Chapter 1 States of Hate

1. And Now She Knows
2. Der Führer
3. He Cried
4. Peacemakers
5. Poor People Cried Again
6. Quiz for the People
7. Tears in a Vacuum
8. The Hand
9. To A Soldier
10. While Waiting for a Bus Sometime in the Sixties Somewhere in the South

Chapter 2 States of Love

1. Chris
2. Girl
3. I Hope You Understand
4. On Passing My First Full Night in Her Company
5. Sam Enders eXplained
6. Susan
7. The Mystical Compass
8. This Is Truth
9. Thoughts in a Car
10. Tina

Chapter 3 States of Life

1. A Salute to Me and My Funeral
2. And Then...
3. Empty
4. Green Cell
5. Making Love
6. Morning Miracles
7. Morning Sickness
8. My Thoughts for Only Part of December 15, 1969
9. Our Time is Stealing to an End
10. The Bird of Wisdom
11. The City
12. The Death of Nature
13. The Loss
14. The Oasis
15. The Unwanted Gift
16. Then What are Squirrels and Bullfrogs
17. To Friendship
    The original title of this poem was “To CC The Friend of Mine”. It was written for and dedicated to my closest high school friend.

    Well, two circumstances lead me to change the title.

    First, although Calvin was, indeed, my closest high school friend, I haven't seen him in over thirty years. I phoned him twice, but the attempt at dialogue was forced and uncomfortable. People and things change.

    Secondly, I began using “To friendship” as my signature.

    Someone once tried to “call me on” using that signature. He said that it wasn't at all about friendship and that I just write it “by rote”.

    Nothing could be further from the truth. Although hating has been around forever, the “terrorist attacks” of September 11, 2001 met their goal. They inspired Americans to, once again, hate an entire group of people. This is something that Americans have been very proficient at since Europeans found this land and began hating the “savages” who inhabited it and were the rightful owners of it. Hating entire groups, religions, ethnicities, races, etc. is not uniquely American. However, we're excellent at it.

    In spite of the fact that the Europeans forced Africans to come to this land and did so in a most inhumane manner, they hated the Africans. They used Africans as slaves.

    Subsequently, after the passage of the fourteenth amendment to The Constitution, they hated the African Americans who were legally freed from slavery but forbidden to vote until 1868, almost 100 years after the founding of this “democracy”.

    Even after Blacks legally got the right to vote, states still found ways around allowing them to vote. There were poll taxes instituted specifically to make voting prohibitive to Blacks. There were exams that Blacks were forced to take before they could vote, exams from which White people were exempt.

    Just yesterday, while sitting in a restaurant, I heard a man talking about how there were too many “niggers” moving into his neighborhood. In 2006, that ignorance still exists.

    So, it was real easy for The Regime to exploit September 11, 2001 for the purpose of injecting Americans with hatred toward yet another entire group of people.

    Just as hating Blacks is not only arrogant, but senseless, since they were forced here in the first place, hating Muslims and Iraqis in particular is arrogant and senseless in light of the truth about September 11, 2001.

    No, I don't write “To friendship” by “rote”. I write it because there is still far too much hatred in the world and I can't think of anything that is more needed and is more worthy of saluting than friendship.

18. To Ruin It
19. To The Day
20. To Touch Almost a Branch
21. Validation
22. What's Next

Chapter 4 States of Dream

If one is looking for lucidity in the the meanings of phrases, sentences or even words, the “States of Dream” chapter is not the place to go to find it.

Rather than literal, concrete meanings, the poetry in “States of Dream” is based upon feelings, nightmares or other states of being in which I found myself at the time of its creation.

In fact, some of the feelilngs or experiences are so personal, that the poetry is merely an attempt to express them and nothing more. There's really no expectation that these poems can, in any way, be “understood” in the traditional sense of that word.

If you choose to embark upon this journey, bon voyage.

1. 23 august 1971 years later at 735 a m my time
   “23 august 1971 years later at 735 a m my time” is the first poem in the chapter I entitle “States of Dream”. It was the first “abstract” or “avant-garde” piece I ever wrote.

2. concentrated about putting ponds yonder
3. eloquent contradiction
4. make believe
5. make mind
6. michael's other love lived yesterday
7. notes by PHILONEUS (of Jacob) P. S. (please read expressionlessly)
8. philoneus philosophy for 365 (solar 365)
9. the Charle's life
10. the meal

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