Mark Lipman: Poverty and the Profit Motive

A Stirring Underfoot

A rumbling can be heard on the horizon
A great stirring underfoot
as dried, dying leaves crack and crumble
from the weight bearing down on them

The march into battle echoes in far off villages
and mighty metropolis
as clear as the fallen pin.

A wisp of wind in the Sahara
is all that is needed
to create a sand storm
in the dust bowl of the mid-west

Unrest in the streets and town squares
amassed in the raised voices
at the checkout counter

And a fist can be seen in the air
multiplied by the millions
of disheveled and downtrodden.

No, we are not to blame for the bankers’ plunder.

We, we are merely the results of deregulation
of capitalization
of corruption in high places
and our voices will be heard

Vibrating in your meeting halls
crumbling your capitols
to dust and ash
from whence they came.

Greedy children and their teachers
are not the guilty parties.

The excess spoils will not be found
in the pockets of the toiling masses.

Grandma’s social security check
did not crash the economy
any more than did immigrants
send your jobs to China.

We are not the problem
but like a thunderbolt
from Zeus’ fingertips
slicing through the darkness
of their expedient lies
We will be the solution.

MARK LIPMAN:

Recipient of the 2015 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award; founder of VAGABOND; a writer, poet, multi-media artist and activist, is the author of six books, most recently, Poetry for the Masses; and Global Economic Amnesty. Co-founder of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition (USA), Agir Contre la Guerre (France) and Occupy Los Angeles, and most recently the Westside Tenants Union, he has been an outspoken critic of war and occupation since 2001. Mark uses poetry to connect communities to the greater social issues that affect all of our lives, while building consciousness through the spoken word.

In 2002 he became writer in residence for a year at the world famous Shakespeare and Company, under the guidance of its founder George Whitman. In that year he worked with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman and the Italian poet, Igor Costanzo, in Back to Beat, a Fluxus art and poetry event in Breccia, Italy.

His political activism began in Berlin, where as a witness to true democracy, he helped to take down The Berlin Wall.

After returning from active duty with NMCB16 (Seabees) - a Gulf War Era Veteran, Mark's political views moved further to the left, having witnessed from inside the military the contradictions between the "official stories" and the reality of war.

In 1992, he started organizing with CalPIRG, to protect California's waterways and then, while living in Paris, he was a volunteer with Geenpeace France in 1998 and later became their Assistant Rainforest Campaigner.

His first novel, Impermanence, was published in Paris 2001, and nominated for the Bard Literary Prize in 2003.

Locally, Mark has been a frequent contributor for the Free Venice Beachhead. He is also published in numerous poetry anthologies.

Since moving to Venice in 2008, he has been politically active organizing on affordable housing issues and has been an outspoken advocate for human rights to housing.

Currently, he is a member of POWER (People Organized for Westside Renewal), Occupy Venice, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and 100 Thousand Poets for Change. www.vagabondbooks.net

Mark Lipman

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Poverty and the Profit Motive

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