'where's the independent store?' or, 'who beat up the bookstore?'

'where's the independent store?' or, 'who beat up the bookstore?' timothy r gates, 7/25/2011

where have all the flowers gone?
napalmed by war machines
what happened to hardware stores?
crushed by depots and mega-marts
who beat up the neighborhood bookstores?
451 by way of millions in advertising
where's the independent store?
we the consumer buried them for the illusion of the better deal
where have the people gone?
damn, just government stats

'Agnostic Gnostic'

'Agnostic Gnostic' timothy r gates, 7/20/2011

no need to affirm credos

no negation of G-d or gods

fight for the right of the believer

and for the right of the non-believer

no need to be right

no need to be wrong

(yet, i am right till i'm wrong,

then i write)

no need to damn the fundamentalists

no need to applaud the liberals

(one person's liberal or fundamentalist

is another's insurgent)

no need to know that i know

no need to conclude that i do not know

(I AM, agnostic gnostic, knowing and

finding that i pray)

'Beauty does save the world'

'Beauty does save the world' timothy r gates, 7/12/2011

out of the darkness' covering
a word winked, 'Let there be Light!'
Lilith may have been too much,
too soon
Eve's sorrow found another,
moon's son
One from the Earth's intuition,
'the last shall be first'
Plants give birth,
seeds dying, singing a new song,
resurrection's dirge
hidden quietness appears silent, intoning,
"Beauty does save the world"

'Blood to blood' or 'another July 4th!'

'Blood to blood' or 'another July 4th!' timothy r gates, 7/01/2011

blood to blood
cup half full, half empty.
our fore-fathers, revolutionaries
or, insurrectionists?
note: rockets red glare,
not fire crackers.
if you sow, you will reap
war never weeps.
note: all soldiers are taught to kill,
then Flags are still there.
heroes do not sleep well,
their Presidents and Kings do.
Kyrie, eleison.