In my life, I've been a son Held by a mother as second to none To my sister, I have been a brother Loved by her like no other I've been a doting sort of father Of my two beautiful, loving daughters
And as these things I've observed Women getting less than they deserved Many inconvenient truths stood in the way Of their happiness on too many days Seeking empowerment and self-respect And instead receiving abject neglect
Too many times, they're made to wait On things that have come never or too late Like medical care that was actually healing Or the sort of love given with feelings I've watched diligently and observed Women I've loved getting less than deserved
Unanswered letters hold a proper weight Dreams and hopes consigned to bitter fate Told to find themselves, they've been alone They gave themselves until no one was at home Waiting for calls that never came on the phone Looking into mirrors and feeling alone
The world has lent out just a little more rope To dash dreams on the rocks of abandoned hope The word "No" is without any shade of pretense The greatest power available in a single sentence Women need to believe in their full capacity And in so doing, live up to their capability
(c) June 20, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“The well taught philosophic mind / To all compassion gives; / Casts round the world an equal eye, / And feels for all that lives.” – Anna Laetitia Barbauld, poet, essayist, and editor (20 Jun 1743-1825)
When you ask me about the Harlem Renaissance I have to ponder and work out my best response Art Deco found its African American affirmation Delivered as a watercolor still life in confirmation
That things are never quite as concise as seen That is especially true when dealing with human beings It's often there we need to deal with what's in our minds Wondering at the extent of what it is that we find
The creative ego of an artist is usually mostly vanity At least for those who do not push the edges of sanity Modern art stopped reflecting the best of simple stories Its hope was that it might find the greater glories
Tattered pictures from real life hang crooked on the wall It is those sorts of memories that help us best to recall Crushing grief and voiceless faith controls the competition Pages of truth are painted without a moment's repetition
Things of absolute beauty are often far more complicated Then they first appear and it is certain in moments faded As time marches along the hands of ancient, broken clocks Still, truth is told at least twice a day; or so goes the talk
The creative ego of an artist is usually mostly vanity At least for those who do not push the edges of sanity Modern art stopped reflecting the best of simple stories Its hope was that it might find the greater glories
..but it never did.
(c) June 19, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” – James Madison (1788)
Driving through the forest It can be a bit like a test To know that they please As you examine all the trees
From saplings up to the heights A million reasons offer delight Some live through the centuries All offer their sweet legacies
Branched out in living memory The woodlands offer life to me Lived out in timeless regeneration Defined as these are by generations
Places like Indiana and Kentucky Call us out if we are that lucky Their living spaces breathe in our hearts As old growth patches find their start
Mankind finds its restorative ecology More a matter of spirituality than biology Root systems create an illusion of infinity As numberless as the stars finding divinity
Travelers like me realign our relationship Finding in God's creations a form of worship All of life has it's own niche and space Filled with grace for us to love and embrace
(c) June 18, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight.” – Thomas Jefferson, in his Letter to DuPont de Nemours as cited in Benson, 1971)
“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In all the new world that I'm constantly meeting I have an appetite for all I see as if eating A plate of works that bring me inspiration With a flick of the internet, I find aspirations
That may be are not so discernible at the beginning But a chase down the rabbit holes starts winning The crumbs of my attention beyond my best retention And I find what I wouldn't with my vapid abstention
After a few thousand songs, music begins lacking a self Like a book of endless words from a timeless shelf Until it becomes necessary to find what will constrain A person to seek defining limits to avoid the strain
Of learning too much and seeing too much in what can be Discipline secretly finds its ways to finally set me free Too much of plenty finds a way of my living in empty misery My best hope is to be inclined toward boxing in the category
It's a moon spell lost within an ineffable shadow gallery Too much of anything proves itself a monochromatic lullaby Lost inside with too much echoing in my hollow little mind Too much knowledge and experience leaves us all a bit blind
Life outside in the fresh air will return real life's pulse Too many hours caged in screens has started to deeply repulse All the best that cannot be thought on but must be felt deeply This is what it will take to sincerely free the best of me
(c) June 17, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
