A Case Study in Direct Loans

In the early 1990s the federal government experimented with the direct loans system to a further extent than now realized.  In today’s world you may be allocated a subsidized amount for college that you then later pay back.  But Albert Fredrickson and his team under the Clinton administration envisioned a larger pool to be used for practically any purpose.  Due to budget limitations however they were allowed just three test subjects; a college student, an infant and a mental patient from Our Lady of Peace Hospital and Rehabilitation Center.

The college student, William O’Brien naturally received the money for education.  He went a few months and figured out it wasn’t for him.  Or, as his judgmental Irish father might say he partied like a heathen and they kicked him out.  He now delivers grinders on a Segway.

The infant, Max Peterson, used his loan to buy a theme park, Wacky Fun World, he had seen advertised on television earlier that day.  He rode rides for five minutes, sold it to a wealthy business tycoon and, inspired by the E-Trade baby, put the money in the stock market.  He made billions and went on to be a televangelist.  He now scams money from suckers.

The mental patient, Florence Whitaker, placed a giant glass bottle atop her facility, and sleeps in a ship she built inside.  Occasionally she will yell pirate curse words at pedestrians and lower flying airplanes.  Florence now hopes to win the Republican nomination for President.

For the most part this case study was a failure and received no further attention in the scheme of things.  Bill Clinton did not mention it in his memoir.  George W. Bush, however in a footnote in Decision Points praised the initiative as a great way to own a baseball team and in the process become qualified to lead a nation.

Persephone

You’re rolling your eyes

About…now.

You’re spacing out,

Drooling on your desk.

Another poem about Persephone?

Is he serious?  What’s his deal?

We get it, Hades raped her

And it’s very tragic.

But she also made the seasons

So maybe you could mention that?

Jaded

Jaded –

The word you wished you never knew

But ultimately can’t help but feel.

It turns ambition into doubt,

Excitement to malaise.

Thoughts become headaches,

Inspiration how to get off work

And catch a drink.

Confessions of a Wall Street Executive

Hello on what I assume is called a blog.  Forgive me if I am more familiar with my gold writing tablet.  On any normal day I, or more likely my assistant, would sit down the Hope Diamond and transcribe.  You thought it was actually inside the Smithsonian?  For everyone to see?  No.  That’s adorable.  But wrong.

I have bought time on this blog today to tell you something.  I say bought loosely.  My chef cooked Ben a ham that he’s gnawing on.  The boy just doesn’t ask questions when there’s ham.

But, in regards to the last election.  A lot of you think I bought the new Republican majority.  But it simply isn’t true.  I have more than enough power.  Do you really think I, driving Ferraris and Bugattis would ever want an institution as slow and constipated as the U.S. congress?  No, what would it offer me?  I don’t wait for things to be done.  They are done almost instantly the moment I say.  So, please America, don’t think I’m controlling the government.  I control far more vast and important things, crucial to your everyday existence.  I could probably get you shot right now with very little questions asked.  In fact, I might.  Hear that knocking?  It’s not a girl scout.

My Adventures in Tea pt.9 (Finale)

DECAF CHAI

Heralding the end
Of adventure
To leave me tired,
Without motion.

My heart beats less
Rapid than it did while
Drinking down your brothers
And your sisters.

They passed each electric
Through my veins
Buy you - are a clot,
Years of built-up cholesterol.
The proverbial black sheep
Within your family.

Yet, I feel for you
So different, now alone like me.
It might possibly be fate
That's brought us here.

My Adventures in Tea pt.8

WILD SWEET ORANGE*

We were both young when I first sipped you

I close my eyes and the flashback starts

I’m standing there in the kitchen

Still cold from the winter air.

I see the leaves in the tea bag
I see you make your way through my lips-
You greet my tongue, little did I know...

That you were like an orange tree you were growing fruit
And the FDA said "stay away from pesticides"-
And as the cup grew empty I was-
begging you, "Please don't go..."
And I said...

Wild Sweet Orange take me somewhere,

Where you don’t run out
I'll be waiting at the local Starbucks
You'll be the tea and I'll be the connoisseur ,
It's a poem story, Sweet Orange, just say yes.

‘Cause we were both young when I first sipped you.

*A slight Taylor Swift rip off.

My Adventures in Tea pt.7

CHINA GREEN TIPS

Smooth, buttery like a tea

You’d find them serving

At the movie theatre, if

The theatres sold anything

So reassuring.

Serene amazement

A traveling show

Of fire-eaters.

Sword swallowers

And gigantic men

Laid on your tongue.

A memory

Of childhood –

Revealed.

The Man

THE MAN stood at a window, overlooking his empire.  Cars drove below past houses he owned, indirectly, through the different mortgage companies.  They were his, the people and machinery.  But there was no love or paternal affection.  It was purely lust and domination, driving him.

Radio played the music he liked; television the shows he watched.  And the man watched and liked what made the money.

No one stood up to him.  Many doubted his existence.  The man was folklore and that’s how he preferred it.  The truth was often too dangerous or surreal for anyone to know for sure.  People merely liked the idea of controlling their own destinies.  Too much or too little liberty would always lead to chaos.  And the man saw this as his role, his purpose if you will.  He called the shots so no one else had to; a silent dictator by trade.

The story of Job often came to mind.  He, like most was a man blessed to live in ignorance.  Of any force protecting him, he was blissfully unaware until a day came when he was left to endure the full brutality of nature.  It took his health, his wife and children.  Job appealed to God, but in a larger sense any degree of control.

The Man realized he wasn’t God but  figured he had to be close.  He gave and he took: money, life, happiness, the whole kitchen sink.  If his interests were affected in the slightest there was hell to pay, and all too often… war.

He was often responsible for or played a large part in virtually every armed skirmish around the globe.  It was a necessity controlling the gun industry while at the same time being a major player in Sierra Leone.  Diamonds were lucrative and aided in his womanizing.  The man treated women not too unlike business.  They weren’t people, they were objects and disposable.  But then again, no one really qualified as human in the man’s chess board of a world.

Dinner was brought in.  The man sat still as a servant placed a napkin in his lap and cut food for him; lobster topped with Almas Beluga Caviar.  It was always delicious, but more importantly, expensive.

Most men would feel lonely in such seclusion but not the man.  He wanted nothing else.  Friends, family and relationships were simply a means to an end.

My Adventures in Tea pt.6

EARL GREY

I wonder who this man

Named Earl might have been

And why they found him grey.

I’m sure he wasn’t black or white

But somewhere in between,

With how he talked and

Got things done.

He could have been a

Lawyer or a politician;

Perhaps a contractor with

Two-hundred different deadlines

That got into the tea biz late in life

When his hair had lost its sense of color,

Heightening his grey.

Japan Earthquake and Tsumani Relief

Japan has suffered the fifth largest earthquake since 1900.  It reeks untold devastation and has endangered several of the nation's nuclear power plants, which hover on the verge of meltdown as evacuations occur.  The Red Cross and other international aid organizations need all the help they can get financially and otherwise for humanitarian assistance.

Please donate any amount, no matter how small http://www.redcross.org/

My Adventures in Tea pt.5

ORGANIC CHAI

The spices weren’t as strong

As I remember them being.

I imagine that the dryness

Of the teabag faded

What they might have been

While fresh, new leaves.

But the hint of a memory,

Of a moment was sufficient

And I took what solace

There was possible

In faint recollections

Now less pictures than ideas

Of what transpired,

Changed my life forever.

For Japan

Moonquake

It rocked the lunar surface

Like a bomb went off.

It tore through landers and

The different flags left up.

Below, the earth

Could only watch

As their single moon

Split into two

Then, slowly drifted

Out of orbit

Leaving us to bake

Or freeze dependent

On our latitude.

Passion

That sip -
Surreal.

A bitter wine,
Dry and remniscent
Of a past, now slipping
Through my neurons
Like water in the folds
of held up hands, cupped
to catch the rain outside.

Wind Walker

Wis. Gov. Walker says he'll sign bill to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights 'as quickly as I can' Adding, 'how sweet is it I won't pay more to balance the budget?' He then waved his machete to the crowd and finished off a bottle of tiger blood.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Someone's nephew drew them a birthday photo of robots fighting zombies that they put on Facebook.  I'd post it here but I'd likely be breaking some obscure copyright law protecting the intellectual property of tween and toddler drawings.  So since I can't, and I felt inspired on writing a poem, I thought some legalese might clear me of potential liability.  Therefore, I present Cyborgs v. Brainsuckers.  The poem.

The Cyborgs had the upper hand
In that, they had no brains to suck.
But undead monsters possessed
A potent numerical superiority.

Self preservation was nothing
As they flung themselves
In tens and twenties
At the laser canons.

The cyborgs power systems
Could not handle the vast overload,
And began to power down,
Retreat in droves.

They cursed the general
John Connor Zombie
for his brave heroics,
Vowing to go back in time.

My Adventures in Tea pt.4

 AWAKE

A blend of black teas

Just right for breakfast

With some toast and eggs

Perks one up from

Tiredness or misery.

My Adventures in Tea pt.3

WITHOUT

I forgot my Tazo

Left it in an office cupboard

With the nighttime eco-chill

That while saving money

Adds to loneliness.

I tried a shop or two

Hoping for a quick replacement

But found Panera, Starbucks

Closed at 9, forcing me

To settle for less ritzy

McCafe.

The staff inspired little confidence

Discussing with their manager

How the coffee was too watery,

Muddy, in other words, undrinkable,

Before I bought it.

But I drank it anyway

Without complaint,

Knowing that somehow,

Someway this beverage

Was more real.

It was made by those

Who’d lost their jobs,

And still had dreams

Of earning more than

$7.35 an hour.

It was made by college kids

Who had to work the latest shift

Or end up broke and unemployed

Much like the rest of town.

True, it wasn’t certified organic

But it tasted of resilience,

Blood, sweat and tears

And that was something more.

My Adventures in Tea pt.2

CALM

A Rose Petal strips off its barb

To dive into a pool of chamomile

Where it makes love to soothing herb.

They twist together,

Each inside the other.

Sharing flavor,

Aromatic steam.

And as they fall,

Asleep on quiet buds

There’s a spinning sense

Of calm.

Day, Month, Year

I'm starting something new in my life.  I've decided to create daily, monthly and yearly goals for myself.  Furthermore I'm going to put them on a new blog.  It be will private but if any readers would like an invite, let me know.  Perhaps it's a journey we can make together.