{"id":1490,"date":"2014-10-20T11:04:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T18:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/?p=1490"},"modified":"2025-09-15T20:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:08:53","slug":"american-kakophony-selected-poems-by-mikhail-branski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/american-kakophony-selected-poems-by-mikhail-branski\/","title":{"rendered":"American Kakophony, poems by Mikhail Branski"},"content":{"rendered":"
Amerikan Kakophony\n\n\u00a9 2014 Mike Mihaljevich\n\nSounds of Profit\n\nI can't escape the noise\nSeeping from apartments\nEnveloping me\nLike a contagion\nInfecting the quietude\nI had nursed\n\nHow can I think poetic thoughts?\nWhat would philosophers say\nOf environs where crickets and\nFrogs are hushed\nBy the sounds of profit?<\/pre>\n
Age of Materialism, # 3\n\nMaterialism has\nBecome our God\nAnd to the future\nWe shall be known as\nThe Indifferent,\nThe Disdainful\nOblivious before all signs\nOf the Collapse.\nNero's electronic accompanists\nPlaying punkish cacophonies\n\nThere will be no dispute\nAbout these generations\nOf the selfish & narcissistic\nNo orgy of cries will arise\nTo apologize for this\nMega-idiocy of men & minds\nBent on destruction\nWho argue like adolescents\nAnd sell ideas at garage sales\nTo a public too weary to doubt\nAnxious for facile answers<\/pre>\n
Everyone in Amerika (verses #1-4)\n\nI invited everyone in Amerika\nTo my home\nMuch to my surprise\nThey all showed up\n\nI showered them with gifts and dinner\nThey took the gifts\nWithout so much as a thank-you\nFought during their repast\nThen left without offering to clean up\n\nTheir belligerence and rudeness\nUpset me\nBut I knew that it was\nSimply poor upbringing\nOr at least wanted to believe so\n\nThe culture disintegrates daily &\n\nI'm a witness to a montage\nOf poignant lunacy which is guzzled\nBy shameless millions<\/pre>\n
Robots in Coats & Ties, Version #34\n\nRobots in coats & ties\nPurvey their lies & deceptions\nIn the media marketplace\nVying for the best packaging\nWhile consumers barter\nTheir common sense\nFor bits of data to be\nConsumed like fast food\n\nTired tv images waft\nAcross the nation's air-waves\nWielding distorted images\nAs passive onlookers suffer\nAn onslaught of evil incantations\nIncarnated into sound & visuals\nSweet words & pretty faces\nMeant to sell stale stuff\n\nOur modern-day heroes\nSaviors clothed in coats & ties\nFalse messengers of the Gods\nManipulators of mortals\nTruly reminiscent of a Greek\nComedy of tragic proportions\nAnd a very foreign policy<\/pre>\n
An Old Ritual, #2\n\nThe Indians said the White man\nSpoke with forked tongue\nSplitting truth into pieces\nWords sliding out of mouth\nLike an eel through the slime\nOf evil intentions\n\nSoldiers came with Great White Father\nProclamations bearing\nSeductive gifts conveying\nWarm-hearted assurances\nMeant to pacify Indian anxiety\nMeant to lure Indian heads into\nThe noose of suffocating White man ways\n\nWords worming their way\nInto the susceptible hearts of a\nPeople unfamiliar with\nInvestments, profits, and greed\nFor whom promises need not be written\nOr affixed with the signature of a\nWitness nor stamped and certified\nWith an affidavit<\/pre>\n
Society as an Edsel\n\nOur society is an Edsel\nMalfunctioning\nCareening down a disintegrating\nHighway of superfluous information\n\nUnder the stress and strain\nOf the twin Gods of materialism and status\nChildren gaze at their parents\nAnd wonder who they are\n\nMom, who are you?\nDad, what are you?\nIs it any wonder they reach\nFor symbols of alienated inhabitants\nOf the ghetto\n\nBut our nobel-prize winning academics\nJust don't get it\nIt's amazing\nAdults have bought the line, hook and sinker\nSomething's wrong\nThe roof is crumbling, tumbling down\nBut somehow they don't notice\nThat the pillars are cracked\n\nAnd so, we clutch onto each other\nFasten our seat belts\nAnd race down the mountainside\nTo what we know not<\/pre>\n
Searching for Truth (Verses # 1-3)\n\nI went searching for truth in newspapers\nBut all I found\nWere the opinions of the rich\nScrawled in peasant blood\n\nI went searching for Truth\nLeafing through Newsweek & Time\nExamining facts & explanations\nBut all that stared back at me\nWere editorial decision-making\nAbout what could be published\nWithout jeopardizing the myths\nOf the rich & powerful\n\nI went searching for truth\nIn evening newscasts,\nHoping to read\nIn between the lines\nOf political apologists\nBut all I could see\/hear\nWere beautiful people\nRepeating a mantra\nOf rehearsed lines\nScripted by others\nTaking home million dollar paychecks<\/pre>\n
The Bureaucrat\n\nHe orders us about\nFrom the tormented\nCell of his soul\nLashes out at us with\nSweet word-appeals\nTo our idiocy and falseness\nHe brings out the worst in us\n\nIn his tangled mind\nHe weaves ideas\nHe has heard from others\nAnd, smilingly, holds meetings\nAt which we feign attention\nThen walk away wringing\nFrom sleeves anxious perspiration\n\nWe are as marionettes\nAnd respond accordingly\nDancing on the stage of his world\nWhere actions contradict thoughts\n\nSubject to and regulated by\nRules and policies from on high\nBureaucracies are to homo sapiens\nAs assembly lines are to objects<\/pre>\n
Golly-Gosh-Gee Whiz Type of Guy\n\nHe was bred\nTo be an administrator\nSmooth, diplomatic, tactful, friendly\nHe had gone to the\nRonald Reagan Finishing School\nAfter attending\nRichard Nixon College where\nHe studied Ethics and wrote a paper\nOn the Reconciliation of\nTruth with Duplicity\nFor which he received a B+\n\nHe was at ease in all situations\nIncapable of sterner emotions\nStuck in boyhood,\nSay....about 12 years old\nHe had a great golly-gosh-gee whiz\nAttitude that said it all\nHe was at home in all situations\nHe loved the pat on the back\nThe pat on the butt\nThe pat answer\n\nHe agreed with the majority\nAnd convincingly so\nWith a sincerity\nAn amiableness\nThat pushed him to the top\nOf the bureaucratic pyramid<\/pre>\n
Children of Today\n\nChildren of today\nSlumbering in\nA mesmerized stupor\nOf evaporated Dreams\nReach out for a meaning\nWhere none exists\n\nSeeking stability\nIn a vacuum of ideals\nTaught to parley\nTheir thoughts into cliches\nLike vulcanized Indians\nThey have no retort\nExcept to report a litany\nRehearsed in classrooms<\/pre>\n
Land of the Free\n\nIn the land of the free\nThere are some eighty million plus\nHostages of a peculiar mind set\n\nDuring the day, they venture out\nOn sorties for their daily sustenance\nOnly to return to their\nGlorified cells to hide from\nThe nocturnal offspring\nOf Ignorance, Karma, & Poverty\n\nIn the cities, lurking in all\nNeighborhoods, fear is the\nCommon equalizer\nNeighbors are aliens\nFences, driveways demarcate properties\nSymbols of private realms\nHiding inside houses\nDouble and triple locked\nCurtains drawn even during the day\nBarred windows, warning systems\nNeighborhood watch signs\nWatch dogs guard possessions and lives\nIn the land of the free &\nHome of the brave<\/pre>\n
Jellyfish Eyes\n\nIt's all liquid to them\nThem with the jellyfish eyes\nThey ogle through the ooze of their minds\nAnd sometimes tangle with Real Thoughts\nNot knowing what to make of them\n\nIf they met Jesus\nThey would say something like\nOh yeah, he was hip\nBut he had a big ego\nYeah, his truth was real deep\nI mean, \"I am the father\"\nWaycool, man\n\nThen it's time for a mocha java\nOr some yuppie drink\nI don't know what the stuff is\nI imagine it's made to derange\nAnd rearrange brain cells\n\n(and, still, the pets of materialism\nare snorting and injecting goofy ideas;\ndownloading the latest in babbleonian\nnewage ideas into their brains and bladders\nand spitting and spilling it over goblets\nthey hold like silver penises,\nadmiringly praising their erectile structure)<\/pre>\n
The Nouveau Consumer\n\nI see it all now\nChildren of the modern aged\nIndustrialized, consumer-surfeited\nSociety\nGrow up until 7 or 13 to become\nIdeal consumer junkies\nThat mean age required by the beast\nPre-ordained by the profit masters\nOf technology\n\nGenerations bred in\nNarcissistic hedonism\nBrain-washed to enjoy\nThe freedom to buy\nVirtually no struggle\nYours for the grasping\nUnfettered indulgence\nFreedom become license\nFor nonsense\nUnchecked, unthought buying power\n\nToday's freedom lovers are\nTomorrow's consumer-lackeys\nUncle Sam may one day\nWant you for cannon fodder\n\nBut now needs you for the\nMarketplace\nYou're our only hope: Buy or Die<\/pre>\n
Space Invaders\n\nI surveyed my apartment\nAfter Christmas\nAnd noted the invasion\nI have loss eight cubic feet of space\n\nAliens stare back unflinchingly\nAnchored in terra firma\nA newly acquired colony\nFrom which there will be no uprooting\n\nThe inanimate snicker contemptuously\nAnd eerily, suck at vital molecules of air\nTo which I am so slavishly attached\n\nI curse them\nThey spit back\nMy thoughts to me\nIn twisted forms\n\nThey convey my addiction to them daily\nI hear their whispers during the night\nReminding me of the caricature\nThat I am\nThat we all are:\nMere appendages to things<\/pre>\n
Nothing Untouched\n\nHumans can leave\nNothing untouched\nMeddling has become\nA psychic addiction\nWith which to dance away\nLife in a meaningless barbarism\nOf mazes & dice\n\nSearching for answers\nIn supermarkets\nAnd entertainment jungles\nAspiring to simple\nJuvenile delights,\nDeliverance is sought\nAt the hands of\nNew Age pseudo-sages\n\nMini-minds marveling\nAt all things material\nAs if to say,\n\n\"That will make me happy\n\"This will make me happy\n\"And maybe this...\n\"And that also....\nAd infinitum<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amerikan Kakophony \u00a9 2014 Mike Mihaljevich Sounds of Profit I can’t escape the noise Seeping from apartments Enveloping me Like a contagion Infecting the quietude I had nursed How can I think poetic thoughts? What would philosophers say Of environs where crickets and Frogs are hushed By the sounds of profit? Age of Materialism, # … Continue reading American Kakophony, poems by Mikhail Branski<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2041,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions\/2041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceanpark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}