Our Great Union

OUR GREAT UNION

Alabama – From Obama To the Bahamas

Alaska - The “I’ll Ask Her” State

Arizona – Wide Open Arid Zones

Arkansas – Capital of Our Kansas

California – Even the Caliph Fornicates

Colorado – I Do, And So Can You

Connecticut – Connect the Dots

Delaware – Served With Silverware And Earthenware

Florida - Where You Go If Cuba Want To Get Ridda Ya

Georgia – Virginia’s Slutty Twin Sister

Hawaii -- No Man Is An Island

Idaho – You Da Pimp

Illinois - More Noise Than You Can Handle

Indiana -- In Memoriam of The Indians We Killed

Iowa – The Land of Milk And Honey

Kansas -- Not Pronounced “Ken’s Ass”

Kentucky – Getting’ Lucky In Kentucky

Louisiana – When Your Mouth Gets Too Lazy To Articulate

Maine – Might As Well Be Canada

Maryland – Where Everyone Is A Winner

Massachusetts – Chew Before You Swallow.

Michigan – Meshugana

Minnesota – Don’cha’no

Mississippi – Ms. I Pee-Pee Eye

Missouri – The Show-Me State

Montana – Forgot How To Spell “Mountain”

Nebraska – Home of The Bugle, Bagel, And Beagle

Nevada – Dirtier Than The Bed You Sleep On

New Hampshire – With A Name Bigger Than The State

New Jersey – The Anglo Nueva Yersey

New Mexico – The Best Vowel To End A Word With

New York – Better Than The Old York

North Carolina – Beauty And Brains

North Dakota – Like Salt To A Wound

Ohio – Japanese For: Good Morning

Oklahoma – There Is No Place Like Home’a

Oregon -- Going, Going, Gone

Pennsylvania – Pen Or Pencil Is It?

Rhode Island – Misleading Advertisement

South Carolina – Never Lose Your Car Keys Here

South Dakota – I’m Rushing To Mount More And More

Tennessee – Capital of Bookkeepers

Texas – And The Broken Hearts Brigade

Utah – An Emotional Desert

Vermont – Un Petit État

Virginia – Georgia’s Prude Twin Sister

Washington – Where the Sun Don’t Shine

West Virginia – Because One Virginia Was Not Enough

Wisconsin – Whose Cousin?

Wyoming – Back of The Bus, Bottom of The Barrel

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

My 3 Cats

MY 3 CATS

We have three cats in the apartment.

They are all house-cats.

Born inside.

Raised inside.

They will die inside.

They have never stepped a foot

out of doors.

Maybe if our apartment were bigger,

maybe if there were less of them,

maybe if being confined to the

space between four walls was natural,

this might be ok.

But, whenever I open the door for them --

believing that deep down,

some gene, some chromosome,

exists for the explicit reason

of craving freedom –

all they do is timidly

approach the threshold

and stare outside curiously.

Never once did they muster

the courage to place a paw on the front-steps,

never once did they get an impulse to run,

run forever and never come back.

Never once did their eyes glint

in such a way

as to hint at their instinctive desire

to see the world outside of home.

I bought a one-way ticket today,

and I’m not looking back.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

Rules Don't Exist, Just Their Broken Fragments

RULES DON'T EXIST, JUST THEIR BROKEN FRAGMENTS

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool

I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

-Steve Jobs

Confidence, Legacy

Purity, Motivation

Courage, Knowledge

Wisdom, Calm

Happiness –

all attributes I constantly strive for –

seem to spring from one central Truth:

an Individual’s discovery

and pursuit

of their Purpose.

The gift of Uniqueness,

of the specificity of character

(of a mental and spiritual jigsaw puzzle

graced upon us from deep within the ether of the cosmos,

the interstices of photons),

that is not now, has never been, and will never be

duplicated, or exist concurrently,

appears to me the ultimate blessing of Life,

and the reason for it all.

Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander - Leaders.

Monet The Observer.

Hitler of Oration.

Don Juan and Casanova, inherent Understanding of Women.

Mozart with the Ear of an angel, and the Melody of heaven.

Hitchcock is Suspense.

da Vinci was history’s great Learner.

Jefferson knew Structure.

Here am I

sitting alone in my room,

not doing anything with my life

not moving forward

not taking risks and learning from them,

unaware of whatever my uniqueness is,

and afraid that I, like so many others,

may never find it –

or if so, may not have the courage, and the will-power

to follow and fight for it.

I will die another grain of sand on the beach.

For those who found their hidden treasure,

either by following a map born of the same womb,

or by simply stumbling upon it

during the mindless and empty romp

life otherwise feels to be,

their indelible mark is left on everyone

they touch, and remains visible –

like a rock protruding in a stream –

throughout history,

for all who care to look.

As for the rest of us,

the hunt in never over, that is,

so long as we never abandon it.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

One Moment Of God

ONE MOMENT OF GOD

As the sun rises, the fresh, crisp

streets are serenely empty,

asphalt of dew-soaked grass,

litter neatly packed and

grouped along the gutters

like small patches of flowers.

The air is alive with the bright blue of the sky.

The morning has a certain aura to it –

like the opening riffs of a

Paul Desmond melody

or a Robert Breer animation.

I stand on the corner,

waiting for the first bus,

my hands warm and cozy in coat pockets,

and look down toward Century City –

the tangerine and cherry-blossom streaks of the horizon

reflected in tall towers of glass.

The day has not yet donned its grit,

and the hours lie open as a blank slate

upon which anything

(acts of history, moments of clarity,

the wreckage of love, the elegance of defeat)

could be written.

Yet, standing here alone,

a smile sneaking steadfast upon me,

the pieces neatly aligned,

I know one moment of grace

one moment of God.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

The Pumping Of My Heart Goes Forward And Back, Not In And Out

THE PUMPING OF MY HEART GOES FORWARD AND BACK, NOT IN AND OUT

The cat had for so long

annoyed me.

She demanded attention,

nuzzled into me,

pushed her face

into mine –

demanded attention and that

I pet her.

If I was reading a book

She would swat at it,

believing she more important.

I could have killed her, then.

How dare she. Who does she think

she is?

But one night, I watched

another cat in the house

scratch her face, and

the girl ran back to

me.

That's when I understood:

Here is a living creature

who wants,

more than anything,

to be loved.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

My Turn To Fail

MY TURN TO FAIL

To be honest,

I never thought I’d have to see you again.

But then there you were:

We did.

I didn’t know how to play it:

cool?

oblivious?

you tell me.

So I stood there,

and thought about myself,

thought about me – my own actions,

while you thought about us.

I looked over,

and you were crying.

Because of something I did.

I couldn’t help it,

I couldn’t stop it,

but, oh, how it eats me up.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

These Dirty Streets

THESE DIRTY STREETS

Life isn’t about buying a house

getting married

and landing a secure job at a

secure firm,

because then whose dream are you living?

Since when is a stable life a desired life?

Life is about all the mistakes we make;

those punches to the face,

and the ones to morale too.

Life is about running away to find

what you’re looking for,

and realizing its not there either.

Life is about being born in one place

and dying in another.

Life is about heartbreak,

Surrender,

Defeat,

and the Courage

those lessons teach.

So often do we move through Life

pretending to be well-adjusted,

happy, comfortable –

yet, it is only ourselves we are fooling.

When that day on the Death-bed comes,

and an instant replay of the last years

reveals that nothing original,

nothing incredible,

nothing remotely uncharted

or risky was attempted,

what will have been the point?

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009

The Distance of A to B

THE DISTANCE OF A TO B

You can read this introduction quick or slow

The same way you can read life.

Quick,

like an empty highway,

just You trying to get from point A to point B,

task to task,

goal to goal,

book to book,

without pausing to take in

a beautiful field,

purple mountains lining the distance,

clouds as fluffed and perfectly formed

as a new pillow.

Without unwinding to rest at a roadside café,

stretch your legs

and process the journey thus far.

Quick, just to finish the trip,

scale the height,

move to the next one

without turning around

and enjoying the view

from its peak.

Slow,

if you take the jammed packed highway,

on purpose.

Packed with each vehicle picking up dust,

like a million individual thoughts racing

through synapses and axons – new connections forming

at every juncture.

Highways filled with thoughts heading from

their own A to their own B.

Roses smelled, and coffee savored.

Slow, if you want to enjoy the journey –

counting and analyzing each passing car,

each passing word --

unfazed by the ambiguous length,

and excited by the prospect of

a Point B to reveal itself

only further down the road.

Copyright Oren Peleg 2009