THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling writes: "Thom the World poet, is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearences with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!!

Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!"

Oscillation (Isolation)

Engagement with a world outside America oscillates emotionally-

with conflicting desires for unilateral initiatives(military reinforcing commercial markets/

invasions supporting At&T ,United Fruit/occupations where alliance is non-negotiable.

Isolationism and AMERICA FIRST has a broad emotional appeal-to libertarians,Tea Party members

and those simply seeking oil and energy independence in an unstable world.

Our national security state spends more on military than any other country

Our drones invade Yemen,Pakistan,Sudan,Somalia against the wishes of those citizens

and now will legally patrol American skies.We may not win wars,but we wage many.

Vietnam was a withdrawal,Iraq unstable,Afghanistan unwinnable.History burps.

Our troops symbolize our culture.Domestically,with universal surveillance and massive incarcerations,

we have become another Russia.We want to war with Iran,yet we adopt fundamentalist policies much like hers.

We are suspicious of Muslims but not Jews,yet it was an Israeli who spied (Pollard)

and Israeli warplanes which sank an American ship(have you forgotten?

China courts via trade and economic growth-apart from Tibet and domestically

where demonstrations are silenced and the Internet censored.

We are in this world now.Our bases occupy.Civil liberties vs Patriot Act

Free speech vs FCC.Civilian economy vs military bloated budgets.

And do not even mention BLACK BUDGETS.We cannot plead isolation

But we must move away from war and occupation as our culture.

Or be just another forgotten Empire..