{"id":1874,"date":"2015-09-03T16:17:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T21:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1874"},"modified":"2015-09-03T16:17:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-03T21:17:15","slug":"poem-signs-of-the-tines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/03\/poem-signs-of-the-tines\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Signs of The Tines"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the White House speak easy<\/strong>
\nBlah blah blah blah blah blah<\/strong>
\nThe media drinks it up<\/strong>
\nAt a mine-blowingly vapid clip<\/strong>
\nIn the mean time<\/strong>
\nOn the plantation<\/strong>
\nGrounds to a halt<\/strong>
\nSurrounded by offense<\/strong>
\nIn arose guardin’<\/strong>
\nAt least since 1984<\/strong>
\nBlack sheep a massing<\/strong>
\nEstate clearly<\/strong>
\nAs to klan destined premises<\/strong>
\nAnd as such a tract<\/strong>
\nAn overwhelming farce<\/strong>
\nMet with all arm<\/strong>
\nAs privates in public places<\/strong>
\nAnd wile mill or tarry<\/strong>
\nAs eventuality<\/strong>
\nWeather picked up for loitering<\/strong>
\nOr trashing national security<\/strong>
\nHour constitutional is put down<\/strong>
\nAnd though wee are like<\/strong>
\nA communal terrain<\/strong>
\nPigs offer another forum of public transportation<\/strong>
\nA signing<\/strong>
\nThis won in the can<\/strong>
\nMatching our zeal to the maxim<\/strong>
\nIn another banner day<\/strong>
\nFor homeland security<\/strong>
\nOr whatever it scald<\/strong>
\nAs free speech grows smolder<\/strong>
\nAnd another die cast<\/strong>
\nFor the prints of darkness<\/strong>
\nWielding a pitchfork for the signs of the tines<\/strong>
\nA tail never to be told<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a poem about police and\/or military — sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference these days — putting down a protest at the White House.\u00a0 Typically, the corporate media give little coverage to such democracy taken into the hands of ruly citizens, and what coverage they give is often superficial and dismissive.\u00a0 The demonstration in this poem has overtones of a Black Lives Matter protest, making it contemporary, but it could very well be most any protest in modern times at the White House.\u00a0 The title of this poem, Signs of The Tines<\/em>, has what may be an easily missed pun, referencing the tines of the devil’s pitchfork casting signs into a bonfire, which might very well be the preeminent renewable energy source in America.\u00a0 Protest politics and direct nonviolent resistance has always forced America to confront a legal and political conundrum of law enforcement routinely violating constitutional rights, often under the pretext of national security.\u00a0 Most any perceived threat to the state triggers an overreaction, even an existential crisis, from most any nationalist from right to left.\u00a0 Exposing the naked sovereignty of the state, particularly when in moral bankruptcy, is one of the most useful effects resistance offers.\u00a0 The veneer of civilization can be quickly peeled back to witness the assertion of brute force in the religion of nationalism and state sovereignty.\u00a0 And for those of you who may dare to believe that we are a nation under God, think again.\u00a0 I confronted this directly in my legal challenge to draft registration.\u00a0 As a motion to dismiss based on draft registration offering no opportunity to indicate conscientious objector status, the federal judge rejected the motion citing a Supreme Court case from the 1930’s which stated that the federal government has the absolute power to conscript anyone in the United States, regardless of conscience or anything else.\u00a0 Conscientious objector status is merely a historical and political concession which was literally referred to as “legislative grace.”\u00a0 I must admit, in this decade-long resistance to forced military participation in Team America, this was the only thing that truly surprised me.\u00a0 I, for one, am unwilling to concede absolute authority to any government.\u00a0 I actually wasn’t even very excited about this motion for dismissal, but my pro bono lawyers wanted to test this legal argument.\u00a0 Frankly, I wouldn’t have registered even had there been a way to meaningfully indicate conscientious objection.\u00a0 I think I registered my objection quite meaningfully without their approval or feigned “grace.”\u00a0 You might want to pay attention to the wizard behind the gracefully flowing curtain, dutifully colored, red, white, and blue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the White House speak easy Blah blah blah blah blah blah The media drinks it up At a mine-blowingly vapid clip In the mean time On the plantation Grounds to a halt Surrounded by offense In arose guardin’ At … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,101,57,9,38,15],"tags":[563,546,434,675,125,763,727,335,272,99,762,392,411,172,268,65,148,263,157,162,527,486,109,187,548,155,766,247,72,560,658,94,95,17,215,110,46,489,83,496,659,186,406,575,244,529],"class_list":["post-1874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-top-pun","category-anti-war","category-peace","category-poems","category-political-action","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-america","tag-argument","tag-authority","tag-citizens","tag-conscience","tag-conscientious-objection","tag-constitutional-rights","tag-conundrum","tag-democracy","tag-demonstrators","tag-draft-registration","tag-evil","tag-existential","tag-farce","tag-free-speech","tag-god","tag-government","tag-grace","tag-law","tag-law-enforcement","tag-lawyer","tag-meaning","tag-media","tag-military","tag-modern","tag-moral","tag-national","tag-national-security","tag-nationalism","tag-nonviolent","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-police","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-protests","tag-rage","tag-religion","tag-resistance","tag-security","tag-state","tag-status","tag-superficial","tag-supreme-court","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Signs of The Tines | About Top Pun, Anti-War, Peace, Poems, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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