May Day

---

 "Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system." -- Dorothy Day

"We cannot live alone. We cannot go to heaven alone. Otherwise, as Peguy said, God will say to us, 'Where are the others?'" -- Dorothy Day

"What we would like to do is change the world -- make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do." -- Dorothy Day

"I love because I want to love, the deepest desire of my heart is for love, for union, for communion, for community." -- Dorothy Day

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

May Day 2012: there are those who propose as national policy a mentality of "hunkering down". They offer no grand vision -- unless one considers it either "grand" or a "vision" that we continue down the "free market" path of profits before purpose -- or, our national purpose is profits (for fewer and fewer people and corporations).
There are many who say "we can't afford to..." Yet, how can we afford not to? The fact that every 45 seconds a child dies from lack of access to clean water should be driving our political conversation! We should be staking our claim to a renewed national pupose and vision! That we could be creating a paradise upon this precious blue Planet -- and we lack the courage to make it happen -- should shame everyone who considers her / himself to be "American".

Consider: to cut world hunger in half would cost about $24 billion dollars; and we spend about $33 billion dollars a year on makeup and perfume. To ensure reproductive health care for all women would cost about $12 billion, and about $17 billion is spent on pet food in Europe and the U.S. Universal literacy would cost about $5 billion; and about $14 billion is spent annually on ocean cruises. To immunize every child would cost $1.3 billion; and we still spend $1.8 billion on animal furs. Finally, it would cost about $11.3 billion to provide clean drinking water for all; and we spend $22 billion on ice cream in the U.S. There is not one person among us exempt from personal responsibility -- just as this nation is not exempt from our social and moral responsibilities.

The Occupy Wall Street (Occupy Everything) Movement is finally creating some opportunity for more serious conversations about our true national identity and purpose. Obviously, we could choose the Republican proposal to "free the corporations to maximize profits" (and for the rest of us to grapple for the crumbs that might fall from their tables). Or, we could actualize the words of the prophet Yeshua of Nazareth into public policy "Woe to you rich, and blessed are you poor" -- in this fundamental choice will be written the history of our lives.

Consider, today, to personally advance the cause of social justice! Click on www.indiegogo.com/occupywallstreetpoetryanthology
and place your order for the upcoming book rising out of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Along with poems by Adrienne Rich, Wanda Coleman, Bob Holman, and Allen Ginsberg, my poem 'Generation Heat' will be included...