so the game is set...........

players prepared for battle.........
lines of demarcation set in preparation for war........
is the human inclination a 'loving, nurturing one'?
or are we really created to jump, boxing gloves poised, into battle at the first sign of weakness?

what are the rules of engagement?

is every broken promise a cause to battle?

when is enough really enough??
what is that fabled 'tipping point'?

can we make critical decisions from emotion?
is strength a better point from which to gague accurately the
cause and affect of one own actions?

clearly, amid turmoil, one cannot expect to decipher meaning.......optimal entrance points......etc
so then........
we wait........
we incorporate patience......
we become almost 'tauist' is our stance......

perched........
ready.......
strong.........
bring it on, cowboy!

when one least expects it..........

out of the abyss........
no time for preparation nor posturing..........
appears justin..........

before ones very eyes........
an angel.........
a prophet.......

dressed in wolves clothing........
edgy.........mysterious......available.........

saying profound, life-altering things..........
things that make me quiver........
with anticipation.........with trepidation...........
warnings , in a way, masked in veiled threatening statements......
hints of something to come.......
hints of spiraling excitement.........

the prophet.......
he sees all.........
he issues assurances, all-the-while.........
commanding respect and reverance.........

he lirks in the darkness...........
his kiss has the taste of apples bathed in sunlight.........
dimpled..........exquisite.........

well, my friends..........
i am dumbfounded by the appearance of this masked stranger.....
we shall see........
yes.........
a story is unfolding here on the upper east side........
and i am but a player in the script........
awaiting the directors instructions.........
wondering whether i will, in fact, have the wear -with- all to live up to the prophets expectations........

truth unfolding............

truth enters the room when one least expects it........
it knows no boundaries.........
no sense of decorum........
truth speaks volumes in but a single sentence.......

truth has an insidious way of getting under ones skin while
seeming to be innocently marking its own territory........
so as not to shock us or scare us.......

noone escapes its clutches......noone.......

and the thing about hearing truth........about its resonating for us.......
is that theres NO getting around its presence.......
for once truth is spoken.........that ends that!!
the world is no longer a rose colored glass filled with pink champagne.......
OH NO, my friends.........
OUR world has become a cold, drafted schlitz in a big, thick mug.......
and that one milisecond of revelation........
well, it keeps repeating itself, reverberating in our heads.....
pounding and beating and clubbing us into aquiescence.....

we might all just as well accept truth with none of its guise and guile.....
for we know it VERY WELL when we hear it........
and whats more.........we OWN it........
might as well invite truth in from the cold......
feed it, bathe it, and tuck it into our beds......
cause, baby..........it aint leavin!!
truth has moved in on us........
GAME OVER, FANTASY!!

hard to believe............

this notion of a democratic country..........

FOR the people........OF the people.......

is this really a democracy???

are we truely the masters of our own god-given destinies???

you have GOT to be kidding........

a world utterly disturbed and confused by the politics.........the economy.........the terrorism.........the poverty.........the ozone.......

blasphemous to its very core........

decaying in a way.........

these diatribes are becoming almost corny........

has electing this new president unleashed a veritable minefield of possibities??

is change necessarily a good thing???

what of 'consistency'?

something to be said of remaining consistent........in the face of extreme adversity.......

this will certainly 'shake things up'!........

but in a good way??

hmm.........not so sure about that

we shall see where the global opinion sits one year from today......

where our ASSES sit, for that matter........

will we be living in the same places??
paying the same mortgages ??
making love to the same partner??

or will everything have gone mad...........
.the order turned into apple pie..........'upside-down' cake.........

serving it up to the fundamentalists on a platter with pink ribbons ???

and grenades disguised as kiwis???

the implications are staggering......

accupuncture required.........

a pointilist...........the true accupuncturist.........
she KNOWS where to pierce.......she intuits.........like me........
with a paint brush..........
she manipulates the chi........crosses and unblocks the meridians........
its not for naught...........the chi expression...........
it circulates within the tiny room, and i arise............having 'shorted' the marketplace severely.........would that i had done so!!!
one can fantasize about what couldve, shouldve, wouldve happened...........HAD WE SUCCESSFULLY SHORTED THE MARKETS!!!!
we would be gazillionaires!!!!
sitting on piles of emeralds and GOLD.........
TRUE ALCHEMY.........
alas............no gold for the soldiers..........just bill collectors with tatoos and nose rings..........
what on earth has happened to the 'suits'????
the suits were ruling the world!!!!
where did they go??
did they trade their botega loafers in for crocks???
oh me!!! oh my!!!!

transmuted suits into 'crock' guys at the reservoir with labs.......not laptops!!!

en pointe............

CON EDISONIAN............

AND A BIG, DARK, OMINOUS DUDE WITH A TATOO AND AN OLD CELL PHONE ON HIS BELT APPEARED ..........
OUT OF THE MIST........THE HAZE OF ELEVATORS.........
ORANGE.........
HERMES....ISH...........REALLY........
ORANGE AND BROWN........
HE ASKED FOR CASH!!!!
YIKES!!!!
HE NEEDED TO SEND THE OFFSPRING TO THE CAMP!!!
THE CAMP OF REDUCTION.........
BUT IT COULDNT BE DONE WITHOUT ATTACKING THE GIRL AT MY DOORWAY!!!
HE ARRIVED VIA HELICOPTER..........REDUCED TO NOTHING..........
SNIVELING YET AGAIN.......
POSED TO SAY THE PRAYERS...........
TO LEAD THE PEOPLE........

A PAPERLESS WORLD......

IT IS, AFTER ALL........
THE MILLENIUM........
DO AWAY WITH THE EXCESS OF PAPER AND ENVELOPES AND COPIES AND COPIES AND COPIES OF ENDLESS RIFF-RAFF........
SAVE A TREE, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!
DOES NOONE UNDERSTAND????
THE DILEMMA ..........AT HAND????

WE ARE FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS OF ECONOMIC
PAVEMENT.........
THROUGH THE GROUTING WEVE SPLICED SO ELOQUENTLY ON THAT MOSAIC WE CALL 'STABILITY'.......

THE KITCHEN NEEDS REDOING, YOU SAY???
WHAT ABOUT THE STARVING MONKEYS AND ORANGITAN??
DO THEY NEED A NEW KITCHEN????
THEY ARE DYING FOR A BANANA TO 'MUNCH' ON......
MUCH LESS A KITCHEN IN WHICH TO REFRIGERATE THE NON BANANA 'AT HAND'......

WHAT ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST ???

ARE THERE NEW KITCHENS ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF
LOST LIMBS??
THE MIDDLE EAST IS CRYING AND HOWLING FOR OUR
MERE ATTENTION......
BUT WE ARE ATTENDING TO THE NEW DISHWASHER!!!!
HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING???
WEVE BEEN TAUGHT SO MAGNIFICENTLY NOT TO 'BETRAY'.........
PERHAPS GIVING UP A LOAF OF BREAD OR TWO WOULD BE IN ORDER, SO THAT RELIEF COULD COME TO THOSE IN 'NEED'............
LETS PONDER THAT.........A LOAF OF BREAD OR TWO........

WOULD GIVING IT AWAY HAVE HARD CORE CONSEQUENCES???
WHAT OF THE TWO SHABBOS CHALLAHS??
HOW WOULD WE FULFIL THE COMMANDMENT??

IS THERE A HEIERARCHY??

DOES FEEDING A STARVING CHILD 'TRUMP' HAVING TWIN CHALLAHS FOR SHABBOS??
OR IS THERE A WAY TO DO BOTH??
ARE THEY MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE???

DOES IT REALLY MATTER??

WHAT OF DOGMA AND RHETORIC???

WHAT OF BLIND FAITH??

"TOO LITTLE TOO LATE"
.......YOURE THINKING......

NEVER............BUT NEVER TOO LATE FOR TO SING THAT OL'
REDEMPTION SONG........