everything else

"We are all born naked, everything else is dystopian" , Rupaul said. When my grandfather

told me of mules, how they were bred to toil and pull heavy s**t in the sun even when the soil

is packed tight like nappy headed girls. They rarely look you in the eye and when they do

they are like witch effigies. They occupy your retina; they convert the light into

nervous, chemical signals. Then when they are returned to the barn, even if it's still

daylight, they give off the retrofire of salvage. One day

when  I own my own farm and MONSANTO comes knocking me out with

insatiable greed and sanctimony, instructing me to buy only the seeds the've pre-ordained

if I want to keep on planting. While I twist and shout then turn over the deed to the farm,

I want all the mules of dust to reemerge like objects thrown by a person in a carriage

waving: at the stampede blue sky

             at the iron fencing.

             at the paradise that comes to mind again.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

love this piece...the vision of the mules, the vision of the farmer leaving everything, but wanting those memories to remain in the barn and out in the field of those animals that toiled so hard...that were taken for granted...
we don't think of mules as beautiful...but useful...sometimes we don't see past the beauty of people...we don't see how important their meaning is beyond the physical.

j.

[h d e rushin]

sos true Jacob...I try to find the beauty in everyone I meet. and trust me, everyone has a certain beauty to them..sometimes it hides behind desire, want, prejudice, lonesomeness or fear, but beauty is always there waiting. thank you brother...dana

[Beccy]

Reading this, I am minded of the sentiments expressed in the poem 'The Donkey,' by GJ Chesterton.

We are foolish to ignore the equality of species that was gifted by a higher and far wiser hand than ours.

Beccy.

[h d e rushin]

thank you dearest Beccy. I poke my head in here once and awhile as you can see. love you bunches....dana

[emmajoy]

Revenge has its moments, doesn't it, dana!?

Life has been, is an' always will be sky high with mules of every shape, kind an' what-have-you, upon whose backs MONSANTOBUGS will sharpen their fangs and hone their blades!

Move ten places forward to the time when fields were green, animals roamed, life was based on the barter system, doors were left open and folk walked on their own two feet.

Sorry. As ever you've got the juices running an thoughts racing! Should add that whilst I''ve ranted to make my points, you words lay in precious calm, clarity an' - though tongue in cheek at time, plus, have a reasonable air of diplomacy..

[h d e rushin]

thank you my dearest love......Poetry can reach us, even across the ocean.....dana

[Einstein Noodle]

one of my great Grandfathers and his son in law (my Grandfather built their farm on the prairies of the Midwest ..at one time they ran 2000 head of cattle ...we still have the farm in the family .. one of my cousins lives there but the land is all rented out to the Monsantos of the world ..so i see a great sadness in your prose(?) and the death of small family farming ..how can one do it when a tractor costs 200K or more ...sigh! the images of your mules drew me right in ...the descriptions of the ground and your "nappy headed girls" put me in a place and time ... perhaps there is justice in those stampeding sky mules .. risen up from the dust .. but alas...i do have my doubts :( wonderful read for me ..could so easily be expanded on ..i appreciate the wide world views as you include the Rupaul quote ..tho i do disagree with its philosophy ..i am an incurable optimist at heart ;)
E.

[h d e rushin]

I want to one day, before too long, talk to a cattle farmer. they seem to know too much. Too much about feed and soil, climate and rain. When or when not to let the animal graze as opposed to giving it grain.......Perhaps the only true justice is in the knowledge that someone else can offer. thank you my dear friend....dana

[Cory Barrett]

I suppose we're all just a mule in one way or another. But man can we pull some s**t.

[h d e rushin]

great analogy to the human condition Cory. we pull our way out of bed, my sister who has gotten fat seems to pull herself out of sight, we pull ourselves through bad relationships, misguided children, opioid addictions, upsidedown mortgages, declining property values etc...in fact our whole life is not that much different than the mules plight....other than sex or a good football game of course...lol... thanks for your review my friend....dana

[Emily B]

let it be so

the evil will one day perish from this earth

[h d e rushin]

as we speak my love, the evil is already perishing....thank you...dana

[W.k.kortas]

There is a touch of the cynic in here, someone who knows that life is just one damn enigma after another (and so the RuPaul quote), and yet there are mules and paradise here, and I am taken aback by such things that I could never write, and likely not imagine.

[h d e rushin]

I met a man on the train the other day, ,an Arab man who wanted to tell me about avacado's..so much so, that he reached in his pocket and pulled out a giant avocado seed and gave it to me.. Now this is the second time this has happened which means that now it is an omen of sorts....that somewhere planting is in my future. Perhaps farming........can you imagine wk, me trying to farm...at my age......with my desires.....? thank you my friend. dana