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Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

~ Communal Conversations for the Promotion of Active Critical Engagement

Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Tag Archives: social critique

In Search of Leadership

06 Monday Apr 2020

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, free form, Freewrite, Inequity, injustice, interpretive expression, leadership, Performance, poetry, Politics, power, Race, social awareness, social critique, society, Supreme Court

Imbalanced lives and circumstances
Adversarial communications based on fallacy laden rhetoric
To ridicule
To evade
To incense
To ostracize
A collectivized canon
Too familiar
Too historical
Too avoided
Are those words that current actions are challenging most to hear and discuss
Colin nor Jim nor Muhammad nor all of the others in sports should be viewed through a planter’s lens
As physical labor incapable of formulating coherent thoughts and meaningful actions
Yet, the lens that has framed how a nation sees one another remains avoided like the plague.
All of this frames the context for what is most needed and missing at present
In search of leadership
Cannot start from a position of myopia
Skewed by self-interest at the expense of common decency and compassion
In search of leadership
Cannot start with fragmented politics nor oligarchical capitalism
Unfortunately, our search for leadership ended with 44 and hopefully will be reinstated by 46…

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She Calls

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, free form, Freewrite, injustice, Performance, poetry, Sadness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness

Silently beckoning movement forward
In fragmented steps
Destined to affect change
Tears radiate from sorrow
Entrenched in years of becoming
Or the denial thereof
As “American” as the fallacy of 1776
The ideal institution of indoctrination and subjugation
Of multiple differences who either were forced or willingly relented their uniqueness
Heritage
Language
Selfhood
Be mindful of the intoxicating effect of professed freedom
As it often renders us more dependent on the system outside of ourselves
Pawns on an uneven chess board
Without the benefit of a queen or rooks…
She has called for generations
Yet remains truly unheard
Through an unjust social and economic structure
An educational system of oppression and ideology
She calls yet remains unheard
She remains blinded by a misconceived belief in equality and hope
She desires and deserves as those who fed her ideals and coffers
She calls
She embodies
Yet does not ensure what she is believed to personify most
Freedom…

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Bipolar Nation

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Community, Culture, Freewrite, healing, History, humanity, law, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, self, social awareness, social critique, social justice, Social norms, society, Streams of consciousness, struggle

Civil unrest
Civil disobedience
Calls for subordination
Calls for enforcement of divisive ideologies of othering
Lives in turmoil as fear blankets them
ICE agents knocking on doors
Rounding up breathing, living, loving beings as if they were cattle being led to slaughter
Mothers and fathers separated from their children
Families in disarray as if they were being auctioned off for Southern plantations
For a simplified prescription for a complex circumstance
The hypocrisy of the time is one of major concern
Those who celebrate their ancestors’ arrival on such places as Ellis Island
Seem to not recognize that they too were from legacies of foreigners
Yet the romanticism ends quicker than it really began as this has been forgotten
We want them invisible to our lives unless they are speaking “our language”
Obeying our laws which we ourselves often abuse or ignore
Cooking our food
Washing our clothes
Making our beds when we travel
Manicuring our lawns
An underlying principle of the “American Way”
Exploitation of laborers in the form of free or significantly reduced labor
Voiceless
Faceless
Humanless
A nation is again putting those who are different on notice
Pray like us
Believe in our God
Believe in our Way
Concede your history and beliefs for a better way
A way made in “America”
Bipolar Nation
Should be our new anthem
For we have continually practiced a policy of forcing either or outcomes
Whether it was 1776
Or during the antebellum period
During the times of McCarthy and his hunt for Communists
We remain steadfast in being the obstacle in our own way
Bipolar nation
Either you have or you do not
That includes education, financial freedom, and health care
Yet we continue to look the other way until our hatred of others spills on our doorsteps
Our rhetoric of violence to not only those beyond our boundaries but those who reside within is disheartening
If you speak too sharply you may find yourself in the reach of the tentacles of the “Patriot Act”
More so like yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theatre
You are labeling yourself as if you wore a scarlet letter or Star of David
Bipolar nation
We are who we’ve always been yet most do not want to see
A nation whose fractured past prevents us from un-fracturing our present and future…

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In Hopes of Tomorrow

04 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, communities, conflict, Culture, humanity, Motivation, Performance, Politics, Purpose, social awareness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness, struggle, voice

Testimonials provide snapshots into the hearts and minds of the deliverer
Yet listeners translate those messages through tempered receptors
Constructing organic truths
Privileging their distinct sensibilities
Progressivism, liberalism, moderatism, or conservativism
Frame the lenses
socially accepted or recognized
Furthering the national pastime of divisiveness
Found morally
Religiously
Intellectually
Sexually
Economically
Racially
Throughout the landscape
Forefathers are perpetually propagated without further interrogation of their imperfections as founders of a more perfect union
A union of enslavement
Classism
Patriarchy
Reservational warfare
A more perfect union that applauds systematic hate and oppression
The birth of a nation of, for, and by the people
is idealistically my hope and wish for the future inhabitants
Yet, a harsh reality exists of
Wall building
Segregation
Exclusion
Gerrymandering
Victim-blaming
Selfishness
1% has become synonymous with what it has always been
A form of tyranny that ironically is fit for a king
Yet, this is a nation without monarchies
Without caste systems
Without true democracy
Incompleteness is an unfortunate present reality where
Love is not equally recognized
Cultures are not equally recognized
Languages are not equally recognized
Opportunities are not fully possible
In hopes of tomorrow
We must truly address the dispair of today…

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Assail

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Uncategorized

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Advocacy, Community, Culture, Discrimination, Diversity, expression, Florida, Freewrite, Gender, homosexuality, humanity, Identity, injustice, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, power, Race, racism, sexual orientation, social critique, social justice, Social norms, society, Streams of consciousness, violence, voice

A festive congregation of diverse forms
Gathered in joy and celebration
Unknowingly targeted for reasons
Subjectively debated and/or ignored
The setting places those who truly
Seek to be advocates and allies
In perilous conundrums
Scared hearts and bodies
Others cold and riddled
Propaganda is the last thing needed
Or wanted to be heard
By a family, lover, and/or friend of anyone
Who was assailed
Violated
Traumatized
Or even scapegoated
Identities fractured by incomplete
Or politicized objectives
The absolute truth may never truly be known
Yet we can concretely deduce
There are no true winners if all of us
Truly embrace our humanity
Advocacy means we share our voices with those
Who oppression continues to work to mute
Advocacy means not playing the victim-blaming game
That often becomes the means of historical erasure
With each last breath or aching wound
Whether physical or emotional
We have all lost and are under assail
Race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture among other aspects of our humanity
Have been further eroded
Orlando is just one of many examples of the
Detrimental effects of hate no matter the rationale
Love is not the solution when it is cloaked in complacency and inaction that shuns levels of sacrifice
Until each breath inhales this unalterable truth
There is no true we, yet the current national, societal, and political stances
Empower an assailant that has historically mutated
Each second, minute, hour, day, year, decade, and century
Known as the “American” F
Fear…

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Timorous Island

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Community, Culture, expression, humanity, injustice, law, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, power, Purpose, Revolution, social awareness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness, voice, World

Fixed in an outdated past
Where sheeted figures assailed the night
Burning lumber at the entries of those deemed inferior
A time fallacy was accepted truth to preserve a stunted status quo
One that could find a charred figure extended from a tree
We are supposedly beyond those moments within our history
Yet, as much as most continue to deny, as a nation, we have not healed
A legacy of contempt and hatred for those who are systematically “othered”
Made to disavow their identity and personhood to stay or enter
By the embodiment of a misguided arrogance
of a figurehead whose political stances should upset most’s sensibilities.
We are hoarders of a figmented freedom and truth as espoused.
We are fragmented factions of individuals who are forever works-in-progress towards ideals that were more exclusionary than collectivizing.
Internment camps, reservations, plantations, and forced institutionalization mark a history that is often absconded by revisionists.
As the rights of women continue to be decided by those who seek to objectify and posses them while not listening
oil continues to be placed at a premium in respect to the lives and traditions of Native Peoples.
Black lives are forever contemplated whether or not they matter.
Theoretical boarders are being replaced by executive orders and cowardly Congressional puppets.
Reclamation of antebellum doctrines and ideologies reignite divisions reminiscent of the North vs. South.
Those who love the same sex are denied all or many aspects of their civility because of debatable rules and rationales.
Allies are being made into enemies.
Neighbors are disrespected while simultaneously depended upon for their labor.
The continued poaching of a fragile morality is what remains.
Silence and pre-war isolationism didn’t work then and won’t work now.
While an audacity of hope was an idealistic battlecry
we are left with an undeniable truth on this metaphorical timorous island…

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Standing Alone

30 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, Discrimination, expression, free write, Freewrite, Identity, Inequity, oppression, Performance, poetry, Race, social critique, social justice, spontaneous thoughts, Streams of consciousness

Often the challenge faced requires one to go against the grain
The question of being a leader or follower is one that faces us time and time again
Society suggests a contradictory message in which we are both isolated but viewed as a collective
We are grouped and segregated by a host of descriptors that are now the norm
Normal for whom?
Normal for what?
Normal for the maintenance of a status quo that shames, demeans, and oppresses
Any who does not meet the “eye test”
The “actions test”
The “American Patriot test”
These are very challenging times where fear has a strong grasp on the lives and realities of so many
News features and calls for fear, resonating with a collection of persons who have been taught not to question or ask
but instead to accept
How did this happen you ask?
It actually has always been,
for this country
It just depended on who you were and how you were classified.
If you were female, patriarchy ruled your world
If you were African, Asian, Irish, Indigenous, and many other identities you were relegated to inferior status or worse
This is the context in which our realities have been shaped
Our worldviews are fortified with institutionalized oppression in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and the list continues to grow.
We are undoing our existence through the enabling and pacifying of our rights
Not the rights to oppress those who do not
Look like us
Love like us
Think like us
Speak like us
Pray like us
We are standing alone
because we are and have been taught
to be afraid to stand together…

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Twists and Turns

25 Monday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, Freewrite, Identity, Performance, poetry, social critique, Streams of consciousness

Each step that we take
amounts to a collection of the decisions that we’ve made
Each step that we take informs us and others
of the person who we are and seek to become
Yet, as we forge our destines
we are inextricably linked
To the understandings and misinterpretations of those
who serve as the world’s voyeurs
We are on display for the world to see
Our mistakes
Our successes
Our weaknesses
Our strengths
Each step that we take creates more material for others to sort through
Creating a mosaic out of our calculated footprints
Each step that we make
when thought of this manner
Can create a paralysis within us that hinders our progress
Or cause our respective gates to become hindered
There is nothing like walking through your journey with additional weights upon your shoulders
Hampered by the burdens of imperfection and idolization of false images and expectations
Each step that we make is one that has a rippling effect
One that gives others the inspiration to take their very own steps
Or on the contrary
Serves as their models for ineptness and failure
Each step that we make matters for so many unseen reasons
Each step that we make is one less that our life will have the opportunity for
So what will you do with your precious path?
How you will provide a way for those who seek to emulate your movements?
How will you decide what helps to govern yours?
With each step that we make
We reaffirm or redefine who we are meant to be in this world
Each step is precious
Each step is both singular and plural
Each step puts us on our paths full of twists and turns

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Sirens Blazing

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Racialization Impacts

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Art, blacklivesmatter, Blackness, blackwomenlivesmatter, citizens' rights, Culture, expression, Freewrite, humanity, Identity, in memoriam, injustice, law, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, policing, power, Race, sayhername, social critique, social justice, Streams of consciousness, underrepresented groups

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

A vicious cycle plaguing a nation full of rage
Rage that was neither emancipated in the age of Lincoln
Nor transcended with the election of Obama
In the spirit of bell hooks,
Black Looks and Killing Rage
Are still points of contingency for The Souls of Black Folk

Where are our Ida B. Wells or Sojourner Truths as the noose is replaced by the shield?
As the white sheets that supposedly aided The Birth of a Nation appear to be replaced by the “women and men in blue”
Is this a visceral reaction to a troubling time in this nation’s history?
For some, the answer will ultimately be “yes” but for others it will be more of the status quo.

A status quo response to the historic oppression and denigration of a collection of people who seem to have never received the promise of humanity
A collection of people whose bodies are riddled with emotional, physical, psychological, and visual assaults

Perceptions that continue for Africana women in the manner in which their bodies are assailed in a land of Patriarchy
Perceptions that continue as men of African descent no matter how well groomed or dressed still receive the “clench your purse” and/or “lock your door” treatment

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Bloody streets along dilapidated buildings
Underfunded communities make for easy targets
Not solely for the spectacle of media coverage but for the many corporate and venture capitalists who will undoubtedly swoop in for bargain prices to fulfill their duties of gentrification

Bye-bye Fourth Ward AKA Freedmen’s Town in Houston, TX
Bye-bye to as many indicators of the past that cannot be revised by our Educational Agencies and elected/appointed officials who wish to promote a particular narrative

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Are chickens coming home to roost?
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz once raised such a point
And we are still waiting for an explicit answer

Sirens
Shots
Lives
Tears…

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Seeking Satisfaction

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, expression, Freewrite, Identity, Performance, poetry, social critique, Streams of consciousness

The choices that make our lives unique
Come at a premium that often we, at the outset, are unwilling to pay
We find external excuses or justifications to satisfy our ineptness
Our insecurities
Our inability to accept our faults
Seeking satisfaction comes at a cost
Temporary pleasure often is at the expense of a lifetime of trust
Fleeting accomplishments are what we are more accustom to these days
We are creatures of substance who have for some unfortunate reason
lost our way
We, in our moments of dismay, seek what is often the worst thing for us
on our respective journeys
We find satisfaction in vices of pleasure or materialism
Forgetting the substances that feed our souls or inner selves
We become idle beings who are waiting for Superman
A figment of our creation and not that of Siegel and Shuster
We conform to others’ whims and wishes
Hoping to make them our own
Hoping that we can fool ourselves into a false sense of self actualization
Seeking satisfaction
While enduring a world of agony
Problematizes all that we hold dear
Hold as truth
Hold us together
We are ultimately fragmentized
Rendered emotionally impotent
A survivor of our own personal holocaust
Such a painful word that evokes such memories is intentional
For we, who have been emotionally scared, continue to wear our identifiers
Our emotional tattoos or, in some cases, a modern day scarlet letter
An imaginary yet ever so real reminder of the person
we wish we were not being
who resides in our mirrors
Seeking satisfaction is our battle cry
For a silent yet painstaking internal war
As if Dan Brown was the author
The irony of Angels and Demons
on this day
Robert Langdon has no answers that quench our insatiable thirsts
Seeking satisfaction
Is like we are Perceval chasing a Holy Grail
without any clues…

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Dark & Stormy

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, free write, Identity, Performance, poetry, social critique, Streams of consciousness

Dwelling within an eternal space that amasses such memories
Memories that solicit inner emotions that require
1 to harness
much from within
1 to grapple with those things that are often held true
It is essential for what we hold inside
that we yield
our willingness to acquiesce to others’ understandings and accepted values
That we challenge our own conventions
An internal status quo
We are mere subjects in others’ scripts of our realities
How does that even happen?
How did we become pawns in our own game of checkers?
As insane as that may sound
we tend to allow our realities to be
improperly depicted by others
at ever turn or opportunity
As linear as we wish our lives to be
We are not that simplistic
We are as complex as we allow ourselves to discover
Yet, most of us are hindered
Hindered by our fears of what we may discover
Or what others have reconfigured our figured worlds to be
How did we enter into this darkness
the storm that presents itself?
For us to embark upon
Where is our beacon?
Where is our North Star?
Where is our means to an end?
Amid the darkness
we are challenged to find our light
Not from the presence of others
but from that which we find within
The storm is not over as many evangelically love to espouse
It has only just begun
For we are called to put ourselves on trail
Unlike the likes of Ferguson…

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You

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, free form, free write, Identity, Motivation, Performance, poetry, Reflective Practice, self exploration, social critique

The beauty of discovery is one that places us in varied states
Some of us deny ourselves the opportunity that is presented to us
Others embrace it for all that the experience offers
Why do we find ourselves limiting our opportunities between two contrasting views
that ultimately limit all of our possibilities?
We “either or” ourselves into complacency
Instead of “both anding” ourselves into our greatness
The likelihood of us ever achieving this feat is not found in
meritocratic principles that perpetuate us failing to achieve our best selves
Instead, we stunt our growth based on the perceptions of others who often are unaware of our hidden gems
Why have we become accustomed to settling for less than what we deserve?
Or even more so, why do we stunt our own promise by following the trumpeting of someone else’s tune?
We are fragile in this way?
Or better yet
malleable to the whims of those whose thoughts we’ve come to privilege
over our very own?
Don’t take the words on this page as absolute
for if you did
then you are perpetuating the process in which this was written to question
You have to reconnect with your intellect
Your inner curiosity
Your inner self
You have to be the driver of the knowledge that you have taken in within a critical framework
No longer accepting the quo that is so often the status
found within
The conversations that we have
The communities in which we live
The dreams that we allow to be so easily squandered
You can no longer just be the best you that you currently know
You have be best you
that you have YET to fully comprehend…

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On a Projected Canvas

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, Identity, Performance, poetry, social critique, Streams of consciousness

Innocence lost at the behest of vivid imaginations
Targeted in ways that are both subtle and direct
Questioned with the intent of proving guilt
Without representation
Without reprieve
Without reason
On a projected canvas
The lives of so many are written
Often without their consent or knowledge
Assumptions
More definitive than required with very little truly known
Assumptions are the nature of humanity
For both good and bad outcomes
Sometimes there is just gray
This is where this canvas is often situated
Yet, is not often allowed to exist within this space
As this space is reserved for others
Who might those others be?
That question is worth a million dollars
And cannot be answered within the crafting of this message
On a projected canvas
Fantasies are constructed
Insecurities are displaced
Doubts are affirmed
On this projected canvas
There is no refuge for this wayward soul
A soul that feels as if it has been projected as a Katrina refugee
As ill placed as that label was
Yet, for some, that title still holds true
Just not in the open
On a projected canvas
The image is a living contradiction
One that means so much to many yet
So little to others
The irony of this phenomenon is one that harbors on the ridiculous
If it were not experienced in the flesh
A flesh that is thought to be weak
A heart thought to be deformed or incapable of a committed melody
There is no conductor who can lead this misguided cast of characters
Let this story be told
Another project for those who love to project
Their own flaws
Their own doubts
Their own insecurities
This is not a misnomer nor a call to action
For the acts in question have already taken place
The canvas already has been painted
Yet, the subject was nowhere to be found during its invention
On a projected canvas
More is told about the crafter than what was allegedly crafted…

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Random Thoughts of WE

23 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, communities, conflict, Culture, deconstruct, expression, interpretive expression, Performance, poetry, Politics & Education, Popular Culture, Public Education, Purpose, self exploration, social awareness, social critique, Social Media, Social norms, society, spontaneous thoughts, Streams of consciousness, struggle, voice

Figments of our imaginations
offer us solace in times
when reality is not in line with our desires
Trepidation ensues
Leaving remnants of stains
Emotional residue
Our own carbon footprints
Positioned to trample
On…
The bludgeoning of chance
Yes, you’re familiar
And if not
You may need to return to the sands
Those that have scorched many who have dared to cross them
Symbolic
Like the Sphinx whose been offended by history
Yet, still finds a way to remain
Situated in nothingness is not what Jean-Paul Sartre would recommend
If you were reading philosophy
Existential Terrain is challenging to navigate
Not only for those who understand the symbolism
But also for those who are unconscious
Unconscious of what emanates from within or towards them
For foreign objects are treated worse here than along
the southern borders
No Minutemen here
And if they are
They lack documentation
How ironic is it that those who seek clearance
have no ability to grant it for themselves?
Sounds like the every day struggles of public school teachers who are held to the whims of uncertified critics
Or the misguided influence of currency from the ever present lobby
Lobbying to keep children from our classrooms because we need their papers
Unless their elders are mowing our lawns, picking our fruit, preparing our food  from beyond our view, or building/cleaning our fancy houses in the early morning or long nights
The beauty of modern capitalism
Where labor is cheap or damn near free
And systematic practices of misdirection remain a key tactic
Go Google it while you’re at it
According to analytics they already know what you’re thinking…
You’ve be trained and dare not to question it because then you’re not Patriotic
And you know what that act can suggest if you’re not careful?
Guantanamo is not as distant as one may think
Just like on certain sides of the tracks when the sun goes down
And you will clearly see
Or will you?
It depends.
On what channel you’re turned to
ESPN won’t carry this unless you purchase the right subscription
Walter ain’t releasing people these days
They work them hours so that when you visit you’re entertained
Yep, I was there too.
And thoroughly enjoyed myself
Can’t be claiming to be Che or El-Hajj
Too many flaws in my game
Oops, I don’t play those
Unless it’s the game of life that I have to win
Because if I lose
All of those who lost their lives or sacrificed their freedoms
will have lost even more on their incalculable investment
Not in me
But in the future that encases me
Encases you
Encases the little ones that we seek to have
Seek to protect
Seek to love
The little ones who are still residing inside of
Each of us
So protect your little ones
Therefore you’re protecting yourself
The Big Bad Wolf loves more than Little Red Riding Hood
Or was that a Little Red Corvette?
Of course not, that is just a reference to date myself
My experience in the game
Ooops, I don’t play those
Yet, everyone around me does
Matrices are around me as if I were Ne-Yo
I didn’t misspell it, I did that on purpose
Since memories are short I tried to be current
Doesn’t have to be the truth
It just has to be something that you wish to believe
Like on Gentlemen Fox
With his Friends
This is what America does
so therefore that includes Ameri-cans
Yet most Ameris-can’t
Like read above 3rd grade level or read text that isn’t bullet pointed.
Yep, we’re talking comprehension
When did that happen?
Did you notice?
Or did you care?
Never mind, it ain’t that important
All I really need is 140 characters or some emoticons and I’m good
But am I really?
I don’t know but if I turn to the right channel I don’t have to think about it
You know that I could be making all of this up, but would you go research it to find out?
Ooops, that means you’re back to Google.
Hopefully Google Scholar at least.
Just don’t pay too much attention to my profile
I didn’t follow the rules
I like long sentences
Complex if possible
Don’t get mad if you find a few split infinitives in the mix
Yet, I wish it was an Infiniti G
I’ll let you pick the model as long as it’s a convertible and hopefully black
I grew up loving Knight Rider
But not the new KITT
Nor Kit Kat
Don’t need no breaks but if you did
Make sure it included Nell
You know her last name?
If not, go and…
That blank was filled before I even finished typing the line
How easy certain things are when you try
(Ooops, I did it again like Britney)…
Or is it when you are conditioned?
Air Conditioned like in Texas around August.
Yep, I’m being reminded of that right about now
I have mine on 76
And no, it didn’t declare me anything
There weren’t a whole bunch of men to sign it in protest
Ooops, don’t use that word too loudly
Especially in that place with an M-O.
But then again, be careful in N-Y or D-C or F-L-O-R-I-D-A
LeBron wasn’t the only one who left
I did too.
Yet, not soon enough
I got the scars to prove it
But I’m relearning a few old letters like U-G-K
Some readers got that because you like them underground kings
“and I keep yelling it but ya’ll don’t hear me though”
Like it was “Who ya rootin’ for?”
Have fun with that
Until Homecoming…

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The Importance of Family

21 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art, Community, Culture, expression, Family, Identity, Legacy, Performance, poetry, social critique, Streams of consciousness

We live our lives for defined purposes
Whether it is of Biblical, Koranic, another sacred text or even our own belief systems
We are fashioned by our thoughts
Our inner desires
Our inner voices
We are driven
In many cases, the driving force is something more closely linked
Linked to our foundation that has been set in motion
Since our births
Family
Immediate or distant
Family is the common denominator
Whether biological or fictive
Family is the centerpiece
Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers, Nieces, Nephews, Cousins and other extensions
We are family
Family shapes our experience
We are so lucky
Lucky to have people who love us for who we are and what we are not
Those who honor us by being the best models that they can be
They are our templates for who and what we can be
Often sacrificing their dreams and possibilities so that those who follow have clearer paths
Our heroes
Our hedges
Our sounding boards
For those of us who are fortunate enough to remember or have
Found memories of being held when we were scared or hurt
Being nurtured when we needed direction
Being disciplined when we left the proper paths
Family is our center
Our regulator of sorts
As many us of do not want to let them down
Fail them
And what they envision in us
Family, as we get older, extends to lasting friendships
Bonds that last through many decades
Through many pivotal points in our respective developments
Reflect on those names for a moment
Reflect on their significance in the shaping of your present and possible future
Honor them as they are embedded within your journey
They are your personified landmarks
They are your consciousness in human form
They are the most trusted voices in your life
Your heart is in tune with them
You have no doubts of their significance
When you’re honest with yourself
They are the importance for what keeps me willing to try
Willing to sacrifice
Willing to endure
All that my journey requires
To honor all of the elders who endured all that history tells us is no more
To be a role model and inspiration for all of the future and current generations who have my walk in their sights
They are watching
They are listening
And more importantly
They are waiting for me to be the best me that I have to offer
The importance of family can never be underestimated if we are truly wishing to be complete
It takes many forms and I’ve only identified a few
Envision what importance family has for you
Now that you’ve begun to do so
What are you going to add to that image?
What are you offering to that so important legacy?
The importance of it is love
Love for all that you are and aren’t
Love of your strengths
Love of your weaknesses
Love of your vulnerabilities
Love of your potential
The importance of family is that if you are willing
It can be created no matter where you are or go
It is one of the most beautiful aspects of the lived experience
Guard your journey as if it is the only one you’ll get
There is a good chance that it is…
And with each day moving forward
Embrace
Savor
Enhance
The family that is and even the family that isn’t
Build your family on the premises of love, respect, honesty, dignity, and support without neglecting the necessity of wisdom
Family is found in a hug
Family is found in a kiss
Family is found in each of us
Please allow its importance to radiate from within you for others to see and encounter
In doing so, you have the essence of
Family…

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