This is just me getting started....

What I think Americans need to consider:

Abolish political parties: let all candidates prove to the people that they are learned, compassionate, civic minded, frugal, inventive, humane, forward thinking, and have the ability to listen quietly, to adjust direction for the good of the people and the country, to deny access to self serving entities with money to influence votes, and to have advisors that represent all levels of our society and that share all these afformentioned qualities. These people must, above all, understand that they are being voted for by the American people and the American people have the ability to remove them if they do not adhere to these precepts.

Abolish the electoral college. One citizen, one vote.

Abolish political access to television. No political ads allowed. Politicians are allowed to stump, to have their live speeches broadcast on National Public Radio only. They can accept offers for interviews by media representatives who exhibit the same qualities to which the candidates are subject. There are plenty of news shows on tv where they can have their voices heard.

#1--THIS IS WHY:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/article/did-drug-firms-hire-gingrich-back-medicare-drug-benefit

From mile marker 64: I question the sage who sits on the back of my eyes....I ask, I say, is it best to immerse myself in the sadness of my failures? Is it best to know the failures are there, they' re mine, I acknowledge them, now move forward? Is it best to shove the failures into the locked room behind my eyes, and not let them out to spread across my table to be examined for color and density and texture? Which is what I do, again and again....look for reason and color, meaning and density, truth and texture.

William Arthur

He is luminous and luscious

a round cornered boy of sturdy bearing.

his mind is electric, shooting sparks

through his eyes,

you see his soul.

Green eyed boy,

of sweetness made.

of knights and butterflies

and hidden dreams.

Bone and Flesh

There is a house

Made of bone and flesh

Who lives inside?

What lives inside

Dark corners, too small

Room after room

Room after room

Room after room

Windows opaque, unseeing

Unseen, the truth of being

Too fearful to raise it’s head,

furtively glancing behind

And beyond.

Sniffing the air, wishing for rain,

Wishing for soup.

A house made of bone and flesh,

So slowly it twirls,

A child at twilight

Golden hair lifting,

Skirt rising,

ballooning around dirty knees.

Tiptoe tiny dancer,

Green green grass beneath

her dirty feet.

Dance dance dance…

Hands outstretched

Wishing for hands

To touch.

Eyes closed upon the

Darkness

No firefly lights

Her way

No hands reach out.

Spinning slowly

Furtively peering over

Window sills,

Through glass opaque,

No hands reach out,

Or through.

No rain

No soup.

this is a personal observation in regard to water versus rock: I think of myself as a multi colored, multi surfaced rock tumbling and bouncing through the watery stream of life. Sometimes I get lodged up against a larger rock, a stuck in place rock, but the flow of the water dislodges me and I once again roll with the current. The sound of the stream is what is attractive to me; the tinkling, laughing sound of freedom, freedom to move on, freedom to stay in place, freedom to temporarily float in a still pool, and then freedom to catch that current and move on to whatever comes next.

when the light is flashing...

at night

deep

in the wrinkled cloth of night,

the stoplights flash,

a plea for help...

as furtive shadows creep

denying kindness

faith

and healing.

the sounds of metal scaping

metal.

and odor of wet asphalt,

releasing thin

curvaceous

tendrils,

recede into the night noise

static recede

perfume of night

recede

flashing lights

recede.

a hug for Brauna...

feel not alone,

for your heart is in good company.

feel joy, feel release,

feel a mother's love,

the holding tight

the caress,

the instruction

for a life of good works,

and the letting go.

feel not alone,

for you are in good company.