KALI'S DAY excerpt

"Candice hears the sounds of birds. The last traces of light stain the cave’s entrance far from where she sits in full lotus covered only in the ashes of the dead. She drifts in and out, sometimes jolted from a vast emptiness by the grumbling of her stomach. So far she can silence hunger by simply focusing and re-focusing on her breath. But the stomach is a dumb animal and its indifference to “mind over matter” is becoming more apparent in the increasing volume of its complaint. It clenches itself like a fist and it’s all she can do to keep her eye closed, though she hears something scratching along the ground somewhere to her left. She’s conquered fear, never feared the dark until right before she conquered it. In another lifetime, there was a longing that she barely remembers. So it’s not fear or need that distracts her now. It’s the knowledge that, other than herself, something animate, something alive is within reach. Most likely it’s one of those large succulent beetles, thickly armored against what she is now in most danger of becoming—a predator, since she hasn’t really conquered appetite, has only concealed it, and despite having risen above the desire for even the simplest bowl of rice, is about to succumb to defeat for the taste of something that until now has been far from tempting or even remotely relevant to the satisfaction of any desire, let alone hunger—especially hunger.

She doesn’t open her eye. But she imagines it crawling heavily over the various obstacles in its way: pebbles and clumps of damp earth, a random search for whatever nourishment, dirt, dead insects, bits of excrement, it might stumble upon."


KALI'S DAY available from

Amazon U.S.:http://www.amazon.com/Kalis-Day-BonnyFinberg/dp/1570272816

UK, NZ, Australia & Europe:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kalis-Day-Bonny-Finberg/dp/1570272816

SAINT MARK’S BOOKS (signed copies) 31 3rd Avenue NY, NY

UNNAMEABLE BOOKS 600 Vanderbilt Ave. Brooklyn, NY

BOOK CULTURE (signed copies) 536 W 112th St, NY

BLUESTOCKINGS 172 Allen St. NY, NY

Friday, December 17, 2010


                                             
I almost prayed
       
Two rows of nuns 
took me in their arms, 
raised me to the dome, 
forgave the golden altar, 
the obscene bouquets of white. 
I bowed my head 
for birds and fish.
I tried to pray 
our ways
the way to nothing but
a soup of our own shit
I tried but don't believe.

I walked out onto high ground, 
grey sky, ever changing light, 
dusk infolding
like the wings of sleeping bats, 
trying to forget the stain.
(c) Bonny Finberg
May   10, 2010
Paris


                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                Photos (c)Bonny Finberg

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

[Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776]

(My note: Some on the Christian Right are fond of noting how many times "God" is mentioned in this document  in order to justify their belief that religion and its teachings belong in government institutions such as schools. However, it's important to note how "God" is defined here:
"...to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them.." Notice the little apostrophe? That tiny detail implies that the drafters and signers of this document believed that
 "God" is from "nature," not that God made nature.)

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levey war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

LAHD, I CANTAYKETNOMWAH! (Music by Papa San "Maddy Maddy Cry")


The Bush Era tax cuts have been extended. Starting with Virginia, Obama's healthcare initiative is being dismantled through the state judiciaries. The Federal Reserve is a loose cannon, playing with the economy as if it were its private hedge fund. China has a stranglehold on Tibet and much of the Chinese population seems to be buying the rhetoric. It seems that even as a small percentage of people take to the streets, even those who attack figureheads do so without budging the iron fisted hold the sociopathic .0001% has on our  existence. We live and die by their decisions and at best all we do to stop them is a sigh in the wilderness. We are appeased with permission to ask the questions, while presenting the facts has become a criminal act. Lord, I can't take it no more.

LAHD, I CANTAYKETNOMWAH!




























LEAVING FEAR BEHIND


Photograph (c) Bonny Finberg


Leaving Fear Behind (in Tibetan, Jigdrel) is a heroic film shot by Tibetans from inside Tibet, who longed to bring Tibetan voices to the Beijing Olympic Games. With the global spotlight on China as it rose to host the XXIX Olympics, Tibetans spoke of their plight and their heartfelt grievances against Chinese rule. Many of them were willing to sacrifice their lives, insisting their faces be shown in order to get this message to the Dalai Lama and all the world. The footage was smuggled out of Tibet under extraordinary circumstances. The filmmakers were detained soon after sending their tapes out, and remain in detention today.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8048230761996582635#

Friday, November 26, 2010

If I Were a Hacker Pop Ups

You dream and the outside comes in,
so inseparable you forget
you can turn it off.
This is a Free Fly Zone.
Maximize.
You never know how long it will work.
Maybe you can stay longer.
Your phone is ringing.
Tomorrow you will have a dream about eyes. 
When you wake up you will remember something about water. 
Then you will plug in and see me. 
What is it you're looking at? 

(c) Bonny Finberg


SACRED HEART




Poor gorillas, poor,
and even the hated and miraculous,
whose tongues have children
whose feet water their plants,
and even the hated
vanished in the ground,
a song for disaster,
and all we do
recorded in the blood of roots,
and people who this is a song of love for,
a song of cruelty,
a song for those who come after
who believe that life conquers disaster,
and all we do recorded in the blood.
(c) Bonny Finberg

Sunday, June 6, 2010

DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama,
  This is the thing i keep hearing/reading over and over from you:
 "...we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. And I have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this spill. If laws are inadequate, they will be changed. If oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. And if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice."
  The fact is, accidents happen because they're "accidents." They are unexpected occurrences. Thus one always weighs risks against advantages when proceeding with questionable decisions. In the case of off shore drilling the potential, as so tragically clear from this catastrophe, is that we will poison the food and water supply to a degree that will end our very existence. What will it take to understand this? No amount of human regulation can prevent human error (at best) and human stupidity and greed (at its worst.) We, the citizens of the world must change our way of thinking about energy. Not only must we find new sources, but we absolutely must change our use and end taking resources for granted. We must see our own culpability when we drive SUVs, leave the water running, create synthetic products for consumption in all areas of our lives, and have the hubris and arrogance to think all our problems are caused by powers beyond our control like big oil companies and ineffective government (though these are definitely players.)
  Please reconsider allowing off-shore drilling in any form. Neither in deep nor shallow waters. This earth belongs to all of us. Maybe most people don't understand their own participation in its abuse and destruction. Maybe if the reality of oil's expense hits home, not only in dollars, but in the quality of life everyone is always so vocal in trying to protect, maybe if it's not so primary in keeping our lives in "order," people will have to come up with other means of doing so. It's a painful thing to consider. Perhaps we have to set priorities as to where oil will be utilized in order to sustain our lives. Nuclear medicine has been put to great use. Does that mean that every citizen should have it in their bathroom medicine cabinet?
  I live in a place that's heated by electric heaters which are expensive to run. I have taken to keeping the heat on only when necessary. Wearing a sweater if i have to keeps me comfortably warm. If electricity were cheaper in the city where i live, perhaps I'd keep the heat on more. But maybe not. In New York City I worked in a building that was so highly airconditioned in the summer that people ran electric heaters in their offices to keep warm. That was one office in one skyscraper in a city full of them. No matter how much we complained, the management was slow, if ever, to respond. Air conditioning is little used in most apartments in Paris. The buildings are built of thick stone and keep the apartments relatively cool in summer and warm in winter. Upgrading windows for better insulation is given a 30% stipend by the government. Still imperfect, it's a step in the right direction.
I think the United States has set the bar high for "quality of life." It seems as "developing countries" find an increased "quality of life" they find themselves following the U.S. model of waste, pollution and selfish consumption. We may have more regulations than they do at this point in time and can point our collective finger at them for being where we were maybe decades, or even a century, ago in terms of government oversight. However, this latest catastrophe underscores how ineffective so-called regulation and government oversight are in the face of global industry and corporate goals, even in our own "advanced" society.
  I was under the assumption that you understood these things when I listened to you speak in those inspiring days before the election; when I voted for you; when I stood with pride in Union Square Park that evening in November 2008, celebrating what people can accomplish when they come together. Please stand up and take the risks necessary to curtail these powerful interests. Take the risk of displeasing large amounts of U.S. citizens who will grump and gripe about losing their privileged lifestyle that cannot be sustained without destroying us all. Please do the job we sent you to Washington to do.
With all respect and hope for true change, Bonny Finberg