Free Keene

Big Mike’s arrest — and the cowardly conceit of the cop responsible — have provided a wealth of inspiration, in activist ideas, protest techniques, and, but of course, artistic endeavors. In that last category, I submit the following:

There’s no real melody for this piece. It mimics the style popularized on many a decoupaged plaque from roadside boutiques specializing in cheap gimcracks (I can provide a number of Plan 9 from Outer Space – level-quality examples discovered in the course of my research).:

A POLICEMAN’S PRAYER

LORD, when I don the badge and blue,
Make strong my heart to keep
My goal to ever be like You–
In charge of all the sheep.
(Read on …)

THIS ORGANIZATION IS IN DISORGANIZATION
COPYRIGHT 2010 by Sam A. Robrin or whoever the hell it is who writes these things. Go ahead and use it, but if you make a little money on it, I want some!

Free State freedom activists look pompously askance
At anyone suggesting planning projects in advance.
Protests limp along not with a bang, but with the whimp’r of
A group of high school kids making impromptu tries at improv.

Headaches, itching, nosebleeds, palpitations, sweats, and trembling
Are side effects of any course of action but assembling
Slapdashedly together at the last remaining minute.
It’s messy, muddled madness with no trace of method in it.

Many activists are known to faint or throw up
At the proffer of polite entreaties to show up.
One fact’s irrefutable from careful observation:
This organization is in disorganization!

Freedom-lovers focus on life’s joys and how to get them –
Not in crafting tactics to persuade the State to let them.
Dealing with the State’s inane — sane folks don’t manage well with it,
The rational reaction is to simply say the hell with it. (Read on …)

SING THAT FREEDOM SONG!

To convey our message to the population,
Oftentimes complex ideas take too long.
The news will air some puzzling truncation.
Say it briefly and with beauty in a song!

TV soundbytes are perceived as so much blather,
And will be reacted to dismissively.
The viewers of the nightly news would rather
Absorb new thoughts with rhyme and melody.

We can faintly hear the chimes of freedom ringing
While establishing our frisky form of order,
But if we don’t find our voice and get to singing,
This project won’t project beyond the border.

Shouting vicious insults, making threats, and ranting
Won’t reflect repute as reasoned paragons.
Neither will the weak resort to mindless chanting
Like obsequious tea-party neocons. (Read on …)

I know my own experience was shared by at least one other mover in this movement, and that was what gave me the idea for the song “Choices,” which I’ve posted elsewhere. While helping that same person move this weekend, I was surprised how prophetic the song I’d written earlier that week proved to be, particularly in the sixth verse. The title popped into my mind — one of those slight variants on a familiar phrase that appeals to the inner (and my case, overly outer) paronomastic, and it seemed like a good topic for what I call “commercials for liberty.”

I GAVE MY LIFE TO LIBERTY AND HAPPINESS PURSUED

I held a near monopoly on freedom ideology.
Lonely and reclusive nights were warping my psychology.
Discussing my ideas with the hometown population
Earned me reactions ranging from bewildered to abusive;
A few sincere discussions gained me quite a reputation.
At work I kept my mouth shut and grew ever more reclusive.
My life was one dull cycle of work, shelter, clothing, food.
Frustrated with my anomie, I’d sit at home and brood.
(Read on …)

As the court is clearly not going to do the right thing with Kurt, it’s become necessary to ratchet up our protestation to a new level. There are now daily candlelight vigils, as announced on the forums within, and it’s time to let the general citizenry — the folks who really matter in all this — know that options are available to them. We need to start getting down to the court each morning, as the crowds are arriving to be processed through the obedience machine, to tell them, with signs, songs, flyers, and discussion, that this could happen to any one of us, and will, if we don’t start pushing back!
I have plenty of appropriate signs, and anyone may come over to paint a personal one — just contact me. I’m also working on an outreach flyer with an artist. I’d like to hear from anyone else who has other suggestions for making this a success.

One of the problems with these events is the silence — often broken and filled with patter, chatter and inappropriate laughter. (Read on …)

I always had a soft spot for story songs — too much of one, perhaps. I even quite liked “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” until overplay and dubious associations ruined it permanently.
It was inevitable that I’d try writing some of my own. (Read on …)

I wanted to express admiration for someone who wasn’t getting as much as she deserved. I’d been reminded of Dorothy Parker’s poem (Read on …)

When I decided to make the move to New Hampshire, I still wasn’t sure what form my activism was gong to take. I was certain only that I had to do something, or live with the consequence of knowing that I’d made no effort to push back the incursions of the State–forever tormenting myself with wondering whether some simple action of mine might have made the crucial difference.
I’ve always been linguistically oriented. I make my living proofreading and copy-editing, and my mind is always whirring with wordplay that would make a cryptic crossword puzzle comparatively comprehensible. It seemed that I could channel that ability into something useful to the liberty movement.
Shortly before embarkation, I began writing down some of the songs I’d always playfully composed in my own mind, (Read on …)