Dr. Doggerel Howls At the Moon (eBook)

Dr. Doggerel (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019 | 1. Auflage
256 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-5439-6449-3 (ISBN)

Infos

A poem-by-poem YouTube favorite for years, Dr. Doggerel's howls of protest are now collected in both the paperback and electronic editions. On YouTube, where some poems hit more than 100,000 views, verses on the 'versus' of this world have been followed since the Dog first got translated more than 40 years ago. Advent of the Putin/Trump kleptocracy made it time to hit the bookstores and e-readers with Dr. Doggerel's take on the situation - the Creation poem versus what we have done with the gift. Chapters include: The Bible vs. Creation, Society vs. Humanity, Corporations vs. Health, Power vs. Democracy, Putin/Trump vs. US, Religion vs. the Mystery - all concluding with a poetic exercise in reconciliation. How can a dog write poetry? Dr. Doggerel answers the question with (naturally) a poem: It's not by chance that God and Dog/ Get mirrored in this monologue/ The reverse spelling says a lot/ 'Bout what God is and Dog is not/ But creation mirrored in the two/ Speaks volumes for what love can do.

Dr. Doggerel (aka Rev. Dr. Leland Witting) wrote tongue-in-cheek social criticism for his high school newspaper, at Columbia University, in graduate programs at the University of Maine and Bangor Theological Seminary, and as publisher/editor of a small-town weekly newspaper on the coast of Maine. His protest poetry has been aired on Maine community radio, YouTube, social media, in podcasts, and here, for the first time, in book form. He writes, 'The urge to contrast humanity's stated values with our actual practices remains dogged. Hypocrisy rears its ugly head most readily in political, environmental, corporate and religious practices; howls of protest may mean little more than howling at the moon and yet, that's what we must do - sound a rude alarm.'

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Dr. Doggerel addresses some of the big questions, including an Einstein take on biblical creation, the cruelty of corrupt power, the treason infused through our present government, the great circle of pre-history vs. remembered history, and finally, the beauty of the Earth and the impending disaster that should break our willfulness, but more likely will break our hearts. Set it to rhyme, and there you have Dr. Doggerel's protest howls.

Textauszug

Why are we born?

 

Connections, connections are the point of this world,

We come from the same place – from the same place we’re hurled,

Our rejoining with God thus begins on the Earth,

To join with each other is what gives life its worth.

 

Why do we come here, why are we born?

We think we’re unique beasts, like some unicorn,

We were part of our father, the essence of light,

We were part of our mother, ‘til the womb got too tight,

Separation is natural in differentiate mode,

We opted for Earth-life, but look at the load

From individualizing like crazy, making ourselves

Different from others as angels from elves,

But our ultimate goal’s not to be our own god,

But to reconnect here, to reach out through the fog,

To relearn connection, to merge back again,

To love and connect with the Other, our friend.

Hell on Earth is all ego and proud separation,

Heaven is touching, a reuniting vacation

From the ego that brought us down here from the start,

We thought we’d be better by falling apart,

Thence anger, frustration and war and revolt,

We wanted to fly, but for the most part we molt.

So talk to your neighbor, visit a friend,

Be good to your family and when we face the end,

We’ll go into the light, not into the dark:

Find God in a hug, and your heart in the lark.

 

 

America sends its kids to Prisonyland

 

We take our children by the hand,

And lead them into Prisonyland,

We’re the land where every mother’s son

Can go to prison, one by one,

We hold the record, loud and clear,

For men in prison every year,

The numbers rise into the skies,

Hey, kids! What a prisony surprise!

 

And they’ll have rides and games galore,

There in Prisonyland to score,

You’ll be a dealer, son, don’t fret,

By being some guy’s little pet,

You’ll get your morning exercise,

And with every day you’ll grow more wise

About how American crime is done,

You can learn it all in prison, son!

 

Or perhaps you’ll go to Prisony World,

And in with Ex-cops you’ll be hurled,

You’ll study crimes of different nations,

By planning virtual vacations

To Columbian prisons, where they’re free

To smoke good dope and watch TV.

 

‘Til you turn from your computer screen,

And see it’s just some insane dream,

A Prisony game there to distract you,

From that guard who just attacked you,

For saying something ‘bout his mother’s

Sexual relations with some brother.

 

If it begins to seem less quaint,

Some Disney fantasy this ain’t,

It’s the reality of a system failed,

Where small-time dealers will get jailed

While big-time dealers, suit-and-tie guys,

Don’t even travel in disguise,

They pay off politician friends,

And live their lives out to the end,

In some Trump condo or Bel Air,

While most of us don’t even care.

 

How come this so-called land of plenty

Houses millions in cementy

Walls with windows full of bars,

And prisoners pissing into jars

Because the flushes just aren’t flushing,

Why into prisons are we rushing

Young black men – one in four or so,

Maturing now on inmates’ row.

 

Today the U.S. gets the banner

For more prisoners locked up in the slammer

Than any other place or nation,

Russia, China, where frustration

From political oppressions

Would lead, you’d think, to indiscretions

Sure to get you there arrested.

Their prison walls have not been tested,

To any small degree like ours,

With our berserk enforcement powers.

 

What makes the irony more than double

Is that, without a lot of trouble,

Prisoners could be housed in college,

Reading books and gaining knowledge,

Graduating into jobs where smarts –

Rather than stealing auto parts –

Would make both them and us secure,

It would in fact provide the cure

For many of our nation’s woes,

Don’t build more prisons - let them close!

 

The secret to this plan’s success

Is start before kids make a mess

Of their own lives with petty crime,

To start pre-school would be sublime,

To teach good values, social rules,

And above all else keep them in schools.

This would be cheaper than you’d think,

The only problem is the stink

Raised by racists who’ll oppose

The plan for prison doors to close,

Troubled whites will likewise hurt

To see blacks released from prison dirt,

To build up living, working lives,

And support their children and their wives.

 

Please don’t think they won’t survive!

Once bad guys get a chance to thrive

And realize all that they can do,

To make it straight – both me and you

Can only profit from the loss

Of jails where males are major costs.

 

Yes, Prisonyland is no cheap deal,

The price we pay, the pain they feel,

Is out of all proportion to

The petty dealing many do.

Just to survive out on the street,

Dealing with drugs and threats, replete

With AIDS and other street disease,

The costs of crime can never please

The taxpayer, who bears the brunt

Of every murder, each manhunt,

Resulting from each angry shootout,

This escalation we must root out.

 

So let’s go back to the beginning,

That’s where this battle we’ll be winning,

And take all children by the hand,

And don’t lead them to Prisonyland,

But take them to the schoolhouse door,

Where we’ll not bore them anymore,

But make their stake in education

So intriguing as to save them

From a life obsessed with crime,

That just ends up in doing time.

It’s time, by and large, to put women in charge

 

When the world gets caught up in corrupt situations,

Because the men have all gone on extended vacations,

Then women stand up out of sheer desperation,

And start doing key jobs and filling key stations,

Then the men all go crazy and try to repress them,

And take cruel revenge just to really distress them.

 

The philosopher y Gasset spelled it out, to his credit,

When society’s in chaos ‘cause the men have all bled it,

Then women arise and start seizing the power

To bring back the world to a calm, saner hour.

 

Then men’s egos grow fragile, they start talking tough,

They beat on the women ‘cause they think getting rough

Is the answer to women, to keep them in line,

‘Cause keeping them chained is the way men will find

Peace of mind while they slumber and let the world rot,

While they sell out, and drink, and go wholly to pot.

 

Some men in the US make women sex objects,

Some men in some countries treat women like slaves,

Some men who are Muslim make the women wear burkas,

Some misogynist men would stash women in caves,

The goal is control them, whatever the system,

Don’t let them succeed, just screw them and diss them.

 

But women are those who should now rule the planet,

They’re less likely to nuke us – as for war, they might ban it!

They’d more likely make sure the homeless got shelter,

That children got schooled not to run helter-skelter,

Fewer lobbyist villains who’d sell out their mothers

To get handouts for CEOs under the covers,

While our rotting society keeps paying the price,

For the corporate greed that’s this nation’s great vice.

 

 

Women aren’t perfect, but they’re better than men

At keeping folks honest, not cheating a friend,

They’re smarter about how to grow the economy,

They’re less violent than men, who could use a lobotomy

To calm their aggression, make peace with the other,

Women make better sense than their Neanderthal brother

Who’d bomb North Korea, Afghans and Iraq –

Is there anyone else they’d now like to attack?

Instead, give the women political power

Extracted from men whose hearts have turned sour,

Generally speaking, it’s time women should rule,

Since the world under men has turned greedy and cruel.

 

 

Psychology, religion or the law?

 

When we do something so appalling,

Disgusting, bad – is our down-falling

In our heads or in our hearts,

(or perhaps some other body parts)?

Should we be dealt with by the doctors,

Priests, rabbis, or the judge who locks our

Sorry butt behind steel bars,

Without free breath, or glimpse of stars,

To keep others safe from our corruption,

And society from more disruption

From the same crime happening yet again,

Is that why some are in the pen?

 

We are such a damaged race

That, mirroring truth to our own face,

If any, then all deserve some...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.3.2019
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Lyrik / Gedichte
• ISBN-10: 1-5439-6449-4 / 1543964494
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5439-6449-3 / 9781543964493