Category: satur sulit

TV RULES

Satur Sulit

Advertisements on television
directed at children
are eminently dangerous
underhanded and insidious

They trick children’s attentions
and arouse their desires
then whelm them with products
to want their parents to buy

Held captive by the designs
of self-promoters and profiteers
their little minds are kidnapped
for ransom in patronage

It is an unchecked subversion
of parents’ prerogatives
to define the parameters
of their children’s upbringing

Their options are pre-empted
they are helpless against
the subliminal effects of
a medium that is the message

The effects are immediate
the children are hypnotized
they cannot tell the difference
between virtual and real

And soon they are weaned
from the rule of their parents
their fancied lives but a mirage
of illusions for sale

THE FIRST OF THE BLESSED

Satur Sulit

the poor in spirit, who are they?
the first of the blessed
who would gain heaven’s kingdom
who does it mean?
the spiritually poor, faithless and godless?
to them the kingdom? i think not
the dispirited then?
the poor of spirit, the uninspired
would they deserve it more than the other?
neither, i would say, and this i propose
the poor in spirit are those
in whom live the native spirit of the poor
who owning little of material value
without the wherewithal to buy their way through
must live on the riches of their other virtues
the strengths of their bodies honed by hunger and labor
their knowledge of nature and mastery of its gifts
above all their life of community
as of a family but of hundreds even thousands
bound together by a history of survival and co-existence
the thesis of Jesus it seems is that
a poor life is the wellspring of the waters of heaven
the soil of goodness, the true measure
of man’s worth in the sacred life of the universe.
to be poor in spirit, i see, is to embrace poverty
the first beatitude an economic theory.

INTRIGUES

Satur Sulit

intrigues are intriguing
they are worth the attention
they keep us informed
of our neighbors’ dispositions
their gross imaginings
and fearful assumptions
their chance encounters
and juicy revelations
they are constant reminders
of our worst suspicions
the level of competition
for our negative opinions
they are an assurance
that our secret presumptions
rightly or wrongly
are within expectations.

THE POWER OF MONEY

Satur Sulit

the thing about money is it is very tricky
one minute you have it the next one you don’t
and so with the power that accompanies it
you have to exercise it or somebody else will

every dispensation needs loyal beneficiaries
to serve as its staunchest defenders and apologists
the benefits on offer are largely economic
but also psychological, the thrill of belonging

dressed up in uniforms, with titles and honors
the trappings of privilege, command of their lessers
it is a fantasy invented especially for them
to keep enthralled in the service of mammon

the work may be ugly, but you get used to it
the rewards are fantastic, you would not believe
you fall into its throes, it is very addictive
heaven on earth, the great ulterior motive!

it is heaven while it lasts but money is tricky
it traps you and then it throws away the key
there is no escape then, the show must go on
it is a ticket to hell, or maybe to prison.