What’s Up With All This Occupy?

Hey, there’s people
out there stressin’
going”What’s up with all this ‘Occupy?'”
Well, I tell you one thing
and this ain’t no lie.
Occupy
as a concept,
ain’t something
that just dropped from the sky.
Unh. Unh.
Not even a close try.
It goes way back, Jack.
Been around a long time
and that’s a fact.
Why,
people say Loss Angieluss
rather than Los Angeles
due to Occupy.
Closing deals
between the hours of one and four
rather than taking a load off
with a little nap –
Oc-cu-py.
A way of life, Occupy.
Occupy is the theme
at the very core
of our stories,
of our lore.
And there have been
since way back when
some:
Super Star
Super Fly
kickass Occupiers…
Gengis Khan,
no relation
to Chaka Kahn, Chaka Kahn,
Alexander the Great,
and a slate
of other Occupying greats
but you talkin’ ’bout a fool
who could Occupy: Oh…
Napoleon Bonaparte,
dapper little dude
with a propensity
for Striking a Pose
standing kind of up on his toes,
hand in his waistcoat,
not a wrinkle in his pants,
legs slightly askance
looking like he’d much rather be doing
the Electric Slide
if he just had a chance
because Occupying,
one must understand,
ain’t all it seems to be
at first glance.
No.
Occupying requires
non-ending vigilance,
being ever ready
to cop the stance.
Life for Occupiers
is a never ending dance.
Cuz everybody
deserves a chance
to be unOccupied
and the Occupiers
can’t stand for that
so the Occupiers
have to sleep
with one eye open
and have the other eye
ready to open
when that eye closes –
that’s the only way to Occupy.

But We the Occupied
got mired in a long phase
like we had it made in the shade
and relaxed in the wonder of it all,
while our Occupiers,
the corporations,
the one percent
and the politicians they’ve bought
who we sent
to DC.
Oh, have we let them off easy.
I mean for way too long,
they’ve played us like a riff
in a not too funky blues song,
discordant
in an arrangement
that’s unsyncopated
and relentlessly wrong –
committed to their own kind,
blind and non-caring
to the masses
that give flesh to humankind,
paying us no mind
except in soundbites
that have no reason
or rhyme,
just streams
of unconciousness
that momentarily
make us think:
“Well, maybe,
this time”
which is how
they get us by the balls
every time,
and then wine and dine
and take a cruise
on our dime
while we try to get
our gonads
and the rhythms of our kageling
back in line.

And it’s way past time
but I’m feeling like
we’ve come to that time
when we’re ready
to kick some behind
and do the Occupying!
They’ve been the only ones
at the table,
the only ones in the game
unleashing travesties
that can’t be described as anything
other than “A Doggone Crying Shame”:

Getting struggling people to sign their name
to a Dream Home
they will never claim
as they find out in gradual degrees
that they no longer can afford the fees
to keep the keys,
accused of not taking
responsibilty
for protecting themselves
as though that should free
Chase and the B of A
and the AIG
to delude and deceive
and strip human beings of their dignity.

Oh, they danced in the street
with billions of dollars
added to their account receipts
while so many of us
with our GED’s and our BA’s and Master’s
and PhD degrees
are barely
taking care of our basic needs,
talking to people through a mike at Mickey D’s
asking if they would like some jalapenos or extra cheese,
while punching the button for a
Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait
an M’Cafe
and two large sweet teas.
Pushed us out of the middle class
on our ass,
making a mockery of
“Free at Last! Free at Last!”
Rendering it to a Dream
of the past.

So it is our moment to Occupy
our hopes and dreams
of a just society
by and by –
and to pursue
and idealize such an enterprise
we have to realize
that the committment
to such an endeavor
has to be kept forever.
Look at how long
they’ve been Occupying.
But, oh, can’t you picture it,
a world where we are truly free,
living out the promises
of a democracy?
Free to not only speak out
but free to be heard,
to be listened to,
in all our beliefs
and creeds
and attitudes
and colors
and hues
and straight and gay sexualities,
learning to allow our diversities
to add rather
than subract
from our living
in harmony
as a social reality.
Heads together
sorting through
yays and nays,
engaged
and on the same page
ready to turn the page
to a new page
in our World’s History.
On to where instead of “Them”
it’s “Everybody!” “Urrrbody!”
Humanity!
You! Me!
Whether we’re Cuban Cigar smoking bigwigs
or the little people constrained to ghettos and modest digs.
Grampa!
Grandma!
The insurance agent at
Mutual of Omaha!
Jennifer Aniston!
Those who sew
the itsy bitsy clothes for
Barbie and Ken!
The butcher,
the baker,
the candlestick maker!
The preacher!
The teacher!
Junior flips in Air Jordan sneakers!
The pawnshop broker!
Whoever is next to play the Joker!
David Arquette!
Assembly line workers
who build the Corvette.
R. Kelly!
Nelly!
Newscasters on the telly!
Jay Leno!
The croupiers in Vegas and Reno!
Dancers!
Prancers!
Lenders and keepers of books!
Cops who chase the crooks
who cook the books!
Baggers!
Taggers!
Do raggers!
Saggers!
Circus performers who throw daggers!
Fans of Mick Jagger!
Laggers!
Naggers!
High tiders!
Church tithers!
Tour guiders!
Cow hiders!
Hip to the jivers!
Pilots of gliders!
South siders!
North siders!
East siders!
West siders!
Low riders!
Tillers of the soil!
Changers of the oil!
Engineers!
Brewers of beers!
Sight seers!
Front runners and those who bring up the rear!
The blind and those who can’t hear!
Tenants in penthouses overlooking Central Park!
Backyard mechanics with the cracks of their butts exposed in the Trailer Park!
Artists of every stripe!
Doctors of every type!
DJ’s!
All the folks who serve us at the cafes!
Athletes!
Plodders slow on their feet!
Kirstie Alley!
Sanitation workers
who pick up trash in the alley!
Uncle John with Bald Headed Sally
who saw Aunt Mary coming
and jumped back in the alley!
Ooooh, baby,
Ooooh, baby.
Everybody at the table,
Everybody in the game.

We start it
and our children
and their children
keep it rolling, rolling, rolling
down the line,
throughout time.

Hey, it’s do or die.
That’s “What’s up with all this Occupy.”

Tagged as: occupy