Posts
Here I stand
With my pecker in my hand,
Helplessly pursuing
my own undoing
by spraying the seed of the
human weed
on every egg and ova I can find.
O Dong, O Dick,
You colossal ultra-prick
Bomb of concentrated frustration,
Fuse lit in anticipation,
A bead of sweat upon your brow,
Seeking that slippery place
Of friction and agitation,
To find that celebration
and relieve that tense sensation.
Letting go, without reservation,
A tremendous ejaculation.
O John, O Jock,
You grand super-cock,
You throbbing, burning volcano
Looming over the Earth
Erupting
Shooting your liquid fire
Over the land
A million sperm with each spasm,
rolling, squirming, swimming
Inexorably toward the
Womb Sea.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
12/28/2009
11/30/2009
Edison S. Fisk, A Citizen of the Century
CITIZENS OF THE CENTURY
(A Community Celebration Honoring Kitsap Elders)
Bremerton, Washington
April 8, 2000
EDISON S. FISK
Born May 30, 1915, in Seattle, WA
Kitsap resident since 1970
Career: Electrician
The following excerpts are quoted from The Bremerton Sun, July 15, 1955; articles in full are on file at the Museum and on microfiche at Kitsap Library:
To some, he is Kitsap County’s original anti-war activist.
To others, he is the renegade anti-establishment Buffalo Party candidate who went after the late Henry M. Jackson’s U.S. Senate seat in 1970.
To still others, he is the maker of the most famous protest sign in Bremerton’s history.
…(D)uring the Vietnam War, Fisk’s name often appeared in the pages of The Sun.
It all began in 1965, when the outspoken Fisk began writing letters to the editor—more than 100 in all—blasting the Vietnam War effort. As a result, his name became well known in Kitsap County, if not well loved.
By 1968, Fisk’s name began to appear regularly in the news columns. That was after he began taking part in anti-war protests in downtown Bremerton and at Olympic College.
“We had good, fundamentalist ministers throwing eggs at us.” …
His notoriety skyrocketed when he paraded in front of Bremerton’s Army recruiting office displaying a sign saying: “The Grateful Society: Bombs, Bullets, Battleships and Bullshit.”
Although such a sign would hardly raise an eyebrow today, it was bad enough in those days to get Fisk arrested for disorderly conduct.
And, because the word “bullshit” was banned in the pages of The Sun then, news stories about the sign replaced the word with dots and an explanation describing it as an “eight-letter alliterative vulgarity.”
Fisk eventually was found guilty of the disorderly conduct charge and sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $300 fine… The sentence was dropped five years later after Bremerton city officials delayed in complying with a court order stemming from an appeal of the case…in 1972 (Fisk) burned all of his protest signs in a symbolic renunciation of public protest as a means of social change.
… (H)e feels anti-nuclear protesters (as of 1955) are well-intentioned but “naïve.”
“They’ve got to get beyond that “war is hell” thing,” he said. “A good portion of (jobs in the United States) are war-oriented. What are all those people going to do for a living if we disarm—unless we change our economic policies?”
… “I’ll talk to anybody who will listen,” he said.
Another article on file at the Museum or on microfiche at Kitsap Library is from The Sun, January 18, 1993, headlined Pinky Fisk recalls King’s old idea.
[Excerpt: "Notes from the guests of honor," Kitsap County Historical Society, April 8, 2000, pp. 25-26]
* * * * *
HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Contributions of a lifetime
By Terri Gleich, For The Sun
Published Sunday, April 9, 2000
Kitsap 'Citizens of the Century' get together to remember
http://m.kitsapsun.com/news/2000/Apr/09/historical-society-contributions-of-a-lifetime/
11/29/2009
Edison 'Pinky' Fisk 1915-2009
'Pinky' Fisk, a Passionate Protester and 'Gentle Soul,' Passes at 94
Kitsap County lost one of its “characters” last week.
Edison “Pinky” Fisk, who gained local notoriety in the late 1960s in Bremerton as an antiwar protester, died at 94 on Friday the 13th, a notion he would probably find humorous, said his wife, Kay Wilson Fisk.
Those who knew him spoke of his complexity. He had a gruff exterior and the “vocabulary of a longshoreman,” according to Wilson Fisk. He worked as an electrician and had no formal education beyond high school.
On the flip side was a man who played the flute, wrote poetry and, according to his friend Kitsap pianist Dr. Irene Bowling, was in his heart a “marshmallow.”
“It grieved him to the point of tears to see the injustices and cruelties of the world,” Bowling wrote in an e-mail.
Wilson Fisk characterized the contradiction between the impressions he could leave and relationships he made by saying, “He could rub people the wrong way, but he was really a gentle soul.”
Read more:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/nov/20/pinky-a-passionate-protester-and-gentle-soul-at/
Kitsap County lost one of its “characters” last week.
Edison “Pinky” Fisk, who gained local notoriety in the late 1960s in Bremerton as an antiwar protester, died at 94 on Friday the 13th, a notion he would probably find humorous, said his wife, Kay Wilson Fisk.
Those who knew him spoke of his complexity. He had a gruff exterior and the “vocabulary of a longshoreman,” according to Wilson Fisk. He worked as an electrician and had no formal education beyond high school.
On the flip side was a man who played the flute, wrote poetry and, according to his friend Kitsap pianist Dr. Irene Bowling, was in his heart a “marshmallow.”
“It grieved him to the point of tears to see the injustices and cruelties of the world,” Bowling wrote in an e-mail.
Wilson Fisk characterized the contradiction between the impressions he could leave and relationships he made by saying, “He could rub people the wrong way, but he was really a gentle soul.”
By Steven Gardner for The Kitsap Sun - November 20, 2009
Read more:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/nov/20/pinky-a-passionate-protester-and-gentle-soul-at/
10/04/2009
Patriotism
A culture which postpones rather than
Stimulates sexual experience in young
Adults is a culture most prone to progress.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
It is apparent the laws prohibiting
Obscenity and pornography have played an
Important role in the creativity and
Excellence of our system and our society.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
These laws have played an important part
In our people coming so far and achieving
So much.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Stimulates sexual experience in young
Adults is a culture most prone to progress.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
It is apparent the laws prohibiting
Obscenity and pornography have played an
Important role in the creativity and
Excellence of our system and our society.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
These laws have played an important part
In our people coming so far and achieving
So much.
Uncle Sam!
I am going to Fuck you to a standstill.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
9/27/2009
The Ecology Song
Homo sapiens
This unusual and highly successful species
Spends a great deal of time examining his
higher motives
And an equal amount of time studiously
Ignoring his fundamental ones.
He is proud that he has the biggest brain
Of the primates
But attempts to conceal the fact
That he has the biggest penis.
Clearly, he is the sexiest primate alive.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Red Tide
G. breve belongs to the dinoflagellates,
Whirling organisms with whip-like appendages
An uncommonly talented class of plankton.
Dinoflagellates use sunlight to
Transform sea nutrients into energy.
A red eye spot guides them
To their proper light levels.
Like men, Dinoflagellates are mobile,
Driven by currents, winds, and their
Slim whiplike appendages.
Under a microscope they are
As exquisite as tiny jewel boxes.
These unique organisms, half-animal,
Half-plant, drift cloudlike inside the sea,
Fine as fog, good grazing for fish and whales.
These clouds can, however,
Burst into frantic fertility.
G. breve will suddenly jump
From one thousand to the quart
To an incredible sixty million.
A bloom becomes so dense
That the eyespots of its members
Color the sea.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Optimism
It is still an open question
Whether man will be able to survive
The exceedingly complex
And unstable ecological conditions
He has created for himself.
If he fails in this task,
Interplanetary archeologists of the future
Will classify our planet
As one in which a very long and stable period
Of small scale hunting and gathering
Was followed by an apparently instantaneous
Efflorescence of technological society
Leading to extinction.
‘ Stratographically ‘
The origin of agriculture and
Thermo-nuclear destruction
Will appear
As essentially simultaneous.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
This unusual and highly successful species
Spends a great deal of time examining his
higher motives
And an equal amount of time studiously
Ignoring his fundamental ones.
He is proud that he has the biggest brain
Of the primates
But attempts to conceal the fact
That he has the biggest penis.
Clearly, he is the sexiest primate alive.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Red Tide
G. breve belongs to the dinoflagellates,
Whirling organisms with whip-like appendages
An uncommonly talented class of plankton.
Dinoflagellates use sunlight to
Transform sea nutrients into energy.
A red eye spot guides them
To their proper light levels.
Like men, Dinoflagellates are mobile,
Driven by currents, winds, and their
Slim whiplike appendages.
Under a microscope they are
As exquisite as tiny jewel boxes.
These unique organisms, half-animal,
Half-plant, drift cloudlike inside the sea,
Fine as fog, good grazing for fish and whales.
These clouds can, however,
Burst into frantic fertility.
G. breve will suddenly jump
From one thousand to the quart
To an incredible sixty million.
A bloom becomes so dense
That the eyespots of its members
Color the sea.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Optimism
It is still an open question
Whether man will be able to survive
The exceedingly complex
And unstable ecological conditions
He has created for himself.
If he fails in this task,
Interplanetary archeologists of the future
Will classify our planet
As one in which a very long and stable period
Of small scale hunting and gathering
Was followed by an apparently instantaneous
Efflorescence of technological society
Leading to extinction.
‘ Stratographically ‘
The origin of agriculture and
Thermo-nuclear destruction
Will appear
As essentially simultaneous.
Chorus:
Oh we’re picking up the butts
And we’re breaking up the bottles
We’re saving up the cans
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
And we’re wiping our ass with our finger
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
9/26/2009
Letter from the Editor, The Woomera
Dear Reader:
Below find one poem by Edison S. Fisk. Elsewhere in this issue of The Woomera you will discover my initial treatment of this item. This second "printing" is here because I belately realized that just because my persoanl reaction to this "work" was one of revulsion, I did not have the right to conceal, muddy, or disguise it behind my overly clever printing and sketching..... What I created was a graphic portrayal of my own effort to cope with the emotions which this poem brought out of my inner places. And I was about to rob you of the experience of dealing with it in its raw and unadulterated form.... but I won't - here it is, you wrestle with it:
Babies are our Worst Enemies
The little shits are everywhere
They're under foot
And fill the air - - - -
with yowling - - - - and yammering
They'll eat us out of house and home
They suck - - - and bite
Eat up everything in sight
Man ! You just fucked yourself
out of a place at the table
Piss on you and piss on me
On the ground and in the sea.
The more they eat the more they shit
Just about drown us all in it.
Help stamp out live births.
Edison S. Fisk
Below find one poem by Edison S. Fisk. Elsewhere in this issue of The Woomera you will discover my initial treatment of this item. This second "printing" is here because I belately realized that just because my persoanl reaction to this "work" was one of revulsion, I did not have the right to conceal, muddy, or disguise it behind my overly clever printing and sketching..... What I created was a graphic portrayal of my own effort to cope with the emotions which this poem brought out of my inner places. And I was about to rob you of the experience of dealing with it in its raw and unadulterated form.... but I won't - here it is, you wrestle with it:
Babies are our Worst Enemies
The little shits are everywhere
They're under foot
And fill the air - - - -
with yowling - - - - and yammering
They'll eat us out of house and home
They suck - - - and bite
Eat up everything in sight
Man ! You just fucked yourself
out of a place at the table
Piss on you and piss on me
On the ground and in the sea.
The more they eat the more they shit
Just about drown us all in it.
Help stamp out live births.
Edison S. Fisk
Leviticus 19:18
Love Thy Neighbor.
Let's drop that one in the old
rationalizer
and give it a little twist,
like "Hi babe, let's make with
the love bit, hey!"
Fuck Thy Neighbor
if she is attractive and willing....
Damn good friends with her husband
and kids and your own wife...
You really like things as they are.
I don't know what to do with that one.
Let's try another kick.
Fuck Thy Neighbor
you know,
Grab any thing he's got
that you can get away with.
Now we're on solid ground.
Now we can really go.
We can build a whole damn
System
of how to get along with people,
call it Laissez Faire....
Like give and get.
Get every thing you can,
And give him shit.
(Now we got it) Fuck Thy Neighbor
Only we won't say it,
we'll just do it.
And we'll call it business,
big deal, smart move,
no sweat,
and we'll sell it to the world.
Love Thy Neighbor.
Let's try it once again.
We don't want no black bastard on our block.
No slant eyed jap or chink,
no kike or wop....
Keep them out.
Well, we could stretch our
list away out.
We could dehumanize them all.
There is only m
and a few good, clean, white
quiet folk just like me.
There's my neighbors,
love them all.
Thou Shalt Not Kill.
What that means is,
thou shalt not commit murder.
That's different.
That means thou shalt not
kill a neighbor.
Neat.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Let's drop that one in the old
rationalizer
and give it a little twist,
like "Hi babe, let's make with
the love bit, hey!"
Fuck Thy Neighbor
if she is attractive and willing....
Damn good friends with her husband
and kids and your own wife...
You really like things as they are.
I don't know what to do with that one.
Let's try another kick.
Fuck Thy Neighbor
you know,
Grab any thing he's got
that you can get away with.
Now we're on solid ground.
Now we can really go.
We can build a whole damn
System
of how to get along with people,
call it Laissez Faire....
Like give and get.
Get every thing you can,
And give him shit.
(Now we got it) Fuck Thy Neighbor
Only we won't say it,
we'll just do it.
And we'll call it business,
big deal, smart move,
no sweat,
and we'll sell it to the world.
Love Thy Neighbor.
Let's try it once again.
We don't want no black bastard on our block.
No slant eyed jap or chink,
no kike or wop....
Keep them out.
Well, we could stretch our
list away out.
We could dehumanize them all.
There is only m
and a few good, clean, white
quiet folk just like me.
There's my neighbors,
love them all.
Annex
Thou Shalt Not Kill.
What that means is,
thou shalt not commit murder.
That's different.
That means thou shalt not
kill a neighbor.
Neat.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Love-Triste
You want to know who spent the
night with me?
You want to know who came
and crawled in bed with me?
Who came mewling at my window
Until I let her in?
I offered her a drink
and she accepted it unreservedly,
and came and crawled in bed with me.
I rubbed her tits and belly
and she purred with sheer delight.
She didn't ask me questions
and she made no great demands.
She just wanted to be near me
Somehow feeling safe and close.
It was my very anti-social
little cat.
My very pregnant little cat
who takes her kittens to the woods
when people press too close.
She really wanted Janet,
but I would have to do.
So I and Snubby spent the night
very intimately,
and I was comforted too.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
night with me?
You want to know who came
and crawled in bed with me?
Who came mewling at my window
Until I let her in?
I offered her a drink
and she accepted it unreservedly,
and came and crawled in bed with me.
I rubbed her tits and belly
and she purred with sheer delight.
She didn't ask me questions
and she made no great demands.
She just wanted to be near me
Somehow feeling safe and close.
It was my very anti-social
little cat.
My very pregnant little cat
who takes her kittens to the woods
when people press too close.
She really wanted Janet,
but I would have to do.
So I and Snubby spent the night
very intimately,
and I was comforted too.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Love
A man is not just a great
big upright prick.
There is more to him
than that.
A woman is not just tits
and ass and cunt.
There is more to her
than that.
Life is not just a great
long fuck
There is more to love
than that.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
big upright prick.
There is more to him
than that.
A woman is not just tits
and ass and cunt.
There is more to her
than that.
Life is not just a great
long fuck
There is more to love
than that.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Business as Usual
Oh Lord of the market basket,
Keep the bomb flowing,
Keep the war going,
Keep the G.N.P. growing,
In the name of economics
We ask it.
Oh God of the status quo, Don't rock the boat,
Keep our hatreds afloat,
Make the Chinese the goat.
We may manage to survive
Even so.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Keep the bomb flowing,
Keep the war going,
Keep the G.N.P. growing,
In the name of economics
We ask it.
Oh God of the status quo, Don't rock the boat,
Keep our hatreds afloat,
Make the Chinese the goat.
We may manage to survive
Even so.
Edison "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
The World
The world was there to my delight.
I did not paint it with my sight.
I will not take the blame.
To see it, one thing.
To sense it, some thing.
To create it, not the same.
I did not create the world,
I found it.
And perhaps I changed it
Just a little.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
I did not paint it with my sight.
I will not take the blame.
To see it, one thing.
To sense it, some thing.
To create it, not the same.
I did not create the world,
I found it.
And perhaps I changed it
Just a little.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer (With Saving Clause)
I did not kill that cat
I am very sure of that.
It was dead on my arrival.
My seeing it there
caused me despair
but did not terminate its survival.
It's the things that don't exist
but still persist
by which our lives are most affected.
So let's not be found not looking around
at the phenomenal field.
Real world.
Objective world.
That cat got himself killed you see
without any help nor hindrance from me.
He should have stayed off the highway.
Maybe fleeing one terror
he made this unperceived error
but still it wasn't done my way.
It is not the known danger
but rather the stranger
that is apt to be our undoing.
O worry and despair
of the things we're aware
won't change the fate we're pursuing.
For it's the thing we don't know
That will cause us to go
to our death prematurely.
So let's not be blind, but look out behind
and perhaps we can assess
things more surely.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
I am very sure of that.
It was dead on my arrival.
My seeing it there
caused me despair
but did not terminate its survival.
It's the things that don't exist
but still persist
by which our lives are most affected.
So let's not be found not looking around
at the phenomenal field.
Real world.
Objective world.
That cat got himself killed you see
without any help nor hindrance from me.
He should have stayed off the highway.
Maybe fleeing one terror
he made this unperceived error
but still it wasn't done my way.
It is not the known danger
but rather the stranger
that is apt to be our undoing.
O worry and despair
of the things we're aware
won't change the fate we're pursuing.
For it's the thing we don't know
That will cause us to go
to our death prematurely.
So let's not be blind, but look out behind
and perhaps we can assess
things more surely.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
6/28/2009
Avoidance
Our problem is
not to solve our problems
But to avoid them.
Our problem is
not awareness
But selective awareness.
Our problem is
not to learn
But to specialize.
Our problem is
not to see
But to adjust our blinders.
Our problem is
not to hear
But to turn it off.
Our problem is
to maintain our comfort
In a world of suffering.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
not to solve our problems
But to avoid them.
Our problem is
not awareness
But selective awareness.
Our problem is
not to learn
But to specialize.
Our problem is
not to see
But to adjust our blinders.
Our problem is
not to hear
But to turn it off.
Our problem is
to maintain our comfort
In a world of suffering.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Alone Together
God is dead.
Where then shall we seek forgiveness?
Who then will forgive me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We shall have to learn to forgive ourselves.
I will have to learn to forgive myself.
God is dead.
Who then will comfort us?
Where can I get reassurance?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We must comfort one another,
Therefrom comes my confidence.
God is dead.
Where then will we find salvation?
Who then will save me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We must save ourselves !
We must save ourselves from our own cleverness.
I must release myself from my old traditions
If we are to be saved.
God is dead.
Who then will bear my guilt?
Who then will die for me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Guilt is emotional pain and can be healthy.
We just feel guilty about the wrong things,
And I don't want anyone
Dying for me.
God is dead.
Where then will we find restraint?
Who then will keep me from doing evil?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We will have to look to community,
We will have to take care of each other.
If my brother is wounded
I must hurt.
If my sister is burned
I must scream.
For the next time
It may be me.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Where then shall we seek forgiveness?
Who then will forgive me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We shall have to learn to forgive ourselves.
I will have to learn to forgive myself.
God is dead.
Who then will comfort us?
Where can I get reassurance?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We must comfort one another,
Therefrom comes my confidence.
God is dead.
Where then will we find salvation?
Who then will save me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We must save ourselves !
We must save ourselves from our own cleverness.
I must release myself from my old traditions
If we are to be saved.
God is dead.
Who then will bear my guilt?
Who then will die for me?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Guilt is emotional pain and can be healthy.
We just feel guilty about the wrong things,
And I don't want anyone
Dying for me.
God is dead.
Where then will we find restraint?
Who then will keep me from doing evil?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We will have to look to community,
We will have to take care of each other.
If my brother is wounded
I must hurt.
If my sister is burned
I must scream.
For the next time
It may be me.
Edison S. "Pinky" Fisk
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
6/21/2009
Ocean Trip
I stand on the wet, firm sand
And watch John climb that cliff
Of slippery shale and rotten rock.
John registered as a C.O. yesterday.
The tide is coming in,
The breakers roar,
The wet sand undercuts a bit.
John doesn't like the war.
It starts easy on the shale,
But soon grows steep
With few handholds.
He must make his case on conscience.
A few projecting rocks
Are all the holds there are;
They crumble in his hands.
He must convince the board with what he knows.
He inches upward,
Rocks slithering, tumbling down.
I could not go so far.
He has the wrong religion.
The ledge dissolves beneath his feet ---
He's stuck.
He can't go further.
He can't use God for aid.
He turns his head and asks, "Which way?"
I cannot urge him on
To seek the goal I cannot reach.
Most of us have feet of clay.
Coming down is even harder;
Rocks flying, coat preceding...
At last he's safe
Down here with me.
The tide is higher, the wind is up,
The scud is beautiful
Blowing and rolling across the beach.
The sand is not so firm today.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
And watch John climb that cliff
Of slippery shale and rotten rock.
John registered as a C.O. yesterday.
The tide is coming in,
The breakers roar,
The wet sand undercuts a bit.
John doesn't like the war.
It starts easy on the shale,
But soon grows steep
With few handholds.
He must make his case on conscience.
A few projecting rocks
Are all the holds there are;
They crumble in his hands.
He must convince the board with what he knows.
He inches upward,
Rocks slithering, tumbling down.
I could not go so far.
He has the wrong religion.
The ledge dissolves beneath his feet ---
He's stuck.
He can't go further.
He can't use God for aid.
He turns his head and asks, "Which way?"
I cannot urge him on
To seek the goal I cannot reach.
Most of us have feet of clay.
Coming down is even harder;
Rocks flying, coat preceding...
At last he's safe
Down here with me.
The tide is higher, the wind is up,
The scud is beautiful
Blowing and rolling across the beach.
The sand is not so firm today.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
6/14/2009
Bitter Easter
It's kind of the shits to get killed in the spring
For reasons that seem to be obvious.
The world is just coming to life again
and I am full of anticipation.
We could at least wait 'til next winter
when the world is starting to die again.
(But I am forgetting the Australians .....
and the Africans ..... and the South Americans.)
They are playing Russian Roulette in South Viet Nam
and they are using my head and yours.
If I have to be burned, I would like it to be
for something that I stand for.
(Like maybe South Africa ..... Selma ..... or Whiskey Gulch.)
-------------------------------------------
When I say "THEY" I am talking about my government
by consent of the governed,
But they didn't ask me.
-------------------------------------------
They won't even listen
But they didn't ask me.
I suppose we must put the torch to the human nest,
because good will has such narrow horizons.
The United States has the means, and it looks like
the will.
I am kind of ashamed for my country.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
For reasons that seem to be obvious.
The world is just coming to life again
and I am full of anticipation.
We could at least wait 'til next winter
when the world is starting to die again.
(But I am forgetting the Australians .....
and the Africans ..... and the South Americans.)
They are playing Russian Roulette in South Viet Nam
and they are using my head and yours.
If I have to be burned, I would like it to be
for something that I stand for.
(Like maybe South Africa ..... Selma ..... or Whiskey Gulch.)
-------------------------------------------
When I say "THEY" I am talking about my government
by consent of the governed,
But they didn't ask me.
-------------------------------------------
They won't even listen
But they didn't ask me.
I suppose we must put the torch to the human nest,
because good will has such narrow horizons.
The United States has the means, and it looks like
the will.
I am kind of ashamed for my country.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Search and Destroy
We are chewing them up
and mowing them down.
We are bombing the North
and bombing the South
and Business is good.
We are mopping them up
and wiping them out
oh God we're brave.
Heliborn flying horsemen
with cigarette sensing
mechanical noses
will wipe out any group
that it smells for miles.
No Smoking.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
and mowing them down.
We are bombing the North
and bombing the South
and Business is good.
We are mopping them up
and wiping them out
oh God we're brave.
Heliborn flying horsemen
with cigarette sensing
mechanical noses
will wipe out any group
that it smells for miles.
No Smoking.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
6/06/2009
The Holy City
War makes prosperity
War makes us great
War is good for business
War fulfills our fate.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
War creates heroes
War makes us proud.
War is exciting
And stimulates the crowd.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
War is traditional
It will reduce the population
If a little war won't do it
Then try escalation.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Ol' Elby will take care of us
He has built that reputation
He can always find a way
To continue escalation.
Hooray for L.B.J. !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Before our military build up
R.I.F. was staring at us
But now with escalation
Full employment is our status.
Hooray for Escalation !
Chorus: Huzzanga
The U.S.A. is the most powerful nation on earth
It's terribly right and strong.
In fact, this is true to such a degree
That for every small nation who wants to be free
We must undo their every internal political wrong.
Hooray for Manifest Destiny !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Solo: Huzzanga in the Highest,
Huzzanga for Evermore.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
War makes us great
War is good for business
War fulfills our fate.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
War creates heroes
War makes us proud.
War is exciting
And stimulates the crowd.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
War is traditional
It will reduce the population
If a little war won't do it
Then try escalation.
Hooray for War !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Ol' Elby will take care of us
He has built that reputation
He can always find a way
To continue escalation.
Hooray for L.B.J. !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Before our military build up
R.I.F. was staring at us
But now with escalation
Full employment is our status.
Hooray for Escalation !
Chorus: Huzzanga
The U.S.A. is the most powerful nation on earth
It's terribly right and strong.
In fact, this is true to such a degree
That for every small nation who wants to be free
We must undo their every internal political wrong.
Hooray for Manifest Destiny !
Chorus: Huzzanga
Solo: Huzzanga in the Highest,
Huzzanga for Evermore.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Details
I know some of the little chickenshit things
That you and I must do
To keep things going...
I have done them and
I still do -- what I must
Reluctantly
Right now I am more concerned
With the Grand Fuck-up
In which you and I participate
With the little chickenshit things
That we must do
I, at least, RELUCTANTLY.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
That you and I must do
To keep things going...
I have done them and
I still do -- what I must
Reluctantly
Right now I am more concerned
With the Grand Fuck-up
In which you and I participate
With the little chickenshit things
That we must do
I, at least, RELUCTANTLY.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Always Be Safe
Be cautious, be prudent, be safe.
Don't ever take any risk.
You're a fool if you do,
you may end up in the stew,
Always be safe.
Be patient, be prudent, be safe.
Always be bland.
Don't ever be loud,
go along with the crowd,
Always be safe.
Be cautious, be prudent, be safe.
Forever strive to be pure.
Your voice may be stilled,
you may even get killed.
Always be safe.
Be patient, be tolerant,be safe.
It's the only way to fly.
Don't ever take a stand
or you might get canned.
Always be safe.
Be subtle, be obscure, be vague.
Don't let them know what you think.
If they know what you said
they may knock off your head.
Always be safe.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Don't ever take any risk.
You're a fool if you do,
you may end up in the stew,
Always be safe.
Be patient, be prudent, be safe.
Always be bland.
Don't ever be loud,
go along with the crowd,
Always be safe.
Be cautious, be prudent, be safe.
Forever strive to be pure.
Your voice may be stilled,
you may even get killed.
Always be safe.
Be patient, be tolerant,be safe.
It's the only way to fly.
Don't ever take a stand
or you might get canned.
Always be safe.
Be subtle, be obscure, be vague.
Don't let them know what you think.
If they know what you said
they may knock off your head.
Always be safe.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
5/31/2009
1966
I cry for the Vietnamese people.
Their doom is sealed, I'm afraid.
My country's so scared,
we will cut them to bits
and pound their land to a pulp.
We bomb them and burn them
and gas them.
(It's for Freedom)
We burn their huts to the ground.
(It's to save them)
If we weary
there is always the bomb.
We send our young men over to
Kill them,
Purged of unpure thoughts
holy
of one mind and purpose they go
(Propaganda, censorship,
indoctrination, briefing,
court-martial, dishonorable
discharge, Jail, disgrace)
to do their duty.
Do not share any differing opinions.
(Mud Mail)
(Send them candy)
(Send them soap)
(some doubts have crept into your mind)
(they'll tell you, about Peace-niks,
draft card burners, Communists, mud,
insects, no sleep, booby traps,
can't trust any native)
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Their doom is sealed, I'm afraid.
My country's so scared,
we will cut them to bits
and pound their land to a pulp.
We bomb them and burn them
and gas them.
(It's for Freedom)
We burn their huts to the ground.
(It's to save them)
If we weary
there is always the bomb.
We send our young men over to
Kill them,
Purged of unpure thoughts
holy
of one mind and purpose they go
(Propaganda, censorship,
indoctrination, briefing,
court-martial, dishonorable
discharge, Jail, disgrace)
to do their duty.
Do not share any differing opinions.
(Mud Mail)
Be cheerful and bland and encouraging.
(Send them candy)
To die for your county's the greatest.
(Send them soap)
Cheer them up.
But if you want to know why
we are fighting,
we are fighting,
(some doubts have crept into your mind)
Just ask these young men.
(they'll tell you, about Peace-niks,
draft card burners, Communists, mud,
insects, no sleep, booby traps,
can't trust any native)
Then you will know.
I weep for the Vietnamese people.
With friends like us
they don't need
any
enemies.
With friends like us
they don't need
any
enemies.
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
5/30/2009
Fisking the Establishment
Fisking the Establishment's
Like goosing a prudish prig.
Senses shocked, ghost crashes roof
Screaming God's vengence.
Fisking the Establishment
Frazzles nice citizen nerves.
Citizen needs police protection
Against pink man with big idea
That blasting and burning people
Is not a nice way
To win a lasting peace,
Or even a cease-fire.
Fisky Pink's ammunition
Is well-chosen words
And a caloused cheek
Ready to turn again
In the cause of peace.
C. Allen Burr
________________
Burr, C. Allen. "Introduction." In Pinky Fisk, An Anthology of Obscene Thoughts and Poetry. (c. 1969-1972)
(copr. Edison S. Fisk and C. Allen Burr, c. 1969-1972, 2009. All rights reserved.)
Day 1 of Year 94
Happy Birthday Pinky!
Pinky says he was born on "The Real Memorial Day," which used to fall on May 30 before the creation of the Three Day Weekend.
It is a fitting day for the birth of a man best known as standing for peace.
5/27/2009
Omni Quid Bumbalari...
"All This Bumbling Must Mean Something"
- Pinky Fisk
As far as he knew, Pinky made up the word bumbalari based on two years of high school Latin. He studied hard because he was terrified of his teacher. She would point her finger at arms length, singling out the student selected to recite the Latin answer to her question. One didn't want to be caught unprepared.
However, a search for the term bumbalari brings up a few hits in Portuguese, including this Google translation:If they do please let's take a big Hip Hip Hooray, to celebrate the arrival of spring! And to show my joy I leave you the lyrics of a song so beautiful that I learned in school music education, now here goes ...
I like flowers, birds singing
In the spring, always singing,
Voices of a thousand songs sound the air ...
Bumbalari, bumbalari, bumbalari, bumbalari
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://cuskisses.blogspot.com/2009/03/ela-chegou.html&ei=qFTNSsbbMYOuswOKw9m2Dg&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbumbalari%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS_en
© Edison S. Fisk, 2009. All rights reserved.
Obscene Thoughts and Poetry
This blog will feature works from An Anthology of Obscene Thoughts and Poetry by Edison "Pinky" Fisk. Pinky wrote most of these words during the turbulent war protest days of the 60s and 70s.
Those heady days were recalled by columnist Adele Ferguson:
"Edison 'Pinky' Fisk was Bremerton's most famous anti-war activist in the 1960s and 1970s, once getting himself arrested for carrying a sign downtown that read 'The Grateful Society, Bombs, Bullets, Battleships and B--- ----."
(Adele Ferguson, "Pinky Fisk recalls King's old idea," Kitsap Sun, 1/18/1993)
A decade later, the home town paper recalled:
"For sheer eccentricity, small protests outside the U.S. armed forces recruiting offices in downtown Bremerton during the 1960s and 1970s are fondly remembered now by those who took part.
"The protests, started during the Vietnam War by a local character in his 50s named Edison 'Pinky' Fisk, usually only attracted four or five people at most.
"But they were Kitsap County's first war protests, and Fisk was arrested three or four times -- once for disturbing the peace when he paraded around with a protest sign proclaiming, 'The Grateful Society: Bombs, Bullets, Battleships and Bull----.'
"The sign was returned five years later when charges against him were dropped."
("Kitsap County no stranger to big rallies," Kitsap Sun, 3/2/2003)
(Apparently by 2003 it was considered safe to print "Bull----.")
What you have to understand is that Bremerton, home of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, has always been a Navy town. To stand outside the Shipyard in those days with an anti-war sign took the kind of courage most of us will never muster.
Interestingly, Pinky says that he had better conversations about the war with many of the Shipyard workers than he did with his "liberal" friends.
This blog is going live today as a tribute to Pinky's 94th birthday, which we celebrated Saturday. He called Thursday to announce, "In two days I'll be an old man." Old in years, perhaps, but ageless at heart. His eyes and legs may not work so well these days, but his wit isn't in bad shape.
- K (the "k" in PinKy)
Those heady days were recalled by columnist Adele Ferguson:
"Edison 'Pinky' Fisk was Bremerton's most famous anti-war activist in the 1960s and 1970s, once getting himself arrested for carrying a sign downtown that read 'The Grateful Society, Bombs, Bullets, Battleships and B--- ----."
(Adele Ferguson, "Pinky Fisk recalls King's old idea," Kitsap Sun, 1/18/1993)
A decade later, the home town paper recalled:
"For sheer eccentricity, small protests outside the U.S. armed forces recruiting offices in downtown Bremerton during the 1960s and 1970s are fondly remembered now by those who took part.
"The protests, started during the Vietnam War by a local character in his 50s named Edison 'Pinky' Fisk, usually only attracted four or five people at most.
"But they were Kitsap County's first war protests, and Fisk was arrested three or four times -- once for disturbing the peace when he paraded around with a protest sign proclaiming, 'The Grateful Society: Bombs, Bullets, Battleships and Bull----.'
"The sign was returned five years later when charges against him were dropped."
("Kitsap County no stranger to big rallies," Kitsap Sun, 3/2/2003)
(Apparently by 2003 it was considered safe to print "Bull----.")
What you have to understand is that Bremerton, home of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, has always been a Navy town. To stand outside the Shipyard in those days with an anti-war sign took the kind of courage most of us will never muster.
Interestingly, Pinky says that he had better conversations about the war with many of the Shipyard workers than he did with his "liberal" friends.
This blog is going live today as a tribute to Pinky's 94th birthday, which we celebrated Saturday. He called Thursday to announce, "In two days I'll be an old man." Old in years, perhaps, but ageless at heart. His eyes and legs may not work so well these days, but his wit isn't in bad shape.
- K (the "k" in PinKy)
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