MEDIA ROOTS – Amateur writer Rutger B. Devon offers these two original, uplifting, lyrical and political poems for activists and lovers of freedom and independence from his forthcoming, debut book of both verse and prose.

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Cut the Apron Strings is a strong, no-holds-barred manifesto. It is a call-to-arms for people to do just what the title implies, to remove one’s self from the welfare and control of “the establishment” and become one’s own keeper. It opens up with a list of a handful of the financial, political, psychological and technological caretakers of modern society–all of which have had a hand in the degeneration of Western civilization, and some of which have committed explicit crimes against humanity and the environment.

The poem serves as a boycott short-list in this regard, but it moves beyond to suggest other actions that are necessary for the restoration of human civilization, such as the much needed reconstruction of our cities. The door to achieving a better society is momentarily flown open for the reader; and in the hope that they will go in the direction introduced to them, they are presented with a synopsis of humanity’s most pertinent objective, to produce a sustainable culture which cultivates the growth of the individual and collective while justly mediating ideological conflicts and disputes of law with respect to everyone’s liberty. Enjoy.

***

Cut the Apron Strings

Cut the apron strings.

Stand on your own two feet.

Bite the hand that feeds.

Start to fend for yourself.

Begin to fight for yourself.

Stand on your own two feet.

Bite the hands that feed you and me.

Get ready to start to defend yourself

From the UN, World Bank and IMF.

Monsanto, MSNBC, BP, JP Morgan Chase,

HP, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America,

Lockheed & Martin, Google, Halliburton, Toyota,

Boeing, Associated Press, CNN, BBC, News Corp.,

Valero, Time Warner, Walmart, Target, Verizon,

AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Apple, CVS, Exxon,

Chevron, Ford, GM, Shell, GE, Merck, Honda,

Bayer, Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson

Hyundai, McAfee, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac,

And the Federal Reserve don’t deserve

Someone as marvelous as you

To be their willing slave,

My dearest love.

Dismiss any legislation passed without a vote.

Refuse taxation without direct representation.

Nullify appointed juries and kangaroo courts.

If you don’t take an interest in politics,

Politics is still very much infatuated with you.

It has you under a constant surveillance

Like an obsessed, neurotic stalker.

Everyone must practice activism.

You can’t compromise with evil

And expect something greater.

Don’t accept the federal fraud

Or the demented status quo.

Do not heed The King’s decrees

And his executive orders.

Shrug off the monarchy

And oppressive hierarchy.

Fragment the plutocracies.

End the corporate collusion

And the military-industrial complex.

Eliminate government bureaucracy,

And truly know what it means to be free.

Cut the apron strings.

Stand on your own two feet.

Bite the hand that feeds.

Begin to fend for yourself,

And start to defend yourself

From the UN, World Bank and IMF.

Monsanto, MSNBC, BP, JP Morgan Chase,

HP, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America,

Lockheed & Martin, Google, Halliburton, Toyota,

Boeing, Associated Press, CNN, BBC, News Corp.,

Valero, Time Warner, Walmart, Target, Verizon,

AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Apple, CVS, Exxon,

Chevron, Ford, GM, Shell, GE, Merck, Honda,

Bayer, Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson

Hyundai, McAfee, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac,

And the Federal Reserve don’t deserve

Someone as marvelous as you

To be their willing slave,

My dearest love.

Dam the source of your strife.

Denounce white-collar criminals

And mooching investment firms.

Free yourself from the leash

Of dependent subsidy leeches

And usury loans twisted by greed.

There are sharks in these waters

That’ll kill for an arm or a leg,

And the sunbathers along the shore

Are sleeping with their heads buried.

Society’s undertow is drowning you,

But the lifeguards are taking bribes

And have their camera phones aimed.

The coastguard is turning a blind eye,

‘Cause they’re getting favors from D.C.

To let the predators occasionally feed.

They need to fill the private prisons

And maintain good public relations

With their indispensable cronies.

It is disgusting.

We must eliminate these silly

Shallow superficial divisions

And prejudices and stereotypes

Of race, class, creed and gender,

Sexuality, nationality and temperament

Exploited by the Fascist establishment

And enforced by the likes of you and me.

We must not teach our children to hate.

We must not let dictators defeat us.

We must unite as one universe

Together in common defense

As an immovable monument

Of eternal vigilance against

A malevolent, unstoppable force.

Act locally; think globally.

Live to achieve your dreams.

Keep a well-trained militia

And keep yourself physically fit.

Connect with your community.

Control your means of survival.

Grow crops not lawns, and

Never purchase on credit.

Never allow the politicians

To disarm the innocent

Or subject us to duress.

Promote the organic scene

And animal liberation.

Keep the money circulating

Within your own town.

Be kind, polite and courteous.

Isn’t that what you want in return?

You must learn your inherent rights

And understand our natural liberty.

We need to inflate the food supply

And become self-sufficient

And live within our means.

But most of all,

Try your best.

It is our duty

To reconstruct

These crumbling cities

Which are degenerating

Into slums and ghettos

And sores on Earth’s arse

All around all of us.

These massive towers

And winding highways,

Once proud displays

Of human ingenuity

And determination,

Are now stifling cages

Of concrete and steel.

They’re sickly landfills

In dire need of repair.

No longer flourishing cradles

Of Human Civilization

Bright with opportunity

And limitless potential,

They must be rebuilt

In synergy with nature

Like they should have been

To begin with.

It is up to the few of us

 To expand the use of clean energy

With wind, solar, water and biofuel,

To construct a sustainable society,

And produce a profitable future

For our grandchildren’s children.

Don’t leave them with our garbage.

Rediscover principled morality.

Propagate a functional culture.

End war, violence and torture.

Let there be Justice, friends.

Let it not be just us or them.

Help everyone meet their needs

When you can afford to spare a meal,

But don’t be reduced to a doormat.

Refuse to accept double standards.

We must practice civil disobedience

And constantly test our intelligence.

Push the borders of your comfort zone.

Act with a measured reluctance.

Defend our inalienable rights.

Impeach tyranny’s advocates

And evict draconian delegates

To find Peace and Liberty

No longer shy outcasts.

Respect the freedom of the living.

Exercise the privilege of humanity.

Be the change you wish to see.

Dissect the beliefs of your time.

Be critical of traditions and trends.

Hold individuality above conformity;

Never trade liberty for security.

Inspire greatness and achievement.

Guard our precious environment.

Love and protect your neighbors,

And help to raise up the inferior.

But it’s not necessary to carry

Their burden on your shoulders.

Your conduct is the whole of the law.

Inform everyone with what you know,

And make the effort to educate yourself.

You don’t ever have to be afraid of the truth.

For in truth, there is might and strength.

Every day is a mission of volition

To achieve your soul’s goals

And motivation.

You are only inches away

From reaching self-actualization,

But you have lost your identity

Under the weight of this nation.

And the repeated indoctrination

Has left you demoralized.

And your plasma television

Has frozen your imagination.

There is always time to repent

And to alter your course.

Open your eyes and see the light.

You don’t have to march with the crowd

Into hell to the rhythm of mob rule.

You never have to be a sacrifice –

A lamb to appease the “Greater Good”.

Don’t give them permission to rob you

Of your will, rights and property.

You don’t have to accept slavery

Or living in substandard conditions

In a substandard existence.

You can cast off the tyranny

Of a trained and accepted hypocrisy.

You can cast off the lead chains

Of cognitive dissonance,

And you can put in alignment

Your thoughts, speech and actions

And be sovereign like the rest of us

And help us craft a new civil model

Of benevolence and happiness.

But no one is forcing you to.

You just have to

Cut the apron strings,

Stand on your own two feet,

Bite the hand that feeds,

Begin fending for yourself,

And start defending yourself

From the UN, World Bank and IMF,

Monsanto, MSNBC, BP, JP Morgan Chase,

HP, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America,

Lockheed & Martin, Google, Halliburton, Toyota,

Boeing, Associated Press, CNN, BBC, News Corp.,

Valero, Time Warner, Walmart, Target, Verizon,

AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Apple, CVS, Exxon,

Chevron, Ford, GM, Shell, GE, Merck, Honda,

Bayer, Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson

Hyundai, McAfee, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac,

And the Federal Reserve’s mercenaries.

These senseless tyrants don’t deserve

Someone as marvelous as you

To be their willing slave,

My dearest love.

***

Island is more of a sensational poem meant to be enjoyed by those who are already trying to “cut the apron strings”. It is intended to offer a moment of relief and affirm the goals of those trying to escape the chains of this culture of dependency. It glorifies self-sufficiency and the homestead lifestyle, focusing not so much on the toil and labor as more the feeling of freedom, real security, and self-worth that is granted by relying on one’s own competence. The title is a reference to the novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley, but it is not much more than an emotive backdrop for my poem, not alluded to outside of a mention of the Mynah birds from the novel. In the end, this poem is more a celebration of a new beginning than the accomplishment of an end. Thank you for reading.

***

Island

The sun rises

Over wide horizons,

Kissing our rested eyes

With soft, tranquil lips

Through the windowpane

Shrouded in a vine’s shade,

And the shadows cast by

Droplets on the stained glass

Do a shimmy, shake and dance

Across the plain, open face

Of our complex countenance.

It is our time to shine at last

With all of the angels and stars.

It is our time to take a stand

With our heads raised up high

And our feet firmly planted.

The primroses are blooming.

The air is warm and welcoming,

And the trees’ hips are swaying.

It’s a new day for you and me.

It may seem surreal,

But it is so real.

Can you believe it?

The gentle gesture

Of a silver zephyr

Stirs in the Spring leaves

Like fingers through your hair,

And it whispers in your ears.

It tells you: “You need not fear,

For Danger is nowhere near

When heaven is here.”

And heaven is here.

Though we are only

Just now beginning,

This is our Eden.

Where we’re at,

Peace is here to last.

We have all that we will ever need.

The gentle gesture

Of a silver zephyr

Stirs in the Spring leaves

Like fingers through your hair,

And it whispers in your ears.

It tells you: “You need not fear,

For Danger is nowhere near

When heaven is here.”

And heaven is here.

Though we are only

Just now beginning,

This is our Eden.

Where we’re at,

Peace is here to last.

We have all that we will ever need.

The aroma of a hot meal

Lingers thick in our home,

And the hens greet the morning

With the starlings’ singing

Their favorite symphony.

A party of butterflies

Flutter above the corn stalks,

And a lone calico cat stalks

Beneath the blueberry bushes,

Catching thieving mice and rats

Near the rice and cabbage patches.

Every exhilarating breath we take

Fans the flames in the engines of our hearts.

To think it all stems from a simple seed

And grows into this forest of orchards and reeds

To feed us and more is a mesmerizing thing.

Everywhere is a groovy sight to see,

And clouds hover above the apple trees.

Frogs hop from their pads into the pond.

Deer trot from here to there every now and then freely,

And the whole wide world is impassioned with sound.

Can you imagine all of the sublime joy we’ve found,

Encapsulating us in this little paradise

Constructed through our competence?

The gentle gesture

Of a silver zephyr

Stirs in the Spring leaves

Like fingers through your hair,

And it whispers in your ears.

It tells you: “You need not fear,

For Danger is nowhere near

When heaven is here.”

And heaven is here.

Though we’re only

Just now beginning,

This is our Eden.

Where we are at,

Peace is here to last.

We have all that we will ever need,

And today will always be our day.

A black cloud may come our way.

A heavy rain may fall on our parade.

An icy frost may settle in the valley.

An odd occasion may bear its ugly face,

But don’t let these things lay waste

To your spry hopes and dreams.

We’re prepared for the worst.

There’s no need to worry.

Just always remember

That sometimes

The sky needs to cry

To let the flowers grow.

Sometimes,

We all need to cry

And let our minds go

If only for a moment

To allow all of the snow

To melt away real soon,

Helping the rivers flow.

With the passage of time

And the warmth of hearts,

All of these prison walls

We built to fence us in

Will come crumbling down,

And all of our tender wounds

Eventually scab over

And heal.

I

Want to see you

Be happy.

I’ll

Build us

An oasis

On this

Galactic isle

With these weathered hands

And these fertile, cultivated lands.

With an open, educated mind

And honest, virtuous conduct,

We are incredible and invincible.

The unity of our character

Is our shield and armor.

Resonating in harmony

With goodwill protects us

From today’s many vampyres,

And all of our reformations make us

Impervious to yesterday’s skeletons.

With solidarity, justice and trust,

We are safe from tomorrow’s ghosts.

This freedom is our victory.

Our sorrow is empathy.

There is no shame.

There is no shame.

There is no shame.

We can all stand tall.

Stand tall! Stand tall!

Stand tall and proud!

Let it be heard loud

How you dare to be

A Human Being.

For now,

Let us enjoy

These beautiful moments,

Woven into a tapestry

From a raw reality,

While they last.

Let us be grateful

For our many blessings.

It is all so enchanting

And worth savoring.

The grape ripe on the vine

And the crop ready for harvest

Shimmers with success,

And all down the lines and rows

Of soy, tomatoes and potatoes

Is hard-pressed ingenuity

Bearing the fruits of our labor

And nature’s many favors.

This is what we are made for:

Strawberry fields forever

And bountiful Novembers.

Happiness is the glamour

Of autonomy and good fortune –

Our well-earned reward.

Satisfaction is the declaration

Of a self-fulfilling, honest living,

And there is no need to mourn.

For we have done all we can

To help everything survive.

In freedom, we are thriving,

And we are always striving

To do better – to do better.

To do better next time.

Next time.

Next time,

It’s our time

Now.

The gentle gesture

Of a silver zephyr

Stirs in the Spring leaves

Like fingers through your hair,

And it whispers in your ears.

It tells you: “You need not fear,

For Danger is nowhere near

When heaven is here.”

And heaven is here.

Though we are only

Just now beginning,

This is our Eden.

Where we’re at,

Peace is here to last.

We have all that we will ever need,

And today will always be our day.

Tomorrow will always be brighter

In every single possible way.

As morning turns to dusk

And the sun begins to set,

We’ll lounge in leisure,

Relaxing next to the fire.

We’ll reflect with pleasure

On this wild adventure

We are all experiencing.

There’s an entire world

For us to explore.

How can it be ignored?

Basking in the glory

Of pleasant memories,

We’ll laugh and smile

Free of anxiety,

And we’ll talk of the future

With imaginative caprice

For the present is conquered.

We have a solution to every problem.

We are limited only by our own wills,

And we are only just now beginning

To awaken to our full potential.

Listening to the Mynahs sing

Of the liberated and immortal,

We have cut the apron strings

And escaped the immoral coils.

We’re encapsulated in love forever,

Like two fireflies saved in amber.

***

‘Cut the Apron String’ & ‘Island’ Original Poetry & Photography by Rutger B. Devon

http://rutgerbdevon.wordpress.com/

A video by fiilmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis.

Davis wrote the beautiful poem and performed in the video which Dorfman directed, shot, animated by hand and edited. The video was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was produced by Bravo!FACT http://www.bravofact.com/

For more information on Tanya, go to http://www.tanyadavis.ca or visit her facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/p… You can purchase her first two CDs Make A List and Gorgeous Morning on iTunes and look out for her third CD which will be released in the fall!

For more information on Andrea Dorfman, visit her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrea-… or http://www.andreadorfman.com

HOW TO BE ALONE

by Tanya Davis

If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you’ve not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren’t okay with it, then just wait. You’ll find it’s fine to be alone once you’re embracing it.

We could start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library. Where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books. You’re not supposed to talk much anyway so it’s safe there.

There’s also the gym. If you’re shy you could hang out with yourself in mirrors, you could put headphones in (guitar stroke).

And there’s public transportation, because we all gotta go places.

And there’s prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you’re hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

Start simple. Things you may have previously (electric guitar plucking) based on your avoid being alone principals.

The lunch counter. Where you will be surrounded by chow-downers. Employees who only have an hour and their spouses work across town and so they — like you — will be alone.

Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. A restaurant with linen and silverware. You’re no less intriguing a person when you’re eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community.
And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one’s watching…because, they’re probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely to beats is, after all, gorgeous and affecting. Dance until you’re sweating, and beads of perspiration remind you of life’s best things, down your back like a brook of blessings.

Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you.
Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there’re always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might’ve never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

You could stand, swathed by groups and mobs or hold hands with your partner, look both further and farther for the endless quest for company. But no one’s in your head and by the time you translate your thoughts, some essence of them may be lost or perhaps it is just kept.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school’s groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you’re happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

It’s okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can’t think like you, for this be releived, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach.

And it doesn’t mean you’re not connected, that communitie’s not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it. take silence and respect it. if you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it. if your family doesn’t get you, or religious sect is not meant for you, don’t obsess about it.

You could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it
If your heart is bleeding make the best of it
There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

Welcome to Trash Island.
Population Zero.
No life lives here,
Just plastic bags,
Disfigured Barbies,
Melting storybook heroes.

Souls plunge upward,
Toward light and air.
Blocked by leeching death,
And wayward cares.

The stench of rotting goods
Discarded,
Pays homage to what once was.

Since first eyes open,
First impressions burn.
The “more” becomes obsession,
While social status language learned.

This island represents
The slaughter of the land,
The sand, sea and trees,
Of forcing third world children’s hands
Slaving away laboriously.
 
Blood tipped fingernails fray and toil.
Whiplashed backsides for our spoils.
She sold her soul to buy a reflection,
While tear drops drown the cradle’s heaven. 

The ego of humanity.
The over consumption.
The assumption,
Taking over.
What presumption!

 Power tip pours guilt,
Raining down on time starved masses,
Fearing the shame from a neighbor,
Yet rewarded for passing lower classes.
 
Thank the corporation.
Thank the politician.
Thank the propaganda,
For instilling the societal dogma
Of this over-indulgent nation. 

Spun their web so tight.
Round the eyes of sight.
Bound from the reality of accumulation,
Our oceans forced starvation.
The death will float and bind,
 Revenge of nature we will find.

Peaceful creatures weigh on our shoulders,
Bits of rotting dolphin carcasses
Stuck between plastic coke can holders.
Garbage coalesces into mountainous boulders.
 
Where land once connected,
Water rose and covered.
Evolution’s blind creation
Created hate and neglect to destroy her wonder.

This island is bigger than Texas
And grows by the day.
Exit through the gift shop,
And buy a postcard
To glorify your stay.

Written by Abby Martin and Tyler Florence

http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/

The words Change and Hope
have been hijacked.
Just another ad campaign.
More rendition
More wars  
More bailouts
More terror
More of the same.

No investigations
No accountability
For the Neocon crimes.
I guess there’s just no time.
For justice.
So shut the fuck up.
Back to work. Back in line.

The Fed keeps printing Franklins.
While the dollar continues its decline.
Corporate news censors.
And smears.
Comcast blocks.
Monsanto harvests fear.
The elite exploit.
Advancing power and control.
Rockefeller gloats.
Still manipulating the emotions
That 9/11 evokes.
Under The Military Commissions Act
You could be held indefinitely…
With no peers laid out for your jury.

If you speak about Zeitgeist,
Ron Paul, or the Constitution,
You’re considered an advocate
Of violent insurrection.
And animal rights activists
Are considered terrorists?
It doesn’t make any sense.
When did using your first amendment
Become a criminal offense?

We’ve strayed so far.
Let’s take this country back.
People need to galvanize.
Find the solution.
Satyagraha.
A Peaceful Revolution.

Abby Martin

Photo by flickr user Wired Bike