I am not my teeth.

When I speak, I notice that you are staring
at my misshapen nose. It is hard for me
not to laugh, because . . .

I am not my nose.

When I speak, you’re looking at my eyes,
but still, you see not who I am, you’re too
busy studying my age lines.

I am not those lines.

Are you listening to my utterances?

Are you feeling the essence of my words?

Or are you so caught up in my physical
accoutrements that you miss the meaning
of what you thought you heard?

When I speak, I speak not from my
intellect, but from my heart. For my
heart is the home of the Divine.

So the next time we have a conversation,
stop checking out my sagging breasts and
my expanded waistline. Instead, focus on your
heart, and you will feel mine . . .

then the real communication will flow, and
like the river of life that empties not onto
rocks and hard surfaces, it will empty into
the ocean of bliss.

For only then have we found our connection,
and separation will fade away as an empty
idea fades away.

Speak to me and I will listen.

I hear you.

© by Adele L Nieto
January 17, 2010

copyright by Adele L Nieto
January 17, 2010

Why didn’t the public know about the collapse of the economy before it collapsed?

There must have been signs indicating an economic meltdown way before the end of the Bush administration? Why did financial experts Ben Bernanke and before him, Alan Greenspan who were the bean counter experts, fail to warn us about the future financial woes? Why were we not aware of the fallout on Wall Street before it spilled over on Main Street? How did the banking business become so aloof in handing out credit to those who could barely afford to pay their debt? Back in the 80’s people could only qualify for a house mortgage that was 3x the amount of their annual salary, plus they needed to have at least a 20% downpayment. How and why did these financial institutions become so lax in their lending criteria? Could it be that they all knew they’d be bailed out?

What about Tim Geithner? The fact is that, when he was the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank he had racked up millions when he made an undisclosed purchase of Goldman Sachs stock, “a violation of Federal Reserve policy,” as stated by the Wall Street Journal. This activity occurred at a time when the New York Fed was supposedly overseeing the actions of the Wall Street firm. Why didn’t that antic of Geithner’s raise an eyebrow from the SEC, Congress or the MS Media?

Not only did Goldman Sachs receive a huge cash infusion from the Government, Goldman also received an additional $8.1 billion that the taxpayers will never receive back. Could this be a gift of sorts engineered by then-N.Y. Fed president Geithner of AIG, which listed Goldman as its top insured credit-swap customer?1

According to a Wall Street Journal article, The US Treasury has bailed out AIG several times since last September to the tune of at least $180 billion. No one knows for sure where the money went. Regulators refuse to identify AIG’s counterparties. The bailout giveaway has been going on since last September whereby no one from Congress has bothered to be truly concerned about until recently. Now they’re crying outrage, after the milk has been spilt — a little late don’t you think? WE, the taxpayers, are going to pay for the greedy bankers who are laughing all the way to the bank.

Now to another unanswered question:

Why are we still fighting two unnecessary wars? Besides stretching our armed forces to the limit, there is also the war on drugs that we have been fighting in our own country for donkeys years — a necessary war, and one that we can’t seem to get control of. Yet, while our troops are in Afghanistan, the opium poppy business has skyrocketed.

As an industry, the farming and harvesting of the opium poppy has taken over every other form of agriculture in Afghanistan, making millions for the opium drug lords, keeping innocent families in poverty, and augmenting the strength of the Taliban. This situation will not change by foreign troop occupation, nor will we succeed in wiping out the Taliban or Al Qaeda. These faction groups will simply pop up somewhere else. These guys are not like any military we have ever fought.

So the premise from President Obama is that our forces will train an Afghani police force that will tackle the problem of illegal drug trade and enforce the law against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Okay, just how many years will that effort take in order to show some slight progress? The Afghanis are not your everyday enlistees. Most of them are illiterate, poor, desperate and do not like being told what to do by outside parties. Good luck. Meanwhile the burden of another triple billion dollar bill gets paid for by the taxpayers. And just where are all the taxpayers going to find the money to do this if they have no income? To add insult to injury, we still have the huge debt of the Iraq war, which by the way has there been any mention of a withdrawal date yet?

Why hasn’t the Obama administration called for a criminal investigation of George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the Bush cabal for invading a country based on lies and causing the deaths of thousands of innocent people? And for creating the worst financial mess since the Great depression?

Ah, and last but not least, The Tiger is loose. Yes, I mean Tiger Woods. OMG, he’s committed adultery, not once, not twice but more times than he would care to admit and with different lasses. Of course, this is putrid fodder for the news media and all those opponents he’s beaten mercilessly on the golf course. I’ve never been more appalled at the media than I am now – and let’s not forget the one important thing here, Tiger Woods is not a world leader for humanity – he is a sportsman, plain and simple. He does not influence world, national or regional policy, and that’s that. Leave the man and his family alone to work it out the way they see fit. Besides, I really don’t know of any male celebrity that can keep staving off the she-bears out there that would sleep with a married man in order to secure some infamous dalliance that they can brag about later on; plus make a few bucks from some rag-tag media outlet. Enough about Tiger Woods and his groupies.

Ask this question: Why is the private life of Tiger Woods more important than the failing economy? Or the environment? Or man’s inhumanity towards man? Or illegal wars? Or a lying bunch of politicians hell-bent on ruining the fabric of society? Or how about milking the taxpayers so the very few rich can maintain their ultimate lifestyle? Or how about the thousands of people who, everyday go hungry, are sick and are fearful of the future?

Aren’t those questions more important to address than the life of Tiger Woods?

I think I may, I think I might,

But all dreams sink like ships in the night.

Swell of ocean’s fearful fray,

The visionary dashed on rocks does lay.

Light of hope more hopeless fading,

Through the froth the tired frame is wading.

The carnage of love not found, the carnage of unfruitful ground,

Is nothing now, just lapping gently,

on a morning shore, Awaking empty.

Eff Strick

The drive can be awfully long
when the windows are rolled up
and the radio can’t drown out the sound.

I shrink to the size of a fly,
listening to them argue about where to
turn and how fast to drive.

The abuse that spews from one’s
mouth to the other can cause even a fly
to shudder.

Doesn’t matter.

And they wonder why I cry and tell
them how much i can’t stand going
on that journey again.

Doesn’t matter.

They pack up the car. I’m in the back seat.
We set off on that journey back in
time, to that place where another journey
began in much the same way.

Doesn’t matter.

The long journey is always the same.
and the destination keeps slipping
away from memory. Even a fly has a very
small brain.

where hidden memories lay.
Each seam, each trench
covered by another woe
from another event.

With endless determination I would
chisel and smooth away
the hardened edges that suffering
and pain have built upon.

Yet, not so amazing is the
strength and will one has
to keep building on the past.
But why? might I ask.

Isn’t it better to have had the
experience and move on,
using the mind as a summit
instead of a dungeon?

copyright 2006 by Adele L Nieto

we lay together,
flesh and limbs entwined
his eyes see nothing
as if he were blind

when the deed of our lust is over
and the embers in my heart still burn
his emotions are disturbingly sober,
as he moves to one side and turns,

his facial expression says one thing
yet his words reveal quite another,
‘I hate leaving you again,’
says my pale lover.

Copyright December 7, 2005
Adele L Nieto

copyright by Adele Nieto 2005

copyright by Adele L Nieto
June 11, 2007

copyright by Adele L Nieto
June 10.2007

In between the gap
of undulating breath
dwells peace untold
letting go, I ease deep into the fold
of benign darkness
unafraid, yet not unfamiliar
into this vastness the “I” flows Another breath,
falling deeper yet… No more pulling,
no more tugging
at the strings of my heart,
endless love calls Divine surrender,
deeper I fall… Confusion gone
from worldly thoughts inside
this hallowed space; a numinous
place from human desire. Another breath,
falling deeper yet… into the substratum
of boundless space, infinite
light of blue and gold
silence waits, and peace unfolds.

Copyright Adele L Nieto
November 16, 2005