9/11 and the New Fade

on a Tuesday morning
four plains were hijacked
and crashed, two into
two towers, one into
the Pentagon, and one
in a field in Pennsylvania

now, you won't believe this
but there are people who
believe that these crashes
were a conspiracy, that they
were orchestrated to fulfill
an agenda of terror
from within

that's what it's like
in the New Fade, connecting
dots that aren't there because
that's what you want to believe
about the world around you,
ignoring devastation, mocking it
and all the lives lost in favor
of ludicrous self-serving
conclusions whose only
connection to the real world
is how they matches your politics

so if you'll excuse me
i'll sit here and remember
what really happened and how
it transformed our world

we're still so much in the thick
of that change now that we
can't appreciate it just yet...

This is now concluded.

As in:
The End.

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 15

trying to put a happy face on it
requires an act of imagination

this is job known as rehabilitation

when it seems like you've lost your faith
and there's nothing left to believe in
it's time to pull back and think again

even the most ardent skeptics
and just-plain pessimists
will have to admit at some point
that not one person who has ever lived
has witnessed the end of the world

all of this is a slow burn
a New Fade
just another transition

it takes on all shapes and sizes
and switches gears from age to age

a constant disorienting effect

try to hold on

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 14

i'm going to share with you
a word that's anathema
to the cultural warmongers
and that would be "perspective"

there's nothing so vile
or loathsome to those
who only see the worst
than trying to see the big picture

it's much more cheap
and easier to pretend
that your glib thoughts
have a meaningful contribution

but when forced to integrate
gut reactions with reasoning
you may discover that
you haven't got it all figured out

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 13

with the Metaphysics of Quality
one may discover the virtues
of the self in the context of
a chaotic New Fade
where all thought and belief
is subjected to a fiction
that must somehow express
what others deny

the Metaphysics of Quality
are about the effort
to understand the world
and its shifting loyalties
to pinpoint a central truth
that came into being
from the moment of creation
regardless of how that was
and where this truth has stood
ever since time came into being

the New Fade has produced
its share of challenges to a
steadfast knowledge of
these Metaphysics of Quality
but hardly more than in
an equally insubstantial
awareness that belief
leaves all men alone with the myths
and that only stories remain
to make them clear again

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 12

the funny thing about
things you end up
walking away from

is that you will
eventually
look back fondly

once you've had
an experience
with something

you can never
take that
back

memory is a game
that constantly works
against you

your thoughts
and your convictions
are not necessarily your own

if you get around
to realizing that
you may rethink everything

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 11

replacing that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

obsessing over that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

contradicting that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

acknowledging that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

escaping that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

reconciling that which you do not believe
is an affirmation of that belief

so either way
in some way
you believe

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 10

there are always alternatives

the New Fade is defined
by alternatives

you don't have to like anything
because there are always
alternatives

you can question everything
because there are always alt-
ernatives

you can be a foreigner here yourself
because there are always alter-
natives

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 9

an apocalypse is a definitive split

it is meant to symbolize an ending
but what it really means
is a new beginning

in the old days
it was fairly well
clear-cut

but in the New Fade
we've experienced a shift

we've become obsessed
with apocalypse

apocalypse is a religious
designation

or at least
it was

now and perhaps forevermore
it has been adopted
to suit secular needs

it is the last thing we all believe in

last century was a litany
of apocalypse
and the embarrassing thing is
we survived

and now we don't know what
to do with ourselves

we don't believe anything
and we don't try to hide this
and those who do
are living on reverb

it is the apocalypse already
and we are all living it
and now we see how badly
the lines were blurred

the New Fade is the apocalypse

it is the moment in which we are all
alone with the myths
forced to confront
all the vicious truths
that we have tried our best
to hide from
a moldy piece of fruit
someone else was supposed to eat
but never did
and so it festers
and we fester
and we all wonder
what went wrong
and why we're so perfect
and why we have to far to go
and if we still have a chance to get there

we've convinced ourselves
of our perfection
and that's when you know
that we've reached the apocalypse

apocalypse is the face in the mirror
apocalypse is the ground beneath your feet
apocalypse is the music of cacophony
apocalypse is the sensation of balance
apocalypse is the evaluation of everything
apocalypse is the encyclopedia of the world
apocalypse is the dance with no steps
apocalypse is the god of chaos
apocalypse is a warm puppy
apocalypse is happiness for no reason
apocalypse is nirvana
apocalypse is a thousand words with no meaning
apocalypse is a pantheon of pandemonium
apocalypse is cleverness & innovation

this is the way the world ends
not with a bang, but a whimper

but you already knew that

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 8

there comes a fundamental shift
to everything

when it comes to religion
it can be downright
seismic

this revolution
will never be televised

it is something that happens
on a community level

after your bold new thoughts
are pinned to a door

in the New Fade
these thoughts are a meme

rebellion is revolution
in the end of public belief

eliminate all meaning by generalizing
so you don't offend

revolutions can sometimes be
as quiet as assimilation

the ones who won't notice
will always be those
who didn't in the first place

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 7

bad things come
from public disagreements

in the New Fade
there's no such thing
as constructive criticism

every stinging word
is meant to be lethal

when you have a dispute
you only wish to bring
your target down

"target" is a good word
because that's exactly
what you get

revolution has become terrorism

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 6

sometimes ideology
can become a problem

consensus breeds trouble
when it doesn't come

differing perspectives
need not disagree

violent opposition
cannot co-exist

why is this so hard
to see?

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 5

reality
here you come with me
why don't you come and see
it's worth more than three
some basic trigonometry
it's all around for free
never under lock & key
in the New Fade for the letter "z"
where we come to the end with re:
stung for your faith like a bee

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 4

once you've established something
there's no getting around
the formation of myths

myths are what you get
when something enters
into a public domain

truth becomes mingled
suspended with heresay
until you get end up with myths

reality in the New Fade
is a mixture of helpful fiction
and a few facts

this is the formation of myths

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 3

the shock of the new
becomes a thing of the past
in time

it becomes absorbed
into the everyday
before you know it

a culture forms
around absurd notions
that define the world

in the New Fade
gods become names
in a book

you can buy one
for bargain price
and be amazed

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 2

when you become aware
that there are things
greater than yourself
i think it's only natural
to become a little alarmed
and overreact

now, you have to realize
that for everything
there is something
bigger than itself
and i think most of the problem
in the New Fade
is that everyone really is
being forced to confront this
and it's an entirely uncomfortable proposition
for those unaccustomed to
repudiation

awareness is a double-edged sword
even when it's an act of imagination
so that rejection goes hand-in-hand
with acceptance

awareness creates chaos
as much as it reveals
harmony

Alone with the Myths in the New Fade, Part 1

the problem most of us face
is that we become aware
of an existential hierarchy
and that's what comes to
dominate everything we believe

it's the essential foundation
of every faith and in fact
dominates reality whether
you accept it or not

and sometimes it sucks
and sometimes it doesn't

in the New Fade it's all about
coming to grips with this
and maybe that's
how to determine happiness

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 18

does anything ever really get finished?

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 17

the greatest frustration of suspension
is knowing that it is necessary

it's impossible for anyone with
a lot of things to do
to get all of it done all at once

the act of suspension
is the art of trying to
work on that and because
it's completely impossible
to ever know exactly how
to accomplish that
you end up with a lot of things
in suspension

that's the real problem of the New Fade
the fact that so many things
are in development
that they've all basically stopped up
like the Three Stooges
somehow getting themselves stuck
in the same door because none of them
wants to budge

well anyway let's hope that
eventually one of them does

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 16

it will always baffle me to know
that there are people who believe
that they must suspend themselves
artificially in order to feel as if
they can appreciate the possibilities
and that they will argue to make
that legal even though it will
always provide the same
disappointing results that you
will always have to chase
when you can do that without
such chemical meddling
and actually remember how you did it

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 15

destiny is an act of faith

living in the New Fade

complicates destiny

perhaps more than

any other period

in history

in times past

it was possible to know

exactly what you

were going to be

almost from the moment

you were born

of course it was with

dawning awareness

that you realized 

that your life had

limitations and that

altering your fate

would take a

monumental act of will

in the New Fade we

disguise that notion

as the American Dream

where anyone can do

anything they truly desire

the real trick is that

although this is certainly true

many, many people have

taken great pains to ensure

that it is still difficult

part of the reason is that

there are in fact

many, many people

in the world and many

of them are interested

in achieving the same thing

you are and so it's like

farming the same land

for too long and discovering

that you must rotate and

cooperate in order to yield

optimum results

the compensating method

for balancing ambition

in the New Fade

means that while everyone

can pursue their destiny

sometimes it takes longer

than you might have thought

a miserable suspension

few people are willing to

acknowledge talent

without an equal amount

of savvy and so you wait

and you wait until perhaps

everything works out

it's true that great talent

is seldom encouraged

in any age and is in fact

silently oppressed

too many voices have been

kept silent throughout history

only to be heard by later ears

what makes this such

an attractive impulse?

why do contemporaries

reject their native genius?

in the New Fade perhaps

it's easier to appreciate

this common phenomenon

but it's no easier to fix

we know everything

or so we think

and so we question 

everything too

it's the process of working

it all out where suspension

finally gives rise to progress

and we all cross another bridge

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 14

the best part of being suspended in the New Fade
is that it is not a permanent condition

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 13

in the globalization movement of the New Fade
it's a wonder that most people are still
suspended in tiny worlds

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 12

suspension is a quagmire
and that's exactly what the New Fade is

it's a quagmire
with everyone trapped
in suspension
questioning everything
accepting anything
using dark magic to stay afloat

suspension can be a bridge
that you can travel beneath

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 11

a dream is a suspension of reality

there is always truth in dreams
but it's a matter of discovering
where the truth lies
and where the distortion
and what it all means

dreams are like philosophy
the only time all of humanity
is united in the same ambiguity

tell me yours and I'll tell you mine

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 10

who's to say what's good poetry
especially in the New Fade?

at best it's a suspended judgment
seeing that hardly anyone but poets
seems to care

poetry is something of an
affected irony these days
worn like a coat

and who is even to judge it
anyway?  what criteria exist
to determine?

it's all subjective
unless of course it really stinks

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 9

some will argue that the real problem of the New Fade
is a permanent sense of arrested development

perhaps other cultures in other times enjoyed entertainment
but not to the degree that we do now

it might be argued that modern man exists to amuse himself
or is trying desperately to make that official

the greatest misery is to be denied the ability to do this
forced in the meantime to experience everyday misery

the world isn't any different today than it was before
and yet more and more people are allowed to wallow in fiction

fiction is something that has always been at the surface of reality
though now it is both a distraction and a way of life

to reconcile one's interest in fiction and their ability to ignore misery
has become the driving force of suspension in the New Fade

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 8

Ellah and her secret echo Elah
approve of all they see in the New Fade

this is not surprising
as they are the gods of these times

they are trickster gods
the only kind possible
shifting from moment to moment
so that whatever people currently believe
they amply represent

what else should a god do
when faith is so hard to find
in intangible things?

the rebellion against old regimes
continues to be against old methods
not so much what they represent
and this includes our religions

perhaps there is no name except El
where the world is constantly exploding
and the survivors are picking at the scraps
and each other in a mad scramble for life
empowered by the Sun to give themselves
a belief in the facade of their existence

in the shadow of the valley
rode a hundred disciples
ready to sacrifice themselves
in some crude bastardization
of events that happened
a hundred times before
but only once when it mattered

it's funny that all of this is so convoluted
even though it takes place
in a serious place on a serious earth

sometimes the apocalypse is the same as paradise

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 7

what if i were to tell you that
all this suspending in the New Fade
is a direct result of America?

well, in a certain sense
that's exactly true

the New World was so named
because it flaunted old rules
and created new ones

it was always outside of
common perception

its natives could easily
have been the equals
to any of those who
came to claim their land

yet they chose to exist
in the beginnings of the New Fade
in which time has no meaning

progress is a state of mind
a matter of choice
rather than the basic order of reality

the New Fade in the New World
became something of a curse
imported into the abstract concept
of globalization

all things are new here
just as they've always been
a part of the animal kingdom
even before there were animals

that's the nature of time
impervious and disinclined
to believe that humans need
anything more than
what they always had

which is what has always existed
before and after there was
the ground beneath our feet

it is our dubious acceptance
of our own rules that keeps
the New Fade alive

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 6

sometimes suspensions
are a matter of choice

this does not
necessarily mean
that they're
any more a good thing

but that's what
they can sometimes be

suspensions
in other words
can be many things
for many different reasons

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 5

"suspension" can mean a lot of things

and sometimes those connotations

can be related or they can be 

considered entirely on their own

this one is familiar like your own scent

something you've experienced before

and lived with and maybe it's not

what you would have asked for yourself

but you have it and that's that

this one sidled up like a friend

like a lover slipping back into old habits

after a break and expects nothing

to have changed but of course things have

and now what you want is maybe that lover

but with a few differences

there was nothing wrong before

it's just that maybe what you need now

is different from what you needed then

and if the lover is still faithful they're realize

that and maybe already be that and that's

probably they were your lover in the first place

because they change as you change 

this one sees maybe an inkling that

what you learned in the past has been fruitful

and multiplied and changed the rules of the game

which still operates with the same strategies

but now you're better prepared to play

and you'll know what to do and you will get

better results and you will perhaps make it work 

this time

well, as we always say, we'll see

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 4

sometimes suspensions end with terminations
but that doesn't make them anymore meaningful
only weird quirks of curious thinking

if you want to call it that

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 3

suspension is a terrible thing

suspension is limbo
and no way to know
what will happen next
and so you feel vexed

suspension is a place to be
like climbing a tree
only if you know how to get down
assuming that you are not a clown

suspension is rarely up to you
but when it is pray to have a clue
because if you don't you'll wonder
if you're back there in one more blunder

suspension is something you've earned
and perhaps something you've already learned
but it's also something you don't need
not that you get to plead

suspension is something you want to fight
knowing that it's a terrible plight
but you won't and you can't
like someone's gift plant

suspension is a terrible thing

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 2

poems can rhyme
but they don't have to
and it's only the desperate
who think they must

that's what it's like
to be suspended in the New Fade
not knowing much
but assuming you do

Suspended in the New Fade, Part 1

we're all trapped here in the New Fade
thinking that we'll all get paid
with all our best plans laid
and that the color jade
is what we made
and that we will not fade
and that we must wade
or perhaps raid
and give each other aide
but really believing ourselves forbade

Sick Days of the New Fade

i honestly don't know how it worked before
but i'm glad that there are sick days in the New Fade

War in the New Fade

all war is motivated by greed

if you do not believe this statement
then perhaps you understand
what war means in the New Fade

it's more complicated now
than ever before

the last time nations went to war
in the traditional sense
it was the second war to end all wars

we've all been waiting for the third
and maybe it's naive to say
that the New Fade represents
war becoming a quagmire
worse than anything
we ever knew before
a struggle for minds
more than on battlefields

i guess we'll see

PoetiX in the New Fade

poets stopped trying to be vibrant
when they started believing their own hype

they gave the ground to the bards
and lost their voice

Education in the New Fade

what is enough to be learned,
facts or practical applications
of those facts?

what is more important,
the grade in a classroom
or the ability to retain
that which was supposed
to be learned?

education in the New Fade
values superficial knowledge
and exults in the status quo

"no child left behind"
is a terrible things for teachers
just looking to get through the day
and blaming their inadequacies
on budget issues that have
nothing to do with the quality
of the mind, which is
what it's all about

Scientific Method in the New Fade

scientific method became the new religion
at the dawn of the Atomic Age, the other name
for the New Fade

the trouble is that scientific method
became the Gregorian Chant of these unholy times

everyone says that this is the best of all possible worlds
in which to examine the past present future
and yet none of these are illuminated
when all of them are lost in an endless file,
the wheels on a car overturned on a slippery road,
spinning fruitlessly

The Myth of Interpretive Analysis in the New Fade

all progress halts when those who are supposed to accomplish it
martyr themselves at the altar of interpretive analysis

interpretive analysis seeks to stupefy everything
without achieving anything

so that the only thing that is achieved is talk
and it's always the end of the world

if there were actual thought put into the process,
this might change

Cleverness & Innovation in the New Fade

cleverness is punishable
in the New Fade,
just in the way it was
for Galileo & Tesla

innovation is rewarded
in the New Fade,
just as it was
for da Vinci & Edison

cleverness is the ability
to contradict

cleverness attempts
to persevere

innovation is the ability
to conform

innovation attempts
to endure

cleverness
brought us new things

innovation
brought us refinement

cleverness
is not mainstream

innovation
is the mainstream

cleverness & innovation
contradict each other
only because one is seen
to threaten the other

one is old age,
the other is youth

in the New Age,
everyone clings to youth
and shrugs off old age,
preaching to old age
but believing in youth

these are things that will need
to be rectified
if the age is to pass

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 10

is the story of my mother's life
a tale of heartbreak & triumph?

it seems that way

to me she was my mother
and then i discovered her
as a person
and that version of her
has come to dominate
my perception of her

she often confided in
her children
the winding path of her history
and while i have not retained
all the details
i have come to appreciate
it more and more
as the story of another
human being
who just happened to be
my mother

maybe that's not what
you're supposed to do
and maybe to most
other people it wouldn't
and will never be so
significant
and they will never understand
how it has come to define
the New Fade for me

how the more things change
the more they stay the same

(some cliches exist
because they're true)

even at an accelerated pace
change happens slowly

it's the cost of human perception

and as frustrating as life can be
it's also the only thing we've got

and that's enough reason
to cherish it
and those we share it with
even the ones we don't choose
but would even if we could

that's my mother in the New Fade

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 9

my mother is a contradiction

she is at once
one of the strongest people i knew
but also
one of the most vulnerable

i think i recognize in her
the same betrayal
i feel
from the world
in that i have so much faith
in it
but am constantly
wounded
by its failings

my mother's greatest wounds
came from her family
wanting it to stay strong
and yet it kept
falling apart

the first wounds came
from sisters who didn't
respect what my mother believed

the second wound came
from her mother's untimely
and mysterious death

the third wound came
from her father's timely
but still incomprehensible death
something that crept up on her
and came about just when it seemed
he'd live forever

the fourth wounds came
when her first two sons
rejected the faith she'd embraced
all her life
for variations
that the world represented
as faithful alternatives

the fifth came
when she was diagnosed
with cancer
far too late for effective treatment
and so only a series of pains
she did not want to endure

and so the sixth came
when she made the decision
to stop treatments
and to only inform her family
when they approached her

the seventh pain
will come in the end of all things,
an appropriate rest

Memorial Day in the New Fade

how much farther into the fringe
can military service be pushed
in the New Fade?

it's not as if war has ever been
popular in America
not even during the Revolution

and yet now
after Vietnam
and Afghanistan
it seems as if the population
has segmented
to an extreme degree

the armed forces are now
completely voluntary
and i think that means
that only the people
who really want to serve
are going to care
about what that means
and anyone who doesn't
won't

there is no longer any real sense
that the sacrifices that are
still being made today
are necessary
that they are anything more
than a set of politics
and decisions that you
either agree with or reject
involved

and again
to a certain extent
this is no different
from before
but there's a real chance
today
that there will be
if not now
then very soon
a lack of respect
for everyday sacrifice

even the military doesn't seem
to appreciate this

there are little bubbles
for every facet of society
but this is not one
where this should be allowed
to happen

it's too important
and too noble
and too honored a calling
to be segregated
and reduced to
pawns in someone's chess game

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 8

as far as faith goes
my mother always had
an abundance

it's everyone else
who seemed to lack it

at church in our new home
of Lisbon Falls
she quickly discovered
that the motivation
most people had to
participate
had less to do with piety
and more to do with status

so they were always jockeying
and not minding
when they elbowed other people

and this was a pattern that
continued
for many years

she helped her children
enter into this kind of service
but i'm not sure any of us
were equal to her example

her daily prayers led
to the family rosary
and long after that ended
she continued to pray

her faith would serve her well
through unexpected trials

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 7

my mother quickly became a mother
after her wedding
and eventually had five children
all by c-section

one after the other
so close in age
and yet it seemed
like ages between us
while we grew up
unbridgeable gaps

she treated us and nurtured us
on equal terms
and perhaps that was galling

by the time we were grown up
we really were all the same
except small differences in age
still created great distances

maybe that's what siblings
are supposed to think
and maybe the wisdom of mothers
is not supposed to notice this
and that's something
you're supposed to learn
but don't
and that's your failing

she tried to make music of it
and sometimes all we were
was a cacaphony

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 6

anything and everything
is relevant when you're talking
about how things work themselves out

my mother met my father
as i said
many years after
they might've

in fact
my father's brother
met her before he did

it's that kind of world

but they met
square dancing
because that's what she
thought her father
might enjoy
to help get over
the death of her mother

and so yeah, that's
how my father met my mother

i heard this from her
many times
but there are always
new details worth savoring

so i can understand
how that kind of story
can be fascinating
for a long time

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 5

my mother held a variety of jobs
and she never seemed to have one
where she was entirely comfortable

in the New Fade, women have gained
a great deal of rights and equality

which means, yes, they are also
free to be miserable at work

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 4

my mother made a robe for Kennedy

it's part of what I like to consider
her mythology
since it seems somewhat
incomprehensible

i believe it and i doubt it
every time i think about it

she would have been about twenty
at the time
and that's also weird to think

my father can remember
exactly where he was
sitting on a wall
when he heard about
the assassination

and my mother used
to really be enamored
with Camelot

and yet now i sense
that she doesn't really care

we all forget our dying king
and yet i sense that it's
simply no longer important to her

all of that's important to the New Fade, too

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 3

to hear my mother tell it,
her sisters, both of whom were older,
didn't really like her

they crowded her when they
shared a bed and otherwise
ignored her until later years
when there were no more excuses

her two brothers were younger,
and she got along better with them;
after all, her favorite, who was like
her best friend, became my godfather,
and my family's favorite besides

it's always odd to think of the family
of your mother (or your father)
unless you grow up right next to them
but in the New Fade that's probably
less likely than ever before

it's my mother's family that I know best,
especially her father, whom we visited
frequently during the decade where
my life and his overlapped

we also shared the violin
and i think that was my mother's doing
and i'm not mad about that

he used to make them,
and i think he and she were more proud
of that than his barbering days,
or the years in the Woonsocket mills

he also spoke only French
and that made him just as peculiar
to me as his skinny mustache,
trademarks he shared with the devotion
to his favorite rocking chair
that sat next to the entrance
to a home that was so familiar to me,
with its sloping driveway and backyard path
to a park, and what used to be a skating rink
that defined a great deal of my mother's
early life

(those were the days when rollerskating
was still socially relevant, and not just
a place to throw kids and have them listen
to pop music for a few hours)

Private Thoughts in the New Fade, Part 2

i think it's a good thing
to not know everything
of what people are thinking

what would you think
if you knew how close to the brink
some people who to flushing you down the sink?

it's a sinking feeling to know that those who know you best
are sometimes willing to throw it all away without even a test
just because of one or two things that hit too close to the chest

thump your chest if this was never you
if your face did not turn red in hew
and someone face you never once thought to chew

in fact, if you chew on it
you'd probably admit
that everyone you know has given you a fit

it's the fitness of our intelligence
that we consider our thoughts hence
so that we don't throw each other on a fence

fencing with our views is what makes us what we are
rather than as dense as tar
so that we can all go far

it's what we do that helps us go that distance
but only if we consider our thoughts and don't act like infants
and do our best to behave with eloquence

Private Thoughts in the New Fade

what the hell are private thoughts in the New Fade?
because it seems as if everyone has to know everything now
and they need to share it and have it shared,
all of it, all the time, and if you're not doing that
then there's something wrong with you,
something abnormal and strange
and not to be trusted, as if you're
a secret deviant and perhaps serial killer
waiting to happen; and the thing that's stranger still
is that hardly anyone actually wants to hear anything interesting,
so that if you have something more than the mundane to say
you will be ignored in this great social imperative,
if you go off-message, if you contradict, if you challenge
what even the rebellious are saying

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 2

skipping around the narrative
a little, one of the key elements
of what can be called
my mother's mythology
ties into my father's as well:

both of them lost their mothers
before i was born

my father lost his in what became
the end of his tenure
with the Air Force

my mother lost hers in what became
for her
an equally impactful piece
of what helped shape her life
and brought my parents,
inevitably and finally,
together

she was still living at home
when her mother died
and could vividly recall
years later
the mystery the doctors
could not solve
and still baffled her years later,
the strange discolored legs,
and how she seemed to die,
just like that

so that my mother decided
to continue living at home
to help her father out

and it was this decision
that kept her in town long enough
to finally meet the man who had grown up
not so far away, a state but really just
a short walk away


it was a strange bit about family
that helped bring my family
together,
and a sad twist about mothers
that helped shape my mother's life
and then my own

The Unobserved Life in the New Fade

sometimes i think that the social dynamic
in the New Fade demands that everyone
be seen in some public capacity,
and that if they are not, if they are not
relevant in that sense, then they have no
chance to be heard; yes, in many ways
that's what it always was, but
it was supposed to be different now,
and the fact that it isn't suggests
that we've put an inordinate pressure
on all the developments that were
supposed to make it easier

i call that an irony

My Mother in the New Fade, Part 1

i wish i had more to tell you
about the specifics of my mother's life
in the New Fade, but what follows
will have to suffice

at the start of it, there is a vast community
like many Americans
of immigrant descent
these particular ones
from French-speaking Canada
settling in New England
and finding home among their own kind
finding dignity in respectability
and forging a new life
of new possibility

there were war stories
barbershops
and mills
to be had
floating in the backdrop
and a love of the violin
all before my mother was born

it's easy to imagine that
no language but French
was spoken during all this time
and for someone who does not speak French now
that's a little startling to believe
because i'm only two generations removed...

Wisdom in the New Fade

sometimes what you think you know
and all the logic you understand
does not actually converge
to make the same conclusion
others reach

and that's the difference
between wisdom and knowledge

Everyone Else is Crazy in the New Fade

i'm serious, everyone else is crazy
yeah, except me

the problem is that everyone else
is absolutely convinced
that they've got everything
figured out
they know what's sane and rational
when an objective analysis
reveals just how crazy
and unbalanced
they really are

the problem is that this
is a shared psychoses
and that the majority of people
share this delusion
this flawed interpretation
of reality

i know that makes me sound crazy
but the most sane individual
is the one who sees where others ere

it just so happens that the natural reaction
to this understanding
looks to all the world
like madness

Survivors of the New Fade

sometimes there's an impulse
much less an imperative
to justify despicable behavior
and sometimes it's possible
and sometimes it isn't

the challenge in the New Fade
is to know the difference

Index of the New Fade

in the beginning there were dynasties
gods and kings and men in trees

it was like that for centuries
millennia and years like bees

and then there was a reformation
that threw all things into question

so that perspective falls into many hands
and falls all around likes grains and sands

and that's where the New Fade stands
and why for answers we follow bands

chronicles come from Billy Joel, R.E.M.
this is what you learn from them

from the bottom of every hem
and the scrambling for every gem

there's a constant struggle for the future
and, yes, a fight against wearing fur

when everyone's clever and you're all dumb
it's okay to feel a little numb

because when everyone's a bum
your instinct is to throw out a thumb

and hitchhike to another planet
but that's just it

you can't hide because it's all the same
a mad dash for fortune and fame

no time for shame
even when that's the name of the game

Epistles from the New Fade

those who see what few others do
are called visionaries

and those who are able to define
what is really going on

are usually not to be believed
especially by those they contradict

the New Fade is peculiar
in that it suggests

a time in which notions change
at both an alarming rate

and at a glacial pace
so that it's difficult to know

what's really going on,
even though it seems

everyone is commenting
on everything all the time

in every era
there are those

who seem to grasp
what's really going on

and for future generations
they leave notes behind

those readers are left
with the odd sensation

and knowledge that what they read
with such prescience then

was not generally understood
at the time

and so these little time-bombs
are curious anachronisms indeed

in whatever time
they exist

Edifying the New Fade

sometimes talking about something
even if no one else understands
any better after you're done
is the reward itself

Significant Gain vs. Insignificant Cost in the New Fade

when making decisions many people decide
with the method of pros and cons to hide
their inability to separate
the difference from what they hate
with what they'd rather want

this i believe to be less productive
than if they're willing to give
a more reasoned analysis
and by that I mean this
to be what they ought to want

the game I propose instead
leaves things squarely in their head,
an ability to weigh significant gain
against insignificant cost, so to train
yourself in what you really want

gain is simply what the pros suggest
rather than what cost takes at best,
so that rather than a negative
you discover what the choice will give
and you get what you really want

The Metaphysics of Value in the New Fade

the Metaphysics of Quality are a matter of Zen,
but the Metaphysics of Value are a matter
of discovering long-term worth in something,
so that it isn't a subjective judgment
but an objective one anyone discerning enough
will see

in the New Fade, the Metaphysics of Value
are a tricky thing, because although many people
are engaged in determining what exactly Value is,
there are a great deal more people only
pretending to

Value can be corrupted as a shadow of itself
but then, it isn't really Value
and it certainly doesn't have Quality
(okay, perhaps the veneer of it)

if you think about something long enough
and discover flaws you cannot ignore
then its Value is too far diminished

and that's the point
I'm trying to make

about the Metaphysics of Value

Mountains in the New Fade

mountains in the New Fade
are not what they used to be

they are what they always were
but they aren't what they used to be

they still look the same
act the same
and function the same

but now there are roads
that can be driven

and so they are not the same challenge

it's strange to know this, because for many
long years they were such a huge challenge

and now they are something anyone with a car
can surmount in a few hours

yes, there are still people making a challenge
to climb them but there are no real records left

unless you're crazy

yes, even mountains are different
in the New Fade

they are still nature's best view
with the best perspective

but they have changed
and they are still the same

it's people who are different,
armed with new abilities

and new responsibility

let's see what that ends up meaning

The Mask of Agamemnon in the New Fade

it used to be that the mark of ill-breeding
shown worst on the privileged
and yet in the New Fade
the effects are multiplied the more creeping
power is bestowed on the rest of wretched mankind

this is how all are touched by the ability of
everyday tyrants to be unmoved by reason,
a sense of entitlement that sticks in the cog
of civilization, ensnaring all in a vast web
of pettiness and greed

how then to be captains of our own souls,
masters of our own destinies
when it is the business of the average individual
to look after themselves in an active
suppression of others?

it is insidious, the way this mundane evil works,
thrusting the knife of iniquity with a smile
and words of encouragement,
giving lip service to possibility
while trampling the very ground,
stomping out the tentative buds of freedom
even as they've taken centuries to grow

it is a mask we are all forced to endure;
beneath it a tortured grimace might be seen
by anyone bold enough to look

The Adventures of Jerry Springer in the New Fade!

hey
you all
everybody!

it's not intelligent to be amused by
individuals who can't understand themselves
being interviewed by a guy who pretends
that he can make perfect clarity
all while supporting this behavior
as long as he can make
sensational television off of it

and it's not as if i'm just talking
about Jerry Springer
but all those people who live their lives
using the same precepts, those who
support patterns that only repeat
themselves and benefit no one
just because it's what they know
and what makes it easy to go
about their daily lives

what you learned from your parents
even if you will admit you didn't like it then
but are yourself doing now
is harmful and needs to be corrected
not by some totalitarian regime
or dictator interested in chopping people to bit
to amuse himself and ensure his rule
but so that real reform of the human condition
can be undertaken

it's a little absurd that we've allowed ourselves
to grow more feral the more technological
and global progress we've made,
ignoring all good sense while shrinking inward
and pretending that one life does not affect another
if you don't know each other's names
without being told so in that collision

it's like infinite rubbernecking at an accident
on a freeway, backing up traffic on the other side
where nothing is blocking the road except
perverted looks and diverted minds
incapable of seeing what's in front of them
because they're too busy looking elsewhere

Chop Off Your Arm to Save Money in the New Fade!

the concept of money becomes increasingly
hilarious when people cannot understand
the very basics of it, of economics,
so that they are willing to seek out
"the best deals" at the expense of
the continuing viability of what they
are currently supporting

sure, they get
what they want
right now,
and maybe they don't care
that they won't have that
tomorrow,
but I think there's some value
in actually understanding
what you're doing

maybe that makes me crazy

Negotiations of the New Fade

or, how to cripple yourself
by saving money!

The Problem with Associations in the New Fade

or, making decisions
the hard way,
rather than with
facts

Inheriting Bad Traits in the New Fade

or, learning bad instincts
that prevent you from trusting
a good thing

Turning a "Zero" into an "O" in the New Fade

or, how to complicate simple things
by imposing disorder on order
and assuming things
by not reading and listening!

Turning an "O" into a "Zero" in the New Fade

maybe it's easy and it makes sense
but substituting one thing for another
that it actually is not and only
obscures what it is
should best be avoided

The Universal in the New Fade

with so many different ways to tell ourselves apart in the New Fade
it can sometimes be difficult to remember that some things
we all share:

eating
sleeping
drinking
blinking
shitting
peeing
dreaming
hoping
laughing
crying

and these are only some of them
but hopefully you'll agree
that these already form
a solid common ground

so maybe we can stop emphasizing all the differences
and try to focus on the similarities and where
they might intersect

everyone's guilty in the New Fade;
don't think of the road back
as charity so much as compassion

you want to be heard and loved and understood
just like everyone else

even the curmudgeons

The Gulf Between Logic and Intelligence in the New Fade

logic is cultural awareness,
the ability to understand the world
through the interpretation of human experience

intelligence is cultural assimilation,
the ability to use interpretation
of human experience

you don't really appreciate the gulf
between these two basic traits
of the human mind until you
see just how widely they can diverge

no, it's not a battle of nature versus nurture,
because in the end both are irrelevant;
it's knowing what to do, having the interest
to use what you've learned
regardless of where you learned it
because you can either
make it really easy on yourself and others
or make it extremely difficult

that's where intelligence heads into
the territory of logic

Dog Tribes of the New Fade

with so much stimulation available in the New Fade
there's a wicked temptation to react much the way a dog does,
with much enthusiasm but without really thinking about
what exactly you're doing or way, a happy slave to sensation

i'm not saying that there's anything particularly wrong about this
or that dogs should be judged negatively for this behavior,
because they are among the most charming creatures in the world
and that's exactly why they make such good companions

but people aren't dog
and maybe it's time
we try and learn that
over again
and try being people again
so that we can have a little
restraint

yes, it's great to be excited and to express that excitement
but to stop and think about it is not such a bad thing,
to consider things rationally instead of jumping forward
with too little critical thought given to the situation

people are capable of moderating themselves
and don't need to follow base instinct, much less the rest
of the pack, and yet that's exactly, in small pockets,
the behavior that the New Fade breeds

in bizarre and amusing ways;
that's all i'm saying;
please don't be
offended; it's
fascinating
anthropologically,
and that's good, too!

Leaders of the New Fade

leaders of the New Fade tend to believe their own hype
rather than accept with humility that they owe
to those below them exactly what they were promoted to do

they don't lead so much as steer a course that doesn't work
just because that's what everyone else at that level is doing
and they do it in private "and for the good of those below them"

leaders in the New Fade are in the unique position to recognize
that this isn't working and that they can help champion
a better way, the way all history has been suggesting

but what do i know?

Stray Dogs of the New Fade

they stop and ask you to talk
and they'll want to let you know
what you're doing wrong
according to policy
and if you try and provide
feedback they'll say there are
effective channels for that
just not right here and now
but don't feel discouraged
because seriously
there really are channels
that will address your concerns
but in the meantime keep doing
what obviously isn't working
because it works for other people
so even if it isn't working for you
and it's hurting the company
and the customers it doesn't matter
because that's how it done
no matter how frustrating it is
and how bad it makes you
and the company
and the customers look

so yeah, that's all we needed to talk about
here in the New Fade

Experiencing the New Fade

walk down any street
and you may be able to notice
more about the New Fade
than anything i can write for you

when i say, "walk down the street,"
i also mean to imply that you shouldn't
just walk, although in this day and age,
walking is almost an extreme sport,
because many people will hop
into their car just to get down the street

those people who walk may actually
already do this, take in what they
experience while they're doing it,
not just paying attention
so they won't run into something

(that may be something you should be
doing, drivers, just so you know)

have a look around
look at the houses their
interiors and exteriors
how people trim them
in their many different ways
and what that says about them

stop to look at the
squirrels rabbits birds ants

listen to the world around you

try and experience life
that happens rather than revolves
around you

and you might then understand
the New Fade

give it a shot

Roving in the New Fade

in every era there's the sense
that very little real progress
is being made
but the truth is, even in the New Fade,
that progress is the rule

otherwise there's be no point
in knowing anything has happened

those who know history
are doomed to learn from it
whether they like it or not

Cherry Blossoms of the New Fade

cherry blossoms appeared
and they were breathtaking,
they became an institution;
in the New Fade they still appear

Volume in the New Fade

some things that are quiet in one context
are loud in another

The Act of the Rising in the New Fade

the ability to be true to yourself
in the New Fade is a double-edged sword

many people tend to interpret this
in selfish ways that reflect their decision
to remain in a static version
of themselves, or versions of
other people they have known

for the true individual,
it is instead a challenge
to embrace the best version
of yourself and the ability
to challenge the concept
of reality championed
by others

those capable of this are
the best possible representatives
of the New Fade, not reflections
but proponents of change
that will benefit all
when it is all over
and we all
move on

to a better age

Christianity in the New Fade

i sometimes wonders where all the Christians are

in history a lot of them were bogus opportunists
and today it seems they're all poor or rich
and everyone's bumming off the holidays
for everything but what they're meant to celebrate
which i guess is fine because some of those
did the same thing, too

but where's all the understanding of what Christians
are supposed to emulate and ruminate?

where's the awareness that there were great things
reported in the stories, great things we're supposed
to comprehend?

where's the Golden Rule?

everyone, even the Christians, are looking out
for themselves

no, not all of them,
some of them are tortured by the pain
of it all, know what I'm talking about

but most of them don't
and they'll all be there tomorrow
in their "Sunday best"

while we all wait
for things to get better
or hope that there's justice
in the hereafter
in the here and now
there's every chance
to do what's right
rather than what's easy

there also seems to be a myth
that everything's fine
just if you pretend
but at the heart of all this
is the understanding that
human nature is at the heart of the riddle

now, think about that
as you prepare to gather your eggs

maybe let some of them hatch

Technological Disparity in the New Fade

the rush to innovate in the phone industry
has left a curious phenomenon in its wake,
and that's that most people are using phones
that have horrible reception
and i find that to be ironic
and worth noting for posterity,
that the New Fade can feature
so marked a contrast in one
of its signal technologies

Dogs of the New Fade

dogs are the same as they've always been

but isn't it time that we start treating them
with a little more dignity?

if they're part of the family,
then they shouldn't be raised
to be guardians, so untrustworthy

unless that's our true reflection
of the New Fade

Faith in the New Fade

faith has been categorically discredited
in the New Fade, something fanatics
believe in, but to scoffed at as the remnant
of earlier times, corrupted in its essence
and hardly to be trusted

that's a damn shame, because
there are a lot of good things
about faith, something
to believe in not just
for the sake of tradition
and a basic understanding
of culture and history, but rather
as something that attempts to look
beyond the mundane and peak
behind the veil of reality
to something bigger than yourself,
not science which merely
categorizes things but rather
mysteries that perhaps
earlier generations have
clarified in some way
you may not have considered
in your personal experiences

so maybe it's time
for faith
to make a comeback

no longer to be shunned
but shared

it's worth considering

Plague of the New Fade

the plague of the New Fade
is a little different from
the plagues of other eras

the plague of the New Fade
affects more people
since there are more people
to be affected

the plague of the New Fade
is one of silence
which is ironic
because silence
is the opposite of the theme
of the New Fade

everyone wants to be heard
in the New Fade
and the consequence
is that fewer people
are heard in the New Fade
because everyone believes
they have something to say
even when they don't

so that anyone who actually has
something to say has too much
competition, and so the plague
of the New Fade is that things
worth saying are less likely
to be heard

and even if someone hears
things worth saying, fewer
people are hearing it
than ever before

this is a plague because
this is detrimental
to everyone, and everyone
should be talking about it
but they aren't because
they are talking too much trivia
without merit

and so that leaves us with a plague
in the New Fade that eradicates
just as surely as any other time's
plague the potential for progress

so it's two steps back
with every word that's shared

wanna tweet that?

Fringe of the New Fade

those on the outskirts
are the outsiders looking in
and so therefore we should
trust their judgment as being
perhaps more objective
than ours, even if eccentric

for it is
groundbreaking
revolutionary
frightening

and makes us see double,
once for the way things are
and again as they could be
with just a few small changes

those champions of the New Fade
are those who are willing to
embrace this fringe element,
not reject it, for in the challenge
of these individuals
we see your face tomorrow

Politicians of the New Fade

this one will be different,
will try and point toward the future
rather than rest in the mouldwarp
of the New Fade

and here it is,
my concept of campaign finance reform:

candidates should join the modern age,
promote themselves on YouTube,
in magazines, and on the news,
rather than raise millions from
supporting corporations to speak
before crowds of the already-converted
and meaningless ads of dubious merit
that don't bother to support credentials,
but rather pander
pander
pander

politicians don't pander;
if your does they're a bureaucrat

politicians respond to the will
and best interests of the people

that is all

Critical Mass in the New Fade

this is what defines the New Fade:

fundamental
systematic
psychological
failure to comprehend the nature
of reality

but other than that, not bad

Critical Thought in the New Fade

i'd like to teach the world to sing
in synchronicity!

and by that i mean that i'd like
more people to understand
what other people are thinking,
so that there's more logic
to the logic we all live by

if we better understand the rules
of science in the New Fade
then we'd better understand
the rules of logic, too,
so that the Metaphysics of Value
can be appreciated,
and Value is no longer defined
by Metaphysics, the unknown
quality, but rather something
we can all identify, even if
we voice it in different ways

The Big Wet in the Middle of the New Fade

the bigger picture is of a wasteland
where the best of us wander in search
of purpose, our best talents spoiled
by the jealousies of others and
an indeterminate disaster of the past
clouding the present and future,
something everyone knows
but refuses to acknowledge
because it's too damn obvious
that many don't even recognize
it anymore, where shamans are
shackled, politicians once more
believe themselves to be gods,
and caravans lead to an oasis
of hope in the middle of the desert,
where there is no rain

The Adventures of Stanley Milgram in the New Fade

stick me in a box
and make me do it
and maybe you will believe
that you get what you want
but the truth is not always true
bright lights don't always shine
and the eye of the beholder
is not always in focus

Contradiction in the New Fade

you're supposed to be happy all the time
but if you're not there's something wrong with you

The New Fade Will Pay You Not to Work (Some Exclusions Apply)

no, seriously

there's a strong impulse
to believe that
"every member of society
must carry their own weight"

but wouldn't you know it?

the more money you make
the less work you have to do

the idea is responsibility,
that the "more" you have
the more you're worth

and no, i don't understand
that logic either

responsibility to me
is a privilege and therefore
something that should
be earned and not simply
rewarded

responsibility is an abstract concept,
since those who support
responsibility have as much
responsibility as those
who are supposed to have
responsibility

we live in the 21st century
in the time of the New Fade
in which virtually everything
is recorded and even John Doe
has a name and so yes,
it's very hard to say that
there are now definite and
impenetrable divides between
those who have responsibility
and, well, those who have
responsibility

we don't live in times that
so easily bend toward the will
of dictators, no matter how small
and inconsequential,
except in the power they
are allowed to have

i'm not talking unions
or communism

i'm talking about basic
human
dignity

so yeah, it's a little stupid
to say today that everyone
must work and that some of
those who do should be paid
more for doing less
just because of responsibility

or rather

the illusion of control

because at the end of the day
it's the end of the day
for everyone
and it doesn't matter
how much money you have
you need sleep and you will
in all probability dream
and that's something we all do

so just maybe, you ought
to indulge a little more of that

because no two dreams
are the same

Snobs of the New Fade

the powerless find power
through artificial means,
treating others
as if they don't matter,
so that rudeness,
sometimes couched in polite terms,
is a virtue
and the order the day, and
you can pretend that
you didn't hear them

all of that is actually supposed
to make sense

but of course it doesn't

The Self in the New Fade

uniformity and conformity
are the two words you
will not hear anyone say

but they are the order of the day

if you propose something new
or attempt to voice some
new perspective

you'd better have a collective

if you don't you'll be ignored
shunned and despised
until you are miserable

all to keep the coffers full

to be yourself in the New Fade
is to embrace a contradiction,
or in other words

it's for the birds

Frustrating People in the New Fade

Catch-22 suggests that
horrible side-effects
cannot be avoided, and
the New Fade has embraced this
principal  in spades

for your convenience,
Catch-22 is a fact of everyday life
in the New Fade, so that
the order of the day is to
frustrate people for no good
reason, other than that you can,
for a thousand increasingly
unnecessary reasons, most of them
disguised as necessity

and for your further convenience,
most of them are always
compounding on each other, so
as to provide maximum misery

the New Fade is defined as making
life easier by making it more miserable!

Rephrasing the New Fade

the New Fade is a moment in time
where things are in constant flux

the New Fade exists to push the limits
of human development, yet for
every step forward there's
an equal and opposite call
for a push in the opposite direction

messengers of the New Fade
are lionized and they are demonized;
they are celebrated and lampooned

according to the Advanced Genius Theory,
that's just the way it is, and maybe it'd
be nice to give these champions
a second look, just so we don't forget

there is fallibility in everything, because
in everything human there is
human fallibility, yet it is only
intellectual fallibility that accepts
great accomplishments must be ignored
by great people who are not always great

the New Fade is not a period that
demands great intellectualism,
but it is a period that only
great intellectualism can comprehend

great things are accomplished
every day, yet most of them
are ignored in the rush to condemn
great thinking as an affront
to populism, which is itself
ill-respected, so that only
minor triumphs can be
recognized in any regular sense

then again, maybe the New Fade
isn't so new, and maybe all this
is how it has always been, and it's
just the rush of technological steps
coming in so many small increments
that confuses the matter

we record more of ourselves
and so we assume we know
so much more

well, maybe our successors
will know better

Cannibal Competitions of the New Fade

you can accomplish your dreams
but you will need to stomp
on the dreams of others

you can accomplish your dreams
but you will need to pretend
that you believe in others

Serfing the New Fade

the essential existential
question for the thinking
person of the 21st century
is:

do i exist to produce
for society or to consume
for it?

because there is a question
here not easily answered,
because the one goes hand-in-hand
with the other, a forced servitude
without appreciation.

the serf in the New Fade belongs
to a system that ensnares
those without privilege to
a retrograde existence.