a glorious start of a day

this is roughly the spot that i did my own lightning test, in the 2008th year.
i went out on the previous pier, the inverted pyramid.
it was a very dark time of my life; extremely passive, self-pitying, and too much drinking.
in the middle of a mid-mourning/early afternoon thunder/lightning storm,
i strode out on said pier.
with lightning nearby, i yelled out into the heavens …
daring god/zeus to strike me down …
needless to say, it wasn’t my proudest moment, but a turning point in some ways.
later, on that pier, under the blazing sun of summer,
i read Marshall McLuhan’s Classical Trivium – a repentance, i suppose, that let me see
life more clearly, and ordered my mind to gratitude and humblance to the heavens / existence / life …
[glad to see an historical marker built into the new pier, so i shan’t forget that experience]

green moss
blue crab
a shared appreciation of grace with a dolphin
namaste
a delightful chance encounter with some friends
top of the day, at a snail’s pace
what is there to be scared of, in reality ?

thee gentrification of thee ukraine (hypothesis)

[i publish this with great trepidation, for it is possible that i am
absolutely wrong on this; yet, it seems more than probable in my gut,
and frankly, i am not a paid journalist with a reputation to uphold –
this space being a mental playground first and foremost ….]

the ridding of europe of old weapons
the volatility of energy – the reemergence of discipline to the masses
i.e., playtime is over … [this is not meant to be overly cynical, but alas …]

if you haven’t yet :
https://johnharbar.com/stay-classy-europe/
or any number of other articles, incl. https://johnharbar.com/a-documentary-robert-kennedy-jr/ https://johnharbar.com/one-more/
https://johnharbar.com/are-russians-the-new-americans/
and on and on and on …

specifically, the speech by https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1572971083984412677?s=20&t=z9nNAdv05tj2T29PBmwJyA Zhirinovsky; current news/talks ongoing in berlin: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-needs-marshall-plan-approach-rebuild-says-german-lobby-2022-10-23/
https://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-marshall-plan-berlin-gathering-220535182.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

once negotiations get to the figure stage, a deal is not that far away …
shmygal though, that’s the guy’s name?

liz tress, nuclear fear monger did her part for 44 days [picked up the slack for bojo] and now all the talk is about a dirty bomb … why not, it’s the land of chernobyl, what’s a little more radio – especially to convince the russian public that peace is preferable. i also think that ukraine/nato/eu are running out of weapons … the ukrainian strategy is probably running out of steam as well ….

this is, unfortunately, not an exaggeration.
the reason ukraine has taken back land in some areas
is b/c they send waves of men at defensive positions;
the russians defend against the waves in front of them,
which allows the ukrainians to out-flank the russians’ positions
[as i understand it]

Are you, dear reader, familiar with gentrification?
Are you, dear reader, also familiar with eminent domain?

How does one go about ridding a much larger area, however, of people that are not as efficient/profitable as per a business plan? (energy and money potential !)

War ! silly … [make sure to film atrocities on both sides, to get everyone hot and bothered!]

update: he nailed it.
was right the first time, on point
but mostly hogwash

It takes a lot to get neighbors to fight each-other, since people are by-and-by rational, reasonable, tolerant, and conflict-avoidant. Propaganda!- ideologically driven humans who seethe with rage at an enemy … Why get one’s hands bloody when one can get the locals to do the killing for you?

I give to you, the Donbass conflict ! Minsk accords were supposedly sabotoged by Macron –
and when zelensky mentioned potential negotiations with Putin; boris johnson showed up the next day (with the finest snow from columbia?) to nip that in the butt …
and now the peace deal is right around the corner …
and Russia can invest in energy, Europe can rebuild the rest of thee ukraine
[and most of the useful idiots have perished in places like azov steel factory !]
black sea oil and gas exploration can go forward, Mariupol can be rebuilt along with Donetsk, etc. Europe, at the least, knows thee ukraine can not exist without odesa.

viola! and the region retains the ability to go hot in the future to scare people !
a dark win-win-win !?!

all hallow’s eve, and the nuclear fright dissipates … what a great time to be alive !

although, i was looking forward to a trip to see ghostly kisses, oh well …
[shows cancelled, hope the singer recovers from her illness]
here is under the willow, as an outro:

fyi, i hope the above is not necessarily true; i think it best that russia move to the zhytomyr / vinnytsia line, and let poland/hungary/romania take the rest of country 404 … end this notion of “thee ukraine” once and for all …
Kievan-Rus thus restored.

a dizzying dalliance

be not fearful of anything
but
a diminished view of one’s self

walking by, the flame in the frame caught my eye
it took a second or two to put to and too together
that is some good light
i fashion myself some type of bull fighter
and yet i am a taurus
and full of bullshit ?
tri that angle on for size
three sheets to the wind
bonfire of the vanities
should we take a closer look?
i chose the following picture
as the topic of a poem at a poetry meeting
at a coffee shop i stumbled into randomly
         dither no more
What i see begins w/in me
 the eye, the portal
 am i free, myself, to feel
both
  fear and love.
have i taken care of my Self,
 the temple that houses ...
I see, i feel, and
   is comfort
      or 
     recoil
           my first instinct ?
am i secure enough to embrace
 the inner/outer —
     pain, i am accustomed to
 it is beauty, 
         love, 
            serenity –
                that is my struggle ...
i like cats
sundial
fairly certain the lights are a new addition
unicorn at the bow
empty space and a vault
rest in peace
f.u.b.a.r.
— the independent bar closes for the second time —
cannon from fort pitt
1905
and someone still pays homage
the twenty ninth of квітень
obelisk
ukrainetraine
grateful that is dead
following the light
in its stead
this slightly upset me
yet
past trauma and future anxiety
can only be dealt with in the now
touche’

almost back home from my reading riding writing excursion
and :

a second poem i wrote at the coffee/poem shindig, as the outro:

        a sunday afternoon
the air pierced w/ sharp notes,
a community drawn together for a fix –
   it's not the drugs per se,
but the shared experience; 
    set aside from the mundane fear,
 pushed by the electronic dealer;
here the fear is injected ceremoniously,
  to see a higher ideal —
     not debasement
  but a strength thru ...
      transfiguration, amalgamation
                 integration.
  Words flowing to touch
        one another
         via the sublime
    air vibrating
       from the tickling of the ivory
    to the bellowing of lungs & [vocal] chords
To what end?
    none, it's the ...
                      [sunday after-noon.]

nuts and bolts of a story

based on the book and findings of robert f. kennedy II
the following documentary is a good overall summary:

https://www.therealanthonyfaucimovie.com/trailer
this site has been removed already …
wow ………….[and it’s back up, the back and forth in order to make people look ___?]
https://odysee.com/@Jo3Gr33n:5/The-Real-Anthony-Fauci-1200p:c
https://odysee.com/$/search?q=real%20anthony%20fauci

that said, there was a politician, i believe it was likely donald rumsfield, who stated [paraphrase]: It doesn’t matter what we do. By the time the public figures it out, studying it and coming to conclusions, we’ve moved on to the next thing. We are always one [/many] steps ahead of them.

war in eastern europe. financial crisis. famine [not from climate hoax; lack of fertilizer from eastern europe, and farm closures]. {how much of this is general fear/anxiety v. reality}
BOO! devil’s night, all hallows eve …

shot in my favourite place in saint petersburg

ephesians 6:12 …