Untitled: In Response To GPS Devices Now Used In Some American Schools (Poem)

What's the big deal

If the officials require the students to wear student ID badges
with RFID, GPS tracking abilities

so that the AUTHORITIES can know where the students are
every second of every day
watching them like blips on a computer monitor?
What's the big deal?
Some students claim they have a right to privacy.
Privacy? On school grounds? I though we established that they have no right
to privacy with the long tradition of mandatory searches without warrants!
Some parents claim it violates their religious freedom having to wear the mark of the beast.
Come on...I thought it was made clear that in this land of free religion they have no religious rights in schools!
which is why you can't say the C word, the H word or the Q word during the holidays.
And in case it isn't self-evident enough
I thought we already accepted
as a culture
a long, long time ago
that children must go to school school
whether they want to or not
forced by the law.
and that when in school
they must be watched closely by authorities
must do exactly what they are told to do by the authorities.
They are not allowed to wander freely without the authorities
Must move only when the bell tells them to move
and only in directions determined by the authorities.
Must eat only when and where they are told to eat...by the authorities
Must ask permission to go to the bathroom and not take too much time doing their business or risk punishment by the authorities
They are forced to exercises but only in certain times and certain ways dictated by...an authority.
They must read not what they want to read but what they are told to read...by the authorities.
They are denied free speech and encouraged to forgo the right of critical thinking.
And their press-the student newspaper must be approved by the authorities.
In classes, their thoughts and ideas are graded according to the degree to which they match the official views
of the authorities.
Students accused of an offense are permitted no due process—no trial, no legal recourse—their fate is decided solely by...the authorities.
And voting? Of course students are allowed to vote--for homecoming king and queen!
Unless of course they have committed some major offense such as refusing to wear a tracking device
Like in John Jay High or Anson Jones Middle School where their rights to vote were taken away by
the authorities.
So let them wear the GPS trackers
and make them wear uniforms
I recommend bright orange
and serial numbers
just so those whiney saps who complain about rights
and privacy can stop complaining and finally
admit and accept the school system for what it is
a prison.

I, The Undead

A poetic commentary on the "wisdom" of conventional lifestyles. 
__________________________________________________________

They always said the impending Zombie apocalypse
would occur
when no one saw it coming.
I certainly didn’t
I don’t remember dying,
But I do remember living.
I remember the beaches and swimming,
I remember the forests and camping,
I remember hiking, sky diving,
martial arts.
I remember when I had the power in my legs,
the endurance in my lungs to charge up the hillside at full speed
to catch the football
thrown to me by my equally capable comrade from over 30
yards off.
No more.
Now I see bloodshot eyes in the mirror,
mutilations, deformities creeping along my body,
the crooked bones in my fingers that once upon a time could
stand those eight hour shifts at the computer
the arch forming in my backbone to match the shape of the low
budget chair
I see it in my aimless walk
the back and forth waddle
half asleep, half awake,
not really either,
A little of both, perhaps?
The scientist’s stimulators not working:
give the monster a monster,
that shot should give him a boost for 5 hours!
Will work immediately!
--It doesn’t work,
and the natural sleep naturally broken by the patterns that form,
that the body gets used to.
How much longer until the transformation is complete?
How much longer until my arm shakes at nothing more than the
weight of a quart of milk—unable to bear the burden of less
than a pound?
How much longer until my legs stop functioning at a pick up
and step pace?
How much longer until I no longer question how much longer,
and take the place amongst the rest of the zombie horde below
ground where the tunnels make the paths that lead them onward
even after they have all but forgotten why?
I don’t remember dying,
but I am no longer living,
“Life” sucked the life out of me,
and here I walk, forward, half asleep, half awake,
bloodshot eyes,
I, the undead.

___________________________________________________

This poem appeared in Voice of The Bards
www.localgemspoetrypress.com/bookstore.html

The Cure Mentality

How often do you hear it?
The cry as intense as a congregation to their preacher,
A message mixed into every other fundraising campaign,
Pamphlet,
Shout out for research-grants
And every attempt to appeal to the quick fix dreams of those
Who are disadvantaged.

We need a cure!
A cure for autism!A cure to help those totally abnormal kids become normal.
A cure against nature,
If they invented one for polio why can’t they invent one for this?
And how many…
How many…
How many people
Flock to this calling?
There are a couple of things
I would want to know first,
Before I jumped on this ill-conceived band-wagon.
What exactly is it that is being cured?
The spectrum of autism has grown exponentially
Periodically
What you would have called quirky in the 60s is now autistic
Introverted is now Aspergers
Quiet now antisocial,
Neuro-typical is now A-typical
Anyone who makes their way to a psych-evaluation will be evaluated as
having 1-3 disorders because those in that profession are trained to see
What they expect to see
And I want to know how you find a cure
For a line in the sand
Arbitrarily drawn by who knows who
From who knows where
And how do you expect to ever cure
What it is you can’t even define?
But despite this all, I do I agree
We do need a cure.
We need a cure for ignorance,
Ignorance by those who would presume to make decisions for an entire
population without being educated as to their needs.
We need a cure for labels
The notion that one characteristic of a personality means one is disabled.
We need a cure for the viewpoint
That those who don’t do as well in the artificial construct of a culture with
arbitrary rules and regulations are somehow inferior.
We need a cure, for the lack of compassion.
We need a cure for the concept that a cure is the answer--The notion that the
next new pill, the daring new breakthrough will some how bring an answer
Simple-wrapped in a box that will take this burden off our shoulders
because humans have been burdened since the dawn of time
And humans have been waiting for an easy solution
And humans have invented everything that could be imagined or couldn’t be
imagined
And now they have everything that they always said they always wanted
And still manage to find a way to be miserable
And blame the person to the left or the right
for why things aren’t just fine and dandy.
We still haven’t cured the sick
We still haven’t fed the hungry
We still haven’t used our shiny little tools to bring happiness.
Why play doctor
Why imagine ailments in people
Why try to practice medicine
When you don’t even understand the concept of disease
If we are all so concerned about making a strong lasting
Mentally healthy society
Why don’t we start focusing on our own
mental
physical
and spiritual Health
first.___________________________________________________________________

This was published in Perspectives, Poetry Concerning Autism and Other Disabilities Volume 2.
www.perspectivesanthology.com