Freedom to Ask

Written wondering how many people know what it really means to be Free... yes it's a rant :) ahh well !

In which underhanded incantation of how one must live
did we create what lay laughing apathetically before us?

'This is life' we chant
'This is life' we cheer
Oh come on fools!
As a society we have chosen to
Imprison ourselves permanently behind cold steel bars
Imagining possibilities but denying ourselves the opportunity
Observing at a distance the underlying moral code
waving at us in condescension, laughing quite hysterically
at our banal interpretation of how one must live

Easy it is to blame society
I place the blame on you -
you sold your soul
I hoped you fetched a worthy price
the buyer now flits in and out of freedoms that were once your own

Order, order!
There must be an aim for unequivocal order
Restraint for those who aspire to scratch the protected surface of the 'system'
Oh yes, just 'scratch the surface'
We all know big brother's chameleon is perched on every shoulder
Shhhhhh!
You must never embark on the road of questioning .....
Never ask why we must remain as caged birds ever seeking the freedom of flight?
For you will be
Chopped down, as quickly and as silently as a machete at task in a lonely poppy field

The system has grown too strong for the tiny whispers to be heard
Yet, collectively those tiny whispers could indeed
breathe new imaginings into this dreary, clouded mechanical state of existence
Is it the collective that pierces the heart with the ancient sword of fear?

Those who posses the power of change
are too busy bowing in a river of false courtesies
too frightened to lose the vote to reclaim the chair
where they are manhandled as the marionettes they choose to be
Warriors seem like a long ago myth,
their stories are dying as we now have no ability to compare them with belief

'This is life' you say
When the very thing called economics, driving every nation
we cannot feel, we cannot touch
yet it possesses every last gasp of air in the here and now
Suffocating us with the desire the need to want more, more, more
To bathe in a luxury of fulfilling our overstated material desires
Never to understand 'when is enough'

It's all a distraction you know
Yes
That's what I said
A Distraction!
Each of us is on our own journey to freedom
Yet we get distracted by the illusion
We choose to sing on the clouds of 'look at me, look what I have'
Waving eagerly to those wanting a taste of our self defining purchases

Funny it seems that it is only us humans who are distracted by the trivial
Nature continues on, asking for naught.

Are we scared,
Scared to step off of the carefully painted white line of sanity
drawn out by those who say
'Follow me, I may not know the way, but nevertheless follow me blindly.'
Following rules with such precision we have forgotten who we really are
Looking in the mirror
we see only the multiple layers of conditioning suffocating our beings
Conditioning cast upon us by those who are supposed to love us,
Adopted by many generations of culture and tradition
As if carved, shaped, buffed and polished to fit right where we belong
in this ethnosphere of the infinite imaginings that we have become

Freedoms we scream!
We in first world countries feel the luck of being born into stability
Silently witnessing those with ribs jutting out of chests in askance of food
Quietly observing from afar the trials of those we consider less fortunate -
Those who must find strength to fight simply to endure our rules each day
just to even consider themselves to be living
ever remaining with unseen hope and faith,
they are lucky
hope and faith may be purchased for free

How much more freedom do we possess than those with nothing but the hope?
None
That's right none
Placing ourselves in our own bondages of wanting and greed
Choosing to whine and complain in the hope
It will replace the boredom within the mundane
Accepting to run incessantly like a mouse in a wheel
not knowing, understanding, or questioning how to
get off this treadmill that we choose to call life
Buffeted along like a herdsman tending his cattle
Only to be rewarded with another fenced paddock after the days journey

We don't fight
The passion is there
We can all feel it
It is begging to be refueled, lit, encouraged
opened to the winds to create a firestorm of LIFE
Yes life!
Life was never intended to be kept in a little brown box locked up under your bed
Bought out only for special occasions.
Quick, hide it away!
The idea of seeing what may be possible tires me out just thinking about it -
Ahhh - Bring me a scotch, make it a double.

If only we choose to drop our fears
Know ourselves,
for the first time get aquatinted with the real you
A confrontation of sorts
face to face
with you
warts and all
misgivings, virtues
the beauty, the beast
It's all within us
All of it

Surely when one meets their true self
on a personal level
we can begin to understand
our own freedom
Sensing
that all we are required to do is
bequeath one's own wisdoms to self
Allowing us to bellow and roar
in unrelenting laughter
at the simplicity in knowing
freedom was here all along

We just needed find the time to ask

Author's Note

this poem has a long way to go - but looking for first impressions please :)
thank you in advance xx

Reviews

[A. Amos]

Again I love your messages, hints and advises in your poetry, I guess you mentions warriors we only read in stories and now long gone. So my dear friend you are a warrior too and your words are working, the problem people just try to find wisdom in stupid things. You are not only wise but you have strong eye on subjects and really I love your work as I can strongly tell you. You are one of my favorites here.
All the best

[KWP]

Ahaaa Mr A.Amos you are very kind in your words and I do thank you for that - yes I am referring to warriors from stories or people such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King, those who were not afraid to stand up for their convictions and those who knew clearly what true morality to other human beings meant.

[A. Amos]

I know if you ever get a chance visit my page and read Pain and Face Of God, you will understand why i truly admire your writting because you sensed out the issues.

[KWP]

you know what - as I was reading The Face of God (before you recommended it) I was thinking exactly that !!! Messages of strength, truth, warriors, we flow on the same eternal river :)

[A. Amos]

That is so true

[Kathy Van Kurin]

KWP,
'Freedom to Ask'' was a refreshing 'rant.' I like your definition of this writing, really cute. Well, I get what your expressing; I know I seek open spaces of heart and spirit. This is the essence which helps me feel alive.
Life can be harsh and so confining also;"Placing ourselves in our own places of bondage and greed."
Your right, how much do we NEED?
The ones in third world countries which we can only observe..."Just to even be considering themselves to be living." and "ever remaining with unseen faith and hope." Yes! How are they different then we? There is something wonderful to just be thankful for daily food and family and friends. I absolutely enjoyed and absorbed this poem.
Thanks so much.
Kathy.

[Jack Wolfe]

I imagine you sent this to me as a response to my micro-fiction piece? Should I step-back to avoid an assault . . . I think you miss the point of my piece. I agree with your poem/rant the ability to harness and forego contentment is in the individual, but not only in one, but a unified voice. You are never truly enslaved, you clasps those chains upon yourself, greed, possessions, status; you can be free if you only look for the positives, the true riches, and leave societal burdens behind. Rise up in yourself, not in perception.

[KWP]

Ha - actually I sent it because I value your thoughts and opinion - they give me something to think about instead of the usual fluff .... your piece - after you explained it further I got it :)

and yes I agree with your wholeheartedly - you are never truly enslaved - it's just a mindset :)

[Jack Wolfe]

The assault line was a joke, after you wanted to slap the narrator. I agree with your thoughts, and I'm always glad to help.

[KWP]

oh I forgot that I wanted to slap him ... I was cruising on a different tangent was on the ither side of the ethnosphere ... :)

[Sleiman Azizi]

I think this would have worked better as a prose piece with poetry punctuating it for emphasis and depth.

[KWP]

i have no idea what that means ... just straight writing ?

[Sleiman Azizi]

Pretty much.

I often find some things I am trying to say become unwieldily when I try to use poetry so I just write 'normally' and punctuate the paragraphs with verse.

It can add a nice amount of depth to the normal words.

[KWP]

ok :) cheers boss x x

[Sleiman Azizi]

Bow down before me!

[KWP]

not again ... oh man ...

[Sleiman Azizi]

lol

(pulls out whip)

[willweb]

Wow! Keep your eyes straight ahead, don't veer or wobble or you may just find something exciting in life and we wouldn't want that to happen sonny. So, nose clean, smile and be polite and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I loved this KWP. I love the entire feel of this, the message, the invitation to find something other than what is.

[KWP]

yeah you got it - thanks so much willweb ... appreciate your thoughts :) xx

[Rene Salinas]

We are living walking contradictions and as such a for of an absolute. The problem in that resides that the bsolute always carried a negative and postive value. Which we use to judge each other. And so we go on subdues repressed through a whirling life with a caricutature o faceless progress, coaxing and grinding yet so arrogantly elevated so God. But when the negative gets fed up so to speak it wants to refit this vessel of confusion to bring the eloquence of the muted self. So it can yet again vindicate the cause, assimilate and fake it mine. So we go on bowing our heads tasting the lies that I'm fed, all to claim my reward in the master and servant dynamic. Ignorant to the distant hymns of chaos.

So we default to conform to the new whatever that may be as long as it taste new.

Thankyou

[KWP]

yes ... but ... any thoughts to improve ?

xx

[Rene Salinas]

Yes many but none that would resing ithin the boundaries of what you wrote, I think that would be called deviating then....

[KWP]

:) many but none ... just like life xx

[Matching Socks]

Sometimes I think the less you have, the freer you are.
I'm a slave to my job, my family, the speed limit on the road...
:D

[KWP]

you got it in one chick ... freedom starts with simplicity .. ahhh to unclutter .. thx for reading x

[Matching Socks]

My head is so disorganized... I wish!
Mwah! Cheers Bella! xo

[NoelHC]

I would add nothing to this, and although you classify it as a rant, it is less that, and more some good observations.

Well done.

[KWP]

cheers Noel xx

[wordman]

well you know I`m a sucker for short stories this was great

[KWP]

ahh thank you x

[Chris]

First impressions... bite...sigh... but ok

too...(and I spelled it right) and yet not enough.

I want to ask you
but I don't know how
or when
or if I should
or why I should
permissions? by whom? because?
are there buts? still?
What ARE the rules?
Who decides? How? Why?
and must I ...no, nevermind
I already know...
...always did.

Me...

[KWP]

your words
lace
intricate patterns
forming, shaping
creating a vision read moreyour words
lace
intricate patterns
forming, shaping
creating a vision
wrapping the
newly created
shawl of thought
i warm to your words
as they in turn
warm my soul


Thank you Chris

[R Smith]

an epic poem and indeed freedom is within us, you ran the gauntlet here of finding the light that leads us home, even though we may travel the world and know all things, the true self resides within us and waits patiently to be found, wonderful writing so very inspiring thank you :)

[KWP]

Thanks so much for reading Richard .. I know its a lengthy one :) xx