others
    • William Carlos Williams
  • poemics
  • poeviews
  • teaching matters
  • wormholes

mlewisredford

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

mlewisredford

Tag Archives: powerlessness

my uncomfortable life

29 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, reflectionary

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2019, 6*, abandonment, activity, anger, Bodhisattvacharyavatara, breakdown, broken, career, closed, compromise, contentment, context, Dad, disappointment, expectation, experience, eyes, feeling sorry for myself, frustration, greed, hope, injustice, laziness, life, management, no voice, people, politicians, powerlessness, Principal, requirement, resentment, self-cherishing, self-confidence, self-doubt, self-esteem, slogans, society, spin, teaching, thought, Tony Blair, turmoil, waiting, words, work

                I did not know contentment
                at work, what was required,
                what I thought, I never wholly
                got my teaching … sorted

                turmoil, and even when not
                outwardly angry, I was
                closed off and unapproachable,
                carrying anger and resentment

                like a thorny bush tied
                to my back since Dad left
                and people were ‘phony’ and
                society was stupid and words

                were insincere and all activity
                was a compromise and my equals cheated
                and laziness was always greedy
                and hope was rude and the politicians

                were tricksters and Tony Bliar
                and managers slogan-shifted like there was no tomorrow
                and the Principals
                wouldn’t know what to do with good practice if it writhed around suggestively on their desk in front of them and made them delicious promises of future dangerous liaison                      

                and by default I am
                at least disappointed, usually frustrated
                and often impotent-angry with them
                when they invariably reference me

                (and they always reference me)
                or when I am actually wronged,
                and then I’ll blow, beyond all immediate context
                because I have already been smouldering,

                waiting for the wrong to happen,
                expecting the wrong to happen,
                experiencing the wrong happening
                even before it has manifested;

                and I am right, it is wrong
                and compromised and greedy and unprincipled
                what they have done, even
                when they haven’t

                given expression to it, in fact
                especially when they haven’t
                given full expression to it
                and are sloganising and spinning

                that what is happening
                is entirely something else;
                and the powerlessness of
                not being able to have a voice

                no appeal to a universal
                right and wrong … built me up
                with no recourse and, I get broken;
                look at my tired eyes – my uncomfortable life

 

Bodhisattvacharyavatara VI, 3: A mind which walks with, which harbours, which is in the grip of, which is poisoned with anger and hate can neither establish nor enjoy any state of calm or peace, any sense of well-being or equipoise, any contentment, any resolution, neither can it feel any joy or delight, any sense of kindliness or love, nor can it sleep or rest, when the shard of aversion and hate is stuck and buried deep in one’s heart; but … I have retired now, I, am coming through

 

 

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

abandonment wormhole: south horizon
breakdown wormhole: green and / luminant / to behold
career wormhole: it’s / not what you do or what you say / if it ain’t got that swing
compromise wormhole: raised brow
Dad wormhole: the reach turned to love
eyes wormhole: The Atlantic City Convention: 1. THE WAITRESS by William Carlos Williams
life & society wormhole: the old man;
management wormhole: how to teach
people wormhole: Puerto del Carmen
teaching wormhole: and … // … sound
thought wormhole: so, how long is, a piece of string?
waiting wormhole: all // are // none
words wormhole: SPRING AND ALL VI by William Carlos Williams
work wormhole: Vue de Pontoise, 1873

 

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the writing’s on the wall

22 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2012, beauty, being, blindness, breath, creativity, doing, groundlessness, hope, Howl, identity, inertia, letting go, looking, memory, pen, penance, pointlessness, powerlessness, publishing, seeing, self-doubt, sitting, superhero, talking to myself, universe, vindication, walls, waltz, writing

 

 

 

                                the writing’s on the wall

                                I can be becoming lost for weeks
                                unable to release, foiled in creativity
                                even by my breath; unable to waltz

                                or twirl about as I promise myself
                                held by the very wall that materialises
                                precisely where I thought to move

                                again; because there is something
                                closer than my retinas which I cannot see,
                I cannot see

                                because I am hanging on to a
                                last shred of dignity that makes me
                                blind that I cannot see the walls

                                at my toe before I swing my
                                foot to kick and I cannot see the walls
                                in my cranium before I blink

                                              so
                                              little
                                              beauty

                                to stumble over, stood in inertia
                                no matter how busy I become
                                no matter how much I do

                                without looking; (it’s the writing
                                (no it’s the tidal lunge for vindication,
                                 (no it’s the reminder, the reinforcement

                                  that I am powerless))) in a pointless universe
                                in which I still want to be the hero
                                brandishing the latest sheaf of sublimity

                                (even if not on the rooftops waving
                                 my genitals – see, see) so what do I do,
                                do I stop it all now and snap out of it

                                do I make myself sit for hours of
                                balming penance, do I slap my wrists
                                for wanting to publish; no, Mark,

                                              here’s a pen and
                                              here’s the line and
                                              here’s the wall to write on

 

 

 

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

beauty & being & doing wormhole: while walking
breath wormhole: miss / ad / venture – poewieview #22
creativity & walls wormhole: and that’s where I are
groundlessness wormhole: Dear Sir/Madam,
identity wormhole: 1968
letting go wormhole: tong len / the inauguration of another – timely – butter fly effect / taking and giving
looking & writing wormhole: impressionism
pointlessness wormhole: development
publishing wormhole: time proceeds
seeing wormhole: Doctor Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street
sitting wormhole: well,
superhero wormhole: no point
talking to myself wormhole: dream career // groggy
vindication woormhole: thy will be done

 

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teached / in the ass

27 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, teaching

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2011, cognitive hierarchy, communication, conformity, curriculum, expertise, giving, infrastructure, management, managerialism, money, perception, play, politics, power, powerlessness, Principal, public service cuts, results-led education, seeing, value-bled education

 

 

 

                                          teached
                                          in the ass

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      premised on creating and giving to
                                the ways to let one see
                      that its management ends by saying
                                we cannot all do
                                what we want?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      that proclaimed its strength of body through
                                pool of expertise
                      that its management ends by saying
                                we have no money
                                to do it?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      host and guardian of the humble exchange of idea
                                in every classroom
                      that its management ends by saying it’s not that simple
                                we have to jump
                                through hoops?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      that grew its own high-windowed
                                infrastructure
                      that its management ends by saying
                                it’s just not
                                what was needed?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      that plots a child’s cognitive development through
                                each and every curriculum
                      that its management ends by saying
                                it’s all about parents’
                                perception?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      that took the tumblings of a child’s play to measure
                                their trajectory
                      that its management ends by saying
                                does it improve
                                results?

                      whatever happened to that
                                public service
                      that pivots on the craft and poetry of
                                communication
                      that its management ends by saying
                                I am the Principal
                                I can do what I want?

                                          there is no good rejoinder
                                          to this song
                                          there is just no end
                                          to lost

 

 

 

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

communication & management wormhole: the MagOO Effect Effect
giving wormhole: plop!
managerialism wormhole: portrait
money wormhole: 1959 –– MANHATTAN –– 2012
play & results-led education wormhole: the Apple
politics wormhole: … anymore
power wormhole: sit
seeing wormhole: gentle

 

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the four whores of the apocalypse

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

2015, 5*, Alan Moore, architecture, child, compromise, dark, Eddie Campbell, From Hell, life, mother, obligation, powerlessness, rain, relationship, society, speech, streets, traffic, twilight

                                a child searches for a mummy
                                among the sketches while the
                                streets outside fill with traffic

                                the strong lines of architecture
                                inverse to sketchy life, there are
                                dark lives behind twilight streets
                                there is no power in the rain

                                there are no mummies possible
                                in sketchy line they all end up ‘…
                                down the rabbit hole’ there is only
                                discharge and account remaining and
                                the four whores of the apocalypse

 

a little snippet from askance From Hell, askance from chapter ten of From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, gwn’n’avvalook

 

 

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

architecture wormhole: new year’s eve 2014; train up to London to / walk the bridges across the Thames, and / listen to the voices say it is, and was, like, / but get back home before the fireworks / obliterate it all in the emptying twilight
Alan Moore & life wormhole: purpose
child & mother wormhole: Plumstead – Woolwich – Plumstead 290508 – / the breath of London
compromise & obligation wormhole: 1959 –– MANHATTAN –– 2012
rain & society & streets wormhole: events happen / through all measure of name
speech wormhole: ‘never a dull moment …’
twilight wormhole: September – silhouette of leaf // the / inside and the / outside

 

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my life is not your market

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012, 4*, anger, beauty, coalition government, life, London, managerialism, politics, powerlessness, public service cuts, smile, world

 

 

 

                my life is not your market*

                                such anger
                                at ConDem

                                at managerialism
                                the smiling arrogance

                                that renders me powerless
                                in the name of progress

                                swallows any beauty in my world

 

*protest slogan placard at the TUC ‘A Future That Works’ march in London 20th October 2012: please click to listen (see if you can spot me)
20th October 2012

 

 

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

beauty & life wormhole: vagued
London wormhole: 1963
managerialism wormhole: which is worse
politics wormhole: the Lamp
powerlessness wormhole: lost self
smile wormhole: … and
world wormhole: 1966

 

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lost self

01 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2012, 4*, Bodhisattva, career, contentment, identity, life, love, powerlessness, recognition, self-compassion, superhero

 

 

 

                                     when ignored and powerless I say
                                     nothing and wish I was a superhero
                                              trouble is
                                     I am ever invisible and by-the-way which
                                     then tips me to wish I was a titanic bodhisattva

                                              if only
                                     I could get all my acts
                                     together and stop feeling sorry for my constant
                                              lost self
                                     I would feel more comfortable in the love
                                     I have rather than awkward in the recognition
                                              I don’t

 

 

 

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

career & recognition wormhole: I don’t think I could do it anymore
identity wormhole: tag cloud poem III – the journey to BEING and back again
life wormhole: transition
love wormhole: again
superhero wormhole: inverse superhero

 

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nightmare

14 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

2013, 5*, being, breakdown, breathing, ghosts, growth, identity, managerialism, powerlessness, school, teaching

 

 

 

                                anxious about returning
                                to air that I cannot inhale

                                nervous about exhaling any
                                more where it is still fetid

                                fearful that I’ll be rendered
                                a ghost again a nightmare

                                in which I won’t be able to
                                remember my own breath

 

 

 

… some of you may be aware that I have been off work for the past four months, working my way defeated and flick-eyed through what is turning out to be my fourth breakdown from the school I work in; through all sorts of pulling myself up by my own collars and all sorts of looking deep into my own stare in the mirror, I am moving towards returning, still empty of confidence but with a much deeper understanding of what I am not; let’s see if the leviathan has changed or moved, shall we …?

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

being & identity wormhole: anatta
breakdown wormhole: dream 100213
breathing wormhole: how ironic
ghosts wormhole: truly invisible
managerialism wormhole: “I / am Spartacus”
school wormhole: ‘stomping home from school …’
teaching wormhole: returning home

 

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you are not a manager

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

2012, 6*, managerialism, power, powerlessness, teaching

 

 

 

                                          you are not a manager

                                          you do not manage
                                          you do not organise
                                          you do not cultivate
                                          you do not nurture
                                          you do not listen
                                          you do not link
                                          you do not team
                                          you do not consult
                                          you do not recognise
                                          even though you say you do
                                          you don’t

                                          you stand over us
                                          colossal in your power
                                          undeniable in your power
                                          unassailable in your power

                                          you do expect
                                          you do demand
                                          you do measure
                                          you do statisticise
                                          you do patronise
                                          you do forsake
                                          you do exploit
                                          you do lie
                                          you do betray
                                          even though you say you don’t
                                          you do

                                          and you petrify us in amber
                                          and smile benignly
                                          when complemented – by people
                                          who don’t know about
                                          what we actually do –
                                          on the fine collection of specimens
                                          with which to practise
                                          whatever it is
                                          that we actually do

                                          but you nurture death
                                          with your business and measure

                                          I said ‘you nurture dea – …’

                                                              ~~~

                                          I wish you all the success
                                          in your systems and status
                                          as the doubt in myself and
                                          the doubt in the system
                                          with which I have lived
                                          petrified for twelve years

 

 

 

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

power wormhole: Being There (1979)
managerialism wormhole: this time
teaching wormhole: ‘let everything go …’

 

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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 …

  • “…and may the great elements…”
  • paisley // implicitly
  • this pocketed being
  • the inevitable tock // when we close our eyes
  • time
  • the simple prayer // the tattered poem // the bitter lament
  • taking birth
  • mirror
  • long / road
  • ‘in my car I pass…’

Uncanny Tops

  • me
  • Moebius strip
  • YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW by William Carlos Williams
  • 'in my car I pass...'
  • 'the practice ...'
  • 'I can write ...'
  • like butterflies on / buddleia
  • meanwhile
  • 'hello old friend ...'
  • under the blue and blue sky

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