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About The North Coast times-eagle. (Wheeler, Oregon) 1971-2007 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2003)
NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E, JULY 2003 PAGE 10 GREAT AMERICAN CAR we wear our cars glass-plastic-steel clothing clothed in boxes heavy as houses, plated and armored license to drive our desires cinema verite on rubber tires tirelessly headed for anywhere, for nowhere auto-motivated we wear our cars skins shine straight-jackets lined with custom upholstery red-white-black leather, 100% pure naugahide inside, outside walk don’t walk, drive drive your car wear your car graft the transmission to your brain put the plugs in your ears and drive drive shaft drive fast faster, race racing tailgating overtake and passing wreckless, elude a police officer wreckless metallic beast of the nation traffic infraction drinking asphalt license suspension drinking air habitual offender — go to jail thousands of double-white fiery eyes curl up on a steel cot slicing through wheatfields and dream cutting the forests apart dream of your car to unzipped strips of blue-white sky of a million mirrors fly of rear-view mirrors fly-wheel filled with trucks flies on the windshield singing songs of exhaust afternoons running opaque under a slanted sun and burning oil nights spun on dark rivers of tar harmonious fumes car we can never pause war we have no time to look war for blood we cannot breathe war for business we can drive war to keep us moving in a blizzard of landscapes moving to gas stations (diamond in the back) moving 9 to 5 we can drive moving to sheer madness in a blur of signs radiator, generator, alternator, accelerator (sun roof top) keep cool we can drive in a tunnel of fragments in a fast-slow craze of constant red-rosary bead taillights votive candles of empty nights with the windows rolled down and the wind whippin in pullin out, streaming out when your hood flips up and the jack in the box pops up asking you for proof of insurance keep cool and use your horn to warn other drivers when you're completely out of control slow down before entering metaphysical, transmeditational, sexual curves but never forget to wear your car daily like a vitamin daily like a prayer like a universal/differential/manifold/shock-absorber because the world’s a scary place we cruise through we loose through on the highways, biways, skyways, your way, my way wearing our cars wearing our general motors mason jars our chebby Chevrolets our macho machines our duel-injection erection machines with gabardine pants, a gold watch and a cigar in your mouth with pantyhose, lipstick and a perm with all the cosmetic wonders in a stop-go maze the cheeseburger wrappers and beer cans pullin out the condoms, the radio kingdom of billy graham pullin out road maps and wedding rings pullin out st. Christopher and all kinds of things pullin out the half-thought thoughts the twice feared fears the profiles of tears the cigarette silence for years of miles along the road made of cars tattooed in rust tattooing the earth with long indelible scars lined with weeds and dust we wear our cars our polished cases of velocity strapped to mechanical necessity and all is visible and elusive all so near, yet can't be touched hypnotized deep by the yellow ribbon hypnotized deep in the middle of an eye into a blank stare staring back wearing black our cars glistening listening in a closet of vanishing echoes through streets of instantaneous architecture of instantaneous cars cars junkyard carcasses carpal tunnel syndrome on the steering wheel carmen miranda on a dashboard veranda carnal desire for a jaguar carhop fill er up with a rootbeer float carnivorous soul, freeway to everything cartoon-axle pointed straight at the moon carios, muchacho you look fine in that gran torina-el camino carbon cop — 4x4’s multiplying to infinity, aerial view of used carlots on t.v. cardinal virtues: gears, brakes, pistons, points of a motorized destiny bumper to bumper like words of an endless sentence sentenced to speed talking at 80 miles and hour and over the limit wearing our cars our sacred cars our holy cars in cars we trust cars hallelujah amen -JUANITA HUEBNER WE CAN START... Fear, ever present, surrounds us, thick with heaviness, choking out light We can resist. Greed, ever present, slimy and slick, coaxes us to sell our souls and buy, buy, buy. We will resist. We can start by turning a deaf ear to the misinformation that permeates the sound waves. We can start by recognizing that our leaders only want to "sound-bite’' problems for they have no intention of actively seeking solutions because they perceive that if the people gain, they lose. We can start by looking inward and repairing our own inner damage. Hatred, ever present, beseeches us to harden our hearts against those who are different. We must resist. We can start by looking around our neighborhood and finding ways to help each other survive; nay, flourish. Fear, Greed, Hate Hate, Fear, Greed. Greed, Hate, Fear We can start by picking a problem, any problem in our community, and find creative solutions. This is our culture's chant, repeated over and over and over and over, relentlessly bombarding all aspects of our lives and the lives of our CHILDREN until our minds, our hearts and our spirits are numb. The time is now to create a new chant. Perhaps it could be Love, Respect, Peace. Respect, Peace. Love. Peace, Love, Respect. We can start by mending one of the myriad tears in the fabric of our society's so-called safety net that is full of holes. We can start by refusing to be shrouded in the tatters and rags the elite would have us wear. We can start by praying or meditating on Love, Respect and Peace. Respect, called forth, illuminates the worth of all beings. Love, brilliantly radiating from each of us envelopes the world, nurturing all Peace gives space to creatively untangle the web of destruction that ensnares us. The loudest cheerleaders of our current cultural chant are the powermongers who, under their rules, only gain if we, the people, lose, for ours is truly government of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. We can start by honestly and openly asking the hard questions that may point out the paths we need to take to find real solutions for real people. We can start by trimming our egos and reaching out to our opponents and find out who they really are. The time is now to change the rules Perhaps they could be that everyone and everything wins. We can start by greeting each person we meet with a smile and giving them our undivided attention, in the name of Mary Elizabeth. Imagine a world where those who give the most are the ones most admired and revered. We can start by honoring our own true nature and the true nature of all around us. Imagine a world where every child, woman and man is full — full of food, full of love, full of health. We can start by using our gifts and our talents to assist the whole. We can start by doing what we love, doing whatever works for us in our lives. Imagine a world where the very Earth that sustains all life is nurtured back. Yes you say, I want a new chant. I want new rules. I want to live in this imagined world But how are going to get there? We can start by holding the space so that when maelstrom has finally passed there will be somewhere to start anew. We can start by preparing the ground so that the new crops are rooted firmly in fertile, rich soil. We can start by believing that it is possible We can start by using our incredible powers of creativity to image Peace, Love and Respect We can start by staying strong and not giving in to the despair that so easily overwhelms us in these Orwellian times We can start by unplugging ourselves from the media stream, which is the currency that keeps us subdued We can start where we are and make any movement we can towards a Respectful, Peaceful, Loving world. -BARBARA McLAUGHLIN Barbara McLaughlin and her husband Chuck live in Wheeler. They have long been political activists for peace.
