Hope For Tallahassee
by Dan Baker
I’m told there is hope for Tallahassee, so I promise my friends – I won’t give up.
The union stands solidly beside me.
This is my village and we protect us.
Deep in my heart are spiritual longings, balanced by rage at daily injustice.
How should I love and honor both these things when we can only rely on us?
Should we take up arms like the PLO, Rojava and the IRA?
They share the same world and dangers you know,
giving up privileges to make a change.
Animal and Earth Liberation Front, not harming people, plants and critters,
going beyond mere publicity stunts, burning killers’ properties to cinders.
The Zapatistas, the army that don’t fight, Marcos says that “our word is our weapon”.
They remind us that might does not make right.
The world is still learning this sweet lesson.
But, whatever path you choose to apply, they’re all weeded in this revolution:
Construction, soldiers, medics and supplies, nurturing love is the core solution.
The theme of that poem is to make peace with our inner demons and to coexist as Buddhas with them. This is how I’ve found my place in our community, my identity in the world and Tallahassee. I like to think of myself as a “medical ninja”, belligerently loyal to my friends and village, like Narrator, and good with the ladies. In reality I’m more like Dan Quixote than Dan Juan. I was kicked out the Army and I’m not quite an EMT yet. I don’t have a trade mastered to offer my union and my community, unless you count holding a “hungry veteran” sign, doing yoga, thinking deep thoughts about why I don’t like patriarchal authority figures (basically my daddy issues), and maybe jiu jitsu strangleholds and joint locks. But really, I’m mediocre, or at most intermediate at these things. Personally, I don’t think being an “expert” at shooting is something to be proud of, like Atticus Finch would say. So I have very little to offer my community, but they have been there for me for a decade and I’m determined to give back. I want to help build up our home, by protecting nature, nurturing future generations, supporting women’s rage towards idiots like myself and planting seeds that continue to bare fruit long after I’m gone.
Dan Baker 25765-509
FCI Memphis
PO Box 34550
Memphis, TN 38184
Mongoose Distro 