Its a Lesson Plan

By: Roger Harkness

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Basically, we live in an imperfect world so that we can learn perfection.  Life is about learning.  Written in 2008.

From Mark’s Picasa Web Album

THE AFTER LOOKOUT

I stand back aft
Not knowing what time it is
Not knowing where I’m at
Its been some time
I don’t know how much further
Don’t know when I last
Had a chance
To rest
My insides empty in the dark of night
God is here
I’m scared to death
Ice flows down my back
Falling to the deck
I can only think of three words to say
God help me

By: Roger Harkness

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This is a real life poem about my life in the Navy.  In a three section watch, you would stand watch for 4 hours and be off for 8 hours before you stood watch again, however, you also worked regular work days.  There would be special details (replenishment at sea and helo ops were the most common).  You would have general quarter drills and fire drills.  These things could happen at anytime.  So basically, you could go a long time without sleep and or only time to take short naps, but either way, you get real tired.  The first thing that goes is your sense of time.  Fifteen minutes or fifteen hours, you can’t tell the difference.  Yes it is weird.  Well anyways, in this poem, I was standing after lookout in the black of night trying to do mathematical equations in my head and couldn’t figure out simple math like four plus four minus four and it was very disturbing, crying out for help into the darkness, it felt like my creator was there.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OKLAHOMA CITY — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Rice said Congress needs to focus on Middle Class relief now more than ever after a report Tuesday showing that wholesale prices have risen 9.8 percent from just one year ago. [Source:  U.S. Department of Labor, 8/19/08.]

“This is the largest annual wholesale inflation rate since the early 1980s,” Rice said. “The Bush-Cheney-Inhofe economic plan has put another $50,000 in every millionaire’s pockets this year alone, but working Oklahomans get price spikes in energy, food, health care and tuition.  After 22 years in Washington, Jim Inhofe has lost sight of who he’s supposed to be fighting for.”

Rice said the rapid inflation taking a toll on middle class Oklahomans and small businesses in the state emphasizes a need for change in Washington.

“We need to look at the way Washington has been working and then change who it works for,” Rice said. “The tax cuts should go to the middle class.  They should not go to the millionaires and big oil companies like Jim Inhofe has supported for the last eight years.  That Bush-Inhofe approach clearly is not working for ordinary Oklahoma families.”

The report, released by the U.S. Labor Department, shows energy prices inflated by 3.1 percent in July, 6 percent in June and 4.9 percent in May.

“We know there is a supply and demand problem for energy,” Rice said. “But we have known that for 10 years.  That’s why we need to break our dependence on oil.  Unfortunately, Jim Inhofe, President Bush and Dick Cheney continue to push energy policies based on politics, not solutions.  The refusal or inability of these so-called leaders to stand up to Big Oil and work toward giving America control over its own economic future illustrates the worst of Washington.

“Oklahoma businessmen are already trying to build jobs and grow our economy with alternative energy in Oklahoma.  We have a revolutionary wind-power company in Norman, geo-thermal and solar companies in Oklahoma City and bio-diesel facilities in all corners of the state.  But Inhofe has stood in the way time and again, voting against redirecting tax breaks from big oil companies to these alternative energy entrepreneurs.  As T. Boone Pickens says, when wind, solar and other incentives come down from Washington, Oklahoma’s economy is poised to grow, but we need new leadership to make that happen.”

Rice said the issues are related.

“Since we have not invested in this new energy economy, we are seeing the worst inflation in a generation and a tremendous squeeze on the middle class,” he said.

Rice: ‘It’s time to put people before politics’
Poll shows State Sen. Andrew Rice
within single digits of Jim Inhofe

Press Release:
Monday, Aug. 18, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY — A poll released Monday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Rice Campaign shows strong momentum for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Rice and has him within striking distance of Sen. Jim Inhofe, who has been in Washington for 22 years.

Recent numbers show Rice at 41 to Inhofe’s 50 percent. The State Senator and Democratic Nominee for the U.S. Senate said it is time our representatives in Washington to put people before politics.

“As your U.S. Senator, I will do what is right for Oklahoma and bring people together from all sides and parties to find solutions,” Rice said. “These days, Oklahomans are struggling to pay for gas, worried about having health care and if their children are getting a quality education. It is not a time to play partisan politics. We need new leadership that will help find solutions to our problems.”

This latest poll is one more major sign that Oklahomans are looking for someone who will represent the people of Oklahoma first, not their political party. The Tulsa World’s Sooner Poll showed the race at 52-30 in June and 60-19 in December. This latest poll, conducted Aug. 12-14, shows a sure and steady climb in statewide support for Rice.

Inhofe, who has served in Washington for 22 years and has been in politics for 40, has a job approval rating of 46 percent, according to the latest poll.

“Jim Inhofe has been in Washington a long time. Having received more than $1 million in contributions from big oil, he has lost his way from when Oklahomans first elected him,” said Geri Prado, Rice’s campaign manager. “It’s time for a U.S. Senator who represents his constituents, not his contributors.”

LADY, LADY DAY

Mega winds blow
As I look
And know
I can’t have you
Lady
Lady Day
Your a special breed
One of a different seed
You smile more then a person should
You talk bad
But you’re good
Never get excited Never get upset
You know where your at
Yes, Lady
Lady Day
Knowone will have you
Because you have yourself
Mega winds blow
I know I have to leave you

By: Roger Harkness

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Written for an air traffic controller in Antarctica  in 1987.

Going forward and backwards I have two judgement poems back to back, I wonder what that means. Yes I do believe in an after life, and I believe that what we do here will determine our standing there.

Judgment Day Is Just Around The Corner

Words can kill and you’ve had your fill
Murdered a hundred and your killing them still
Telling your lies and stinking air
Making gray skys
A storm will come after you

The condemned and unforgiven
Live in a land of unliven
Where snakes hold up and the lizards crawl
Where the sun don’t shine
Wall to wall
Ain’t no living among the unforgiven
No life at all
Nothing living

At high rise of the moon
Piercing stars hide out of site
And it all comes out in the moonlight

In this rocky place
There is no water anyplace
There is no rest in this place
Don’t want to come here
Don’t want to be here
You don’t want to go there
You don’t want to be there
Don’t want to be in this place

Make it good before its done to you
You don’t want what you done
Done to you
Better make it good today
For judgment day is tomorrow

By Roger Harkness
The Okcitykid

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Do you believe in judgment day? It is a big part of my religious background. I question all of my religious background, even this, but I can’t help but believe in judgement. I have to believe that people who take advantage of others will someday, maybe in another place and time, will themselves be taken advantage of as they did to others. I just have to believe that what comes around goes around, that there just has to be justice. Such a belief, though I cannot know for sure if it is true or not, gives us hope, that if we do good, then goodness will be done to us.