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1.3.09

The Surveillance Society/Bicycles/The Magick of We

The last few years have seen an unprecedented assault on the liberties we all take for granted in a democratic society. The rights to equal justice before the law, Habeas Corpus, the illegality of torture, freedom of speech and thought, the right to peaceful protest. These are all rights that our forbears have fought and in many cases died for, they were not given but have had to be wrenched from the governing structures of history. In the name of the 'War on Terror' these rights are being taken away wholesale and right now is the time to shout Enough!
The Convention on Modern Liberty is the latest attempt to halt this erosion by the political classes. Please give it your support by visiting www.modernliberty.net/
Like climate change this issue is everybody's responsibility and the time to act is now. The erosion of the earth's natural resources and the erosion of our rights are two tributaries of the same corrosive river.

I will soon be posting a video on YouTube featuring a performance of my song 'The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.' Stay tuned for more info!

Now bicycles...

I love bicycles. Yes, actually love them. I have three bikes and use one of them on a daily basis for shopping, travel to and from work and of course for fun. They all even have names- Miles E Ter, Peat Bog, and Mini Me! I know, I know it's absurd, I clearly suffer from chronic cyclephilia. The philosopher Ivan Illyich wrote a prescient book in the seventies called 'Tools of Conviviality'. In that book he draws conclusions between machines and tools that alienate us from each other and from our environment and those that do the opposite, bring us closer, encourage engagement. The car as a dirty dangerous bullying consumer of space and the bike as a simple, beautiful, clean construction for moving comfortably and efficiently from A to B. What after all, is a 4 wheel drive monstrosity other than an embodiment of fear realised in sheet steel? With the advent of portable music players now we can cycle and read audiobooks or listen to music or get into some brilliant podcasts. I am crazy about Stephen Fry's podcast or Radio 4's 'In our Time'. Podcasts provide a great opportunity for expanding our awareness and all can be had from the saddle.

POEM FOR MARCH (This is dedicated to lovers everywhere. It is so easy for 'the magick of we to become the taken for granted of we. So re-member the magick!)

THE MAGICK OF WE



I have called you.
Keened out an orgastic hymn.
Played the coxcomb and strut
the boards of the known universe.
Turned and whirled in the dust.

I have known a sacred moment
of dissolving Self.
Swimming in your dark eyes,
slate-smoked and soft as new baked bread.
Is this love?
Is this love?

To trust such passion and
abdicate reactions based on fear.

To be called so fiercely
to heart’s account.

To breathe ‘I love’
with every outgoing
and ‘I am loved’
with every inhalation.

To be so enchanted
moment to moment.

Caught in the amber of a dream.

Carver was right:
To find ourselves beloved
upon this earth.
To be so loved.
That is what we seek.

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