MPaulamrams writers blog: Poetic Interlude #2

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Poetic Interlude #2

A Hand That Needs You

Never to be real like climate

change, like apes reciprocate

their giving,

in curling folds of yellowing

photos of comrades sharing

pains together,

for a day to equal its feeling

not bested by quiet's reins

not clouded for sun's shine

not weary of anyone's dignity

not fearful for favors' requisites

nor meek lapses in borrowed time,

for wills to deserve equality?

the depths we went for gesture

and feigns that bent to you

how you helped me indeed

how you helped me in deed

masks you wore as the ranger

I never got to thank

the one I didn't need to thank

the best buddy always happy

willing to pull rank to make

my life better

candid blue livers thrive

drinkers of their bar-stool

merry-andrew that hides

inside the roles we played,

lame games, arm in arm

cross thresholds to dodge dives,

I sat perched with promise

with a sorted face through

my mug's best features

were amplified—they

dulled—they distorted to swim

as you watched tanned foam

touch my nose like

you never could

you were always there

with you coat on

ready to take

falls for me

never leaving the ball

in my court

for free

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To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a fair Democracy- review

I thoroughly enjoyed To the Front of the Bus, a must read for the politically curious and anyone who is paying attention to our current state of the country......who we as a nation, and how we got here. As someone who is not well versed in U.S. history, I found Amram's book refreshingly easy to read, the sort of book that can be fodder for discussion for the political novice or political savvy----there is something for everyone on these pages. The "Author's Note" and "Afterword" bookend the social movements which are humanely detailed in the book, and provide moving context for the how the political is always personal. In his latest book, Amram has expanded on his previous Ten Years and Change: a Liberal Boyhood in Minnesota (another excellent read), describing the struggle for equality which has consumed our nation since it's inception. What is most interesting is how Amram seamlessly weaves historical and current events, tying the two together in an effortless read that belies the painful sacrifice and struggle for human rights that continue to this day. There is an incredible amount of research contained here. I often find historical/political non-fiction interesting, but too dry for me personally to get through. To the Front of the Bus is the opposite reading experience, as this book is a compulsively readable page-turner, balancing well documented fact with personal and societal ramifications. I wish I could order a copy for every high school and college classroom in the country, as the truth telling of the "movement toward a fair democracy" is important. Thanks to Michael Amram for his words, which are an inspiring call to action for each one of us to use our voting power wisely and not squander our political and social power. Highly recommend.

Premise of Bus

There is a bus, careening through history, through decades of people moving, being transferred toward a fair Democracy. Like attaining Democracy, seeing it work, reaping its sporadic benefits, a bus stops and continues on, each time furthering a majority, growing stronger. But it also wanes as people are let out, and an interminable cycle of an unfulfilled Democracy (bus) ensues. In To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a Fair Democracy bus is a metaphor as a method of movement, of protest (freedom rides). It speaks of the forced and willful movements of people throughout history, from the slave trade to the Native Americans' “trail of tears,” to the “great migration,” to the current deportation of immigrants. Bus is used in the literal sense of black Americans' ascension to the front, or anywhere they choose, on buses.

To the Front of the Bus: Movement toward a Fair Democracy follows the transports of three major groups who were denied basic rights as Americans. Their evolutions, their respective revolutions' order was left to be written in history as having been subconsciously prioritized. It was pre-destined, each having made a fluent transition, a natural selection, a humanely appropriate ascension, to the next. First came the removal of chains, the freeing of feet and minds, to fighting a Civil War and decades to win civil rights. Then came the women in their defined movements through decades for suffrage and equal rights. Time had come to pass. The abrogations of blacks and women's injustices readied the minds and streets for the disabled. Both cleared the way (as people on buses often do), expanded human consciousness enough, removed guilt of oppressing the prior groups enough, for the disabled to come out of the institutions and almshouses, to be accepted in society, to speak out for certain rights, and to be able to sit to the front of the bus.

To the front of the Bus: Movement Toward a Fair Democracy

“To the front of the Bus: movement toward a fair democracy follows the transports
of three major groups who were denied basic rights as Americans.
Their evolution, their respective revolutions' order was left to be
written in history as having been subconsciously prioritized. It was
pre-destined, each having made a fluent transition, a natural
selection, a humanely appropriate ascension, to the next. First came
the removal of chains, the freeing of feet and minds, to fighting a
Civil War and decades to win civil rights. Then came the women in
their defined movements through decades for suffrage and equal
rights. Time had come to pass. The abrogation of blacks and women's
injustices readied the minds and streets for the disabled. Both
cleared the way (as people on buses often do), expanded human
consciousness enough, removed guilt of oppressing the prior groups
enough, for the disabled to come out of the institutions and
almshouses, to be accepted in society, to speak out for certain
rights, and to be able to sit to the front of the bus.”

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Saturday, April 1, 2017

Poetic Interlude #2

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To the front of the Bus: Movement Toward a Fair Democracy

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