[Joseph Ward]

 

Not to be confusing, but

dictators and autocrats

 

absolutely choose,

without any diplomates,

the regime’s format.

 

[Marlene]

 

True, and a detail like the

circle’s center can derail

 

a person’s thinking

by taking the next step that

perplexes, vexes

 

an otherwise stable path.

Joseph, my good friend, do not

 

suspend what you’ve worked

hard to comprehend about

principles over

 

tangibles being the best

solution to cover the

 

cost of what is lost

when infinity’s growing

possibilities

 

deflate to facilitate

only those that pose homage

 

to the correctly

chosen principles true to 

your approved world view.

Ultimately, the first choice

must voice Tina’s allegiance

 

for taking guidance

from tangibles, or, making

principles her core

 

perspective for decisions

regarding resolutions

 

which society

must also tackle to lift

humanity far

 

above animalistic

behavior and tendencies.

 

This is the kernel

choice that sets ascendency

to discover acts

 

to be either reactive 

 or proactive and that is

 

universally

true for one person, or, the

whole community.

Joseph, which do you live by,

principles or tangibles?

 

[Joseph Ward]

 

Truthfully, by both.

 

[Marlene]

 

I grin at your resistance

at my insistence 

 

to thin minutiae into 

principles to govern life.

 

Like all animals

you hunger, so you eat to

deter starvation.

 

Carnivorous principles

apply with ravenous glee.

 

Vegetarians 

fuss over the ruckus of

harvesting fresh meat.

 

Then there are the omnivores

who adore all edibles.

 

It’s incredible

to note that some ascetic

monks are emphatic

 

about consuming no more 

than a few grains of rice each

 

day to suffice their

need for food to elude sins

of extravagance.

 

To say, “both” lessons the growth

I’m loath to simply ignore.

 

I’m certain that you

comprehend the scheme I mean

to send. Just pretend

for a moment that Tina

has learned that principles more

 

aptly discern traits

of character that best rate

mates better than states

 

of physical beauty or

rippling muscles that pound.

 

Once a person grounds

their decision making in

the sound support that

 

principles comport with their

intended quest for their best

 

goals that will improve 

or degrade their souls with the

roles they must assume,

 

that person’s challenge will hinge

upon gathering stark facts,

 

understanding each,

with interrelationships

leaching throughout one’s

 

consciousness to convey a

vast array of principles

 

gleaned from every day’s

interplay of tangibles.

Tina has yet to

 

bet on principles over

the allure of tangibles.

 

You, my friend, defend

and challenge principles as

an elemental

 

principle to cripple voiced

misconceptions, flawed judgements

and skilled deceptions.

You’ve lived through many events

over many years.

 

I cheer your thirst for learning,

but regret your hidden tears

 

and the fear imposed

by those who chose poorly from

strong enticements bred

 

in tangible, flesh vessels

through which human spirits move

 

to prove truly what

was learned and approved, aiding

the self to improve.

 

What have you learned about your

lessons learned that in turn helps

 

your understanding

of Tina’s condition next

to your position?

 

[Joseph Ward]

 

Three years of E M D R’s

tough, white-knuckled, rough treatment

 

led to my healing

epiphany that the dread

bred from my childhood

 

predator could be conquered

by me if I would ignore

 

the flavor of fear

steered by mean brutes who refute

victims’ boundaries

 

to poison territories

of dreams with screams of night time

terrors that sever

peaceful sleep with past horrors.

Fifty years later

 

I would gather my courage

to assess my damage with

 

a piercing stare at

what scares me about the bare

truth housed in all those

 

who chose to abuse and use

my gentle innocence that

 

would then confuse my

navigational compass

to express the best

 

access to a meaningful

process for a healthy life.

 

I had to bang heads

with my strife to shed light on 

the fact that I was

 

my salvation if I act

with determination to

 

call into question

others’ behaviors that weren’t

in my best favor,

 

but I had to endeavor

to discover principles

 

that would negate the 

fate thrust upon my early,

not so great, childhood

 

adolescence. At present,

the lesson learned is to earn

 

back self sovereignty

by finding and applying

principles alined

with healthy governance of

the sensuality of

 

fleshy tangibles,

but, at this very moment,

what seems to me to

 

be very improbable

is my newly found arrant

 

arrogance with my 

believing that I could save

Tina by solving

 

the dilemma that always 

is only her’s to resolve.

 

[Marlene]

 

We care and we share,

but we can never, ever,

absolve anyone

 

of the challenges of life

that may ravage or bless them.

 

Regardless of the

goodness in your heart, life starts

with labor’s sharp pain.

 

Precipitous challenges

stem from creation’s fine gem

 

of evolution

that abides by a rigid

mantra: Grow or die.

 

You know intoxication’s

prison because your brother

 

suffered the effects

of alcoholism’s slow,

pungent decay toward

 

death’s final rest that blest his

athletic prowess stolen

by a drunken rage

that engaged fist to ram glass

that slashed back sharply

 

severing hand from his arm.

Don’t be alarmed, Joseph, I

 

know much about you

that does not outwardly show.

In time all will flow

 

into your consciousness, but,

for now, focus attention

 

on the extension

of what you have earned thus far

in this plush bazaar

 

of jarring reflections gained

from investigating pained

 

memories restrained.

Tina must choose as you must

choose to trust this course

 

as the source of your success

to manifest an evolved,

 

ever expanding,

consciousness that cares and shares.

Accordingly, the

 

fusing of living correct

principles to bipedal,

 

fleshy tangibles

dashing around here and there

brashly committed

 

to square away, crassly, their

nagging animalistic

 

desires that are

hard wired into flesh’s best

interest to breed

frequently, instinctively

to heed the need thoughtlessly

 

to procreate must,

then regulate actions through

the filtering gate,

 

Order of Operations,

to resist an adverse fate.

 

At twenty-five and 

still alive, Tina will thrive

and survive on her

 

choices, voiced (or not), foist first

upon her at birth that starts

 

the cause-effect chain

that charts her gains and the pain

of severe losses.

 

You, my self assured friend, have

endured the same gauntlet set

 

at birth that unearthed

similar trials equal

to her discomfort.

 

You’ve traveled through your torments;

nursed your bruised and battered soul;

 

rolled out infused with

staunch determination to

launch the formation

 

of self-reliant, somewhat

defiant, stubborn, public

 

steadfast personas.

You’ve grown past her position.

Your decision now,

 

as one who cares and shares, is:

What will you transmit for the

public wit and its

possibly harsh censorship?

We’ve come a long way

 

this trip, but to lay our

burden down now sounds unwise

 

because we would skip

the last imperative task

to be unzipped to

 

equip our consciousness

to assess what the Order

 

of Operations

will mess up if left to slip

into the vast void

 

of negligent ignorance.

The importance of choosing

 

the appropriate

principle to implement

from the palate of

 

your lessons learned won’t render

sufficient returns if your

 

application lacks

the exact sequence needed

for resolution

 

from the execution of

multiple, picked principles

 

that are required

for the desired outcome

free from fatal flaws.

 

In twenty-eighteen you deemed 

it most prudent to stream the 

 

internet to get 

good information on arms 

exportation that 

teemed with sharp revelation 

why world peace currently is 

 

a sad illusion.

In that same year, as you feared, 

the top ten nations 

 

engineered a cool twenty-

four plus billion dollars with 

 

the U.S. being 

the leading exporter with 

nine point eight billion 

 

in gross sales to prevail as 

the top arms dealer worldwide.

 

Please do not chide me, 

Joseph. I did not hide my 

truly uncanny 

 

ability to know more 

about you than expected.

 

Forgo suspicions.

You’ve not been misled by me.

I’ve elected to 

 

push forward toward completion

to get the satisfaction

 

I guarantee will

be received with glee by both

you and I, no lie.

 

Essentially, vitally,

peace must increase to decrease

 

war before A I

and O I advance into

the O A I squared

 

pair that will be prepared to

become the S C (O A I)2