Thursday Morning Beautiful (A Typecast Poem)
Month: July 2014
“Let Slip the Dogs of Peace” – An Anti-war Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty
“Let Slip the Dogs of Peace” – An Anti-war Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty copyright 2014
This poem is dedicated to all those suffering in the wars of the day and the hope for peaceful resolution. It is a play off the line by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “Cry, ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.” PLEASE share this poem peace loving friends! Perhaps the flutter of a butterfly’s wings here can have a great impact somewhere else in the world… Thanks, Luke
“Planting Trees” -A Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty
“Planting Trees” -an original poem by Luke Austin Daugherty Copyright 7/19/2014
Copyright 2014- Luke Austin Daugherty, all rights reserved
Typed on a Smith Corona Super Sterling typewriter
It Doesn’t Take Long to Miss Her Now (a love poem for Angela)
It doesn’t take long to miss her now
It used to take longer
When I was used to it
A thousand miles between us
And weeks at a time
I was so busy
And the diesel engine so loud
Missing her didn’t even occur to me until my work boots were off
And the night was too quiet
In whatever flophouse motel I found on the road
But now it is different
I see her every day
I lay by her every night
As I will be moments from now
If more than twenty miles separates us
It is a rare occurrence
After but a few hours away
I feel the longing
Because it doesn’t take long to miss her now
Luke Austin Daugherty-
Originally typed on a Smith Corona Super Sterling typewriter at 3:38 a.m.
Copyright 2014
Muslims and Atheists the Most Coldly Viewed Groups in America Says New Pew Data
According to recent Pew research data, Muslims and Atheists are the least favored religious groups in America. Per the Pew data, Muslims and Atheists rated only a 40/41 on the cold side of the Pew “Warm-Cold” scale. Jews, Catholics, and Evangelical Christians rated on the warm side at a 63, 62, and 61. The middle ground of the scale was made up of Buddhists, Hindus, and Mormons ranking 53, 50, and 48.
One can argue that Atheists, such as myself, do not comprise a “religious group” as atheism is not a religion. But, religious polls only have so much room to make such distinctions.
Please click the link to view the complete Pew article online:
http://www.pewforum.org/2014/07/16/how-americans-feel-about-religious-groups/
Being that approximately 78% of Americans claim a Christian affiliation of some stripe according to 2008 Pew data, it is not so surprising that Muslims and Atheists are among the least regarded groups in the USA. It can be discouraging to know that the majority of Americans automatically have a generally negative feeling toward you if you fall into one of the two coldly viewed groups.
My advice is, take people one at a time as much as possible. Get to know someone a bit before you automatically dislike them. Perhaps even assume that you will like a person until they give you a reason not to. There is too much division in our Nation as it is. Many of us, even who are in different religious or ideological groups, can still find common ground and a point of solidarity between us. Hopefully, all groups can take a “warmer” view toward others of different groups and judge one another based on our individual character rather than our theological distinction.
Please take a moment to answer this poll below to share your own opinion. Thanks!
Update on the Naptown Breaking Bad Pastor Spice Bust- New Charges Filed In MO.
(Photo credit: Facebook) Kirk Parsons Left/Robert Jaynes Right
This is an update to a story that I previously covered on my blog regarding a large “Spice” bust in Central Indiana. The primary alleged ringleader was Pastor Robert Jaynes Jr. per the filed court documents. Jaynes is currently the pastor of the Irvington Bible Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He has yet to be officially relieved of his pastoral role or resign from his ministerial position in the church.
His alleged “Number Two Man” in the drug ring was Kirk Parsons, also a member of the church. In the first round of charges filed and arrests made several months ago, only lower tier individuals in the alleged ring were charged. Pastor Robert Jaynes Jr. and Kirk Parsons were not charged or arrested at that time. I was told by a relevant investigating official I interviewed that charges were expected to come in the near future for the two supposed ringleaders. The ring was said to have operated in multiple states and to have imported illegal substances from overseas, so there would potentially be Federal charges against them, as well as charges in several states. In the original batch of charges filed, Pastor Jaynes’ wife, Stacey Jaynes, and Kirk Parsons’ wife, Sherry Parsons, were both charged. Several other members of the Irvington Bible Baptist church were also charged.
Please read my previous article that extensively covers the situation and previous charges at the link below:
Breaking Bad Naptown Style- A Baptist Pastor in Indy Starts a Drug Ring
Ironically, the first charges made against Pastor Robert Jaynes Jr. and Kirk Parsons were recently filed in Missouri by the United States Attorney’s Office. Charges were filed or arrests made on a total of twenty-eight individuals, including Jaynes and Parsons.
The complete court documents filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri Division can be found at this link:
A synopsis of the case and charges can be reviewed on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office at this link:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/moe/news/2014/june/synthetic_drugs.html
This is a link to a story by the St. Louis Post on the charges and arrests:
I will continue to share relevant updates to this case as I am privy to them.
I Bless You My Fellow Man (A Poem Inspired By Good People)
I bless you my fellow man
With no blessing other than I can give
I bless you by none higher than myself
I pray no gods to show you favor
Nor implore devils to stay their hands from harming you
I bless you only by myself
Praying you find not my benison wanting or having fallen short
Nothing I have to offer but my temporal frame
Conscious mind
And good will
I hope it is enough
No reward to give but my own
Unremarkable though it may be
I have no eternity to offer
So I must present but my life and loyalty
No set destiny
We must find our own purpose together
And no promise from above
As we must be our own guarantee
Regarding the path to follow
The lines are not always drawn so straight
With Cartesian form
Or providing convenient demarcation
We will have to sort it out as we go
But, still I bless you
Copyright 2014- Luke Austin Daugherty- All Rights Reserved
On the Seventh Day and Every Day After…
The whole universe finished
Galaxies, stars, comets, and black holes
Along with the earth, animals, fish, birds, insects
One man and a woman from his rib
Not bad for a week if I do say so myself
The angels were quite impressed
But, everything I do impresses them
It gets kind of old if I’m being honest
Six days well spent
But now the anticlimax of day seven
And every day after
It’s only a matter of time until the two fall
And I have to fix it all
Well, in a way
They will think me merciful for cleaning up their mess
Thorns, thistles, sickness, and pain
Clothing them with skins once the curse comes
Even being willing to send my son in the long run
To save them from what I’ll do to them
If they don’t ask me to save them
It’s all hollow to me
The praise and the worship they shower on me
“God… thank you for your mercy! Thank you for forgiving us and fixing our broken state!
Thank you for cleansing our sin and delivering us from evil! We praise you, oh God!”
It isn’t that I don’t appreciate it
But what they never think about
As they contort their faces and prostrate themselves before me
Is that before they fucked it all up
I fucked it up first
I made the damn place to begin with
The universe, the world, and everything in it
Yeah, the players of the game went bad
But I made the game
And I set the rules
They were destined to fail
If anyone needs forgiveness
It’s me
The hell of it is
I can’t do a damn thing wrong
I’m God
Whatever I do is holy
Even if it isn’t
Here on the seventh day
The bow has been drawn back
And I shot the arrow
I know the whole script
I know how it all plays out
I won’t even enjoy watching the flick
Even though I could make myself infinite popcorn
And the angels will clap at every twist and turn of the plot
Looking at me in adoration
For being the greatest writer/director/actor of all time
It’s funny though
I know I’m all powerful
But since I already predestinated the whole thing
I wonder if I could change it now, even if I wanted to
I am actually afraid to try
So I will just let this wound spring play itself out for a few millennium
Like the greatest music box ever made
On this seventh day and every day after
If anything
I’ll just be bored
It won’t take long and just to pass the time I’ll be making wagers with Lucifer
On what Job will do when I let him be cursed and all he has stolen
With all his children killed
Just to be left with a nagging wife
And a few bitching friends
Still he will bless me
Even in his despair
Then, when all hope is lost, I’ll swoop down
In a whirlwind
And dazzle him with a bunch of questions he can’t answer
Like a magician impressing kids at a birthday party
Who’s just trying to make the rent and can’t wait to go home and get drunk
I’ll know the whole game before I even make the bet
But the devil doesn’t know that
Only I know every twist and turn
(Though it would be ironic if the Devil knew the script too
And just played along so he wouldn’t ruin it for me
Trying to earn his way back into my good graces)
Yet, for the sake of appearances
I’ll act surprised every now and then
People need dramatic tension
That “wondering what will happen”
It is the essence of their experience
But not mine
I’ve been around since Alpha
And will be here until Omega
Without a friend to tell my problems to
A bastard son with no father
No maker
No God to call my own
Just watching a spinning top
That will never come to a stop
God dammit
It’s already getting old
And I still have forever to go
On this seventh day
And every day after…
Copyright 2014 Luke Austin Daugherty
All Rights Reserved
What is the Definition of Love? Fill in the Blank – (A Poem)
I heard her ask, “What is the definition of love?”
The definition of love?
No such thing
Only definitions
As Ingersoll spoke of the ocean
And the Bible
Love is the same
When one stands on the edge of the sea
To gaze at its wonder
He receives the echo of his own self
His thoughts, moods, and experiences
When one opens the pages
Of the book called, “Holy”
He sees in that god
His own character reflected
And finds the Jesus who he is seeking
The one he himself is
For the kind
God is found gentle
For the viscous
They happily discover Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke,
“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,
bring hither, and slay them before me.”
And then smile, thinking within their mind,
“How ironic it is that Jesus was so much like me the whole time.”
This is the meaning of love
Rather the meanings
Only a fool believes there is just one
Definition
Of the meaning of love
Or of life
When you stand on the edge of the sea of love
You will find naught but yourself
Crashing back at you
Your own answer in the foaming waves
The love you find in life
Can have no fire
But that provided by your own spark
Within
And if the definition you find
Does not suit you
Or if you find the answer to the question
“What is the definition of love?”
Wanting
I suggest that you change the definition of your own self
So that the music made by the sound of crashing waves
When you stand at the edge of the sea
Loses its dissonant and unpleasant tone
So much so
That when the blue deep, in all its glorious fury, smiles at you
You can smile back
At the meaning of it all
What is the definition of love?
I have my own
What is yours?
Fill in the blank
It Makes No Matter To Me (A Poem)
There is a place on the edge of the Grand Canyon
Where once I stood
It, being in the shape of a long, narrow triangle
I walked out to the point
Just barely wider than my shoulder-width feet
And stood there trembling
With my closest fellow
Choosing to remain
In safer territory
For to the right and left of me
No stone floor was found
And there was none still in front
Only underneath me and back behind…
So, as my gaze lifted up from my own tattered shoes
I saw only the distant floor and walls of the Canyon afore and about me
As though I floated in the air
Or rather plummeted
As a falling angel
Cast out of Heaven perhaps
Who opened his eyes
Before crashing into the fallen and cursed, terrestrial plain
Just to think to himself,
“Goddamn… it is so beautiful.”
I felt the vertigo grip me
Yet I lost not my balance
As any wavering would be death
I stood there for a single moment
Stretched into eternity
I marched in my mind
Both forward and back
As much as I was only present in that moment as well
Foolish and bold though it was
There I stood forever
And though after that moment
I walked back away from the Canyon’s treacherous edge
I never left it
I am standing there still today
Suspended in the air
Held by an unseen stone
As unsure as it is firm
Until I eventually fall
Happily
Into my own bliss
Never again to return
Yet, ever to be.
If only as a whisper
Subtly
Through the lips of eternity
Or only the moment
Either way…
It makes no matter to me.
Copyright: Luke Austin Daugherty 2014
(all rights reserved)
Luke Austin Daugherty 