Mark Lipman: Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment,
          ... or the Dignity of a Home

There are those who
                    would say,
          that I am soft on crime.
          But nothing could be
                    further from the truth.

I … I am very tough
                    on crime.

I though, just may have
          a different definition
          of what crime is
                    than you do.

You see, the worst
          crime there is
          – the one that affects
                    90% of this planet.
          – 5.5 billion people –
     is the crime
          of Poverty.

The official numbers
          from the 2010 census say that
          the poverty rate
          in the United States
          is 15.7 percent
          47.8 million people
We all know though that California
          leads the nation.
So the percentages here could be double.

And that doesn’t take into account
          those who are uncountable.
     – the hundreds of thousands
          dare I say millions
          of Americans
          living on the streets.

1 out of every 3
     homeless persons
          in this country

ARE VETERANS

WAR VETERANS!

Many in wheelchairs
          and without limbs.

They are the Ron Kovic’s
          of this world
     – all but forgotten.

As a Gulf War Era veteran,
          – a Seabee –
          – a grunt –
I can feel their pain
     and I want to help them.

I want to help everyone
          who is suffering from
                    the Crime of Poverty.

And the rich – want to stay rich.
And the police and the bureaucrats
          want to keep their benefits
                    and I understand that.
And it is convenient
          to lock up 2 million Americans,
          – perhaps though,
                    it’s just the wrong 2 million.

But I am not talking about
          bringing anyone down.
On the contrary,
          I am talking about bringing
               everyone else up
                    to the same level.

But it must start
          from the bottom up.

And I am not talking about handout
          (like bailouts)
I’m talking about hand-ups
– of giving everyone
          the same opportunities
          no matter
     their race, identity, gender
          or economical status.

Every one of us
     are human beings first
          and deserve
The Dignity of a Home.

Housing is a Human Right.

And the Shame –
          the God Awful Shame
          the weakest link in our greatness
Is that there are more
          empty housing units
                    in America
                    in California
                    in Venice
     than there are homeless.

That – that is not a crime
          – Oh no!
That is the Deadly Sin of Greed.

And that is what I want
          to put an end to.

To stop the foreclosures
          and put people in homes
       – and keep them there.

And the banks are not going to like that,
          but all I can say is that the rich
          … well, the rich
                     are doing
                        just fine.

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

Crime and Punishment

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