Dare to Wail  
By Stan Clark ~ September 27, 2015 
(An ode to hope and homage to Allen Ginsburg)

Let's say you stop
Take the time
Listen deep
Open wide
Encounter eyes of
Passersby
Soul-shocked
With cautious muscles
Stifled screams
Bodies too terrified
To release the 
Mounting misery

Those who live
In their hearts
See the subtle suffering
Faces shielded
Scared, shut down
Mesmerized
Absorbed in flashing LCDs
And razzle dazzle
Storefront ads
Waving flag antics
Empty anthems
Religious diatribe
Meds designed to hide
The urge to question
Why we allow
Love-displacing Moloch
To creep inside

Venture out a ways
In the world
And gaze at the damage
Piling high
Junk car castles
Scattered rail-side
Trailer home hamlets
Spreading in size
Cardboard condos
Box car bungalows
Scrap-lumber villages
Too vast to hide
Sprawling from
Unwashed urban core
To high walled
Tree-lined
Hilltop havens where
Masters of Moloch reside

Wandering even more
You may sense
The creeping emptiness
As even the
Keep-it-positive crowd
Struggles to find light
They tell us
(And themselves)
"You attract
What you dwell upon
Try harder
Keep looking for
Some kind of spark,
Fix your eyes"

Okay, so let's say
We do really try
To scrutinize
Maybe we can yet
Feel what breathes afresh
The soul that seeks itself
Preserved inside
The feather light heart
The power of sunrise
Emerging, wandering
Awakening to its plight . . .
The spell of Moloch

I say, all is not lost
As long as
Dependable ache
Of grieving does arise
Every jolting time that
Jowly injustice grins and
Deep exasperated sighs
Flow on through
Each gentle breath
Of the innocent
Whenever predatory fangs
Are bared

And some do dare
To loudly lament
To allow their revelations
To echo 'round all the
Hidden desperate places
Musty, narrow
Dim-lit corridors
Calling to the kindred
"Know all this is so!"
'Til every tender heart
Is stirred by
Human burdens shared
And humankindness
Spreads from soul
To caring soul

Do you get why we listen
To the ones
Who wildly wail?
To Ginsberg, Marley, Fela Kuti
Etta, Train, Tupac, Bird
Lennon, Dylan, Kerouac
Holiday, Muddy, and Trudell
These well known ravers
And countless strangers
And angel agents
Of inspiration
Who refuse to cower
Dart from the darkness
Rouse us to gather
In common spaces
To sway to vibrations
Of interbeing?

Ma'at, the humble power
Shining source
Latent light
Pulse of life
Breath upon
Smoldering embers
Retriever of all who drift
In the trance
Of smooth talkers
And the threats
Of profiteering
Demon debt stalkers

Ma'at, unmuffled
Ringer of truth
Bing-bonging unruffled
Rippler of remembrance
Persistent awakener
Unifying voice

Ma'at confronting Moloch
Loveless methodical
Merchandizing machine

Ma'at, liberating
Essence of wild
Unshuffled order
Expelling sweet
Breaths of hope
Fragrance of 
Morning-fresh
Wakefulness
Fresh scented
Flower of peace

Ma'at, seeping into parched
Hardness of heart
Alive in labored breath
Revealing all
That spins inside
'Til all of us are
Bravely whirling together
Amassed and wailing
Shaking ourselves
Back to life . . .

Only then does hope
Become impervious
To dull-headed threats of
Search and seizure
Combat boots
And battering rams
Pounding at the door
Only then is hope
Emboldened
By riot gear show-of-force
Oppressive clouds
Of intrusive illusion
Only then is hope 
Undauted
By threat of
Further injury
Insult or capture
For then, no amount
Of marketeering
Psyop tactics
Scornful scrutiny
Or bellowing
Ditto-head bluster
Can bury
What we know
In our gut
To be true
For then hope gushes
Like tears of Isis
Swiftly raising delta waters
Reclaiming the desert
At least for a time

Muscles clenched in fear
Release!
Emerge from torrid tomb
Of interminable imprisonment
With every gasp
And agonizing whimper
We wail together
And find release
Casting out the
Muddled Moloch menace
In bursts of
Mighty exhalation
Like laborers sighing 
At sunset

Anima Mundi arises
In blooms of wildflower
Multi-colored masses
Marching up
Central thoroughfares
Tribal once more
Brandishing hammers
And shovels
Ready to right the village
Together we howl
Together we reckon
Together we engage
Together we scoop away
Stinking heaps of Moloch

Heed the resonant
Jubilant cry!
We wail
We witness
We rally
And finally
We arrive
Unstoppable
Fully alive