Last night I was inspired by an allegorical video called The Flower and my activities with NORML to write a very long poem about legalizing marijuana. First you should watch the video and then read the poem.
Mary Jane’s Flowers
The warmth of the sun flows from the sky,
On the ground beneath,
Mary Jane’s flowers grow.
Graced by god with the ability to cure the sick and give man joy,
The flowers,
A solution to the problems in life,
God gave us a cure, a lift in our spirits and an answer to our prayers.
Mary Jane’s flowers grew and grew,
And it was good.
As man’s knowledge of the world grew,
So did the uses for Mary Jane’s flowers.
Beauty, life, science and industry grew,
The possibilities seemingly infinite like the rays of the sun.
Mary Jane’s seeds spread farther and wider to provide the resources man needed.
And it was good.
But man is dark, corrupt and only cares for his own bottom line.
He did not much care for Mary Jane, her garden or her flowers.
One man in particular was close to right people,
He grew to hate the flowers and their many uses,
The flowers made his business obsolete.
He bowed to the altar of the dollar.
He went to the lawman and lined his pockets,
For he too worshipped the dollar over the gods in the skies,
One who worships the dollar resigns his ethics to the highest bidder.
With his pockets fatter, He wrote a new law.
He jailed Mary Jane and destroyed her garden.
He tracked down everyone he knew of who had any flowers left,
He destroyed their flowers and had them jailed.
To the public he said that the flowers were evil.
“They will rip out your soul and ravage your organs with disease and addiction,”
He said,
“The flowers are a path directly to hell, bow down to the true god, my god. The dollar and I will lead you to a good, proper and decent society. Sell me your soul and sew your mouth shut, give me the money, I’ll do all the thinking, close your eyes and let me do the rest.”
He promised them a cure for their diseases,
He promised them happiness,
He promised peace and prosperity.
And all he asked for in return was blind obedience.
He smiled smugly,
He poured a drink, lit a cigar and patted himself on the back.
“I’ve surely won now. The flowers are gone and will never return.”
He thought to himself.
He was wrong.
For he did not find all the flowers,
But now instead of harmony the flowers bring war where they are grown.
They are stuffed into closets and basements,
Grown under artificial lights away from the sun,
Mary Jane’s flowers now have to be kept a secret.
Secrets turn good men dark.
The men who grow Mary Jane’s flowers now bow to the dollar,
They relish in the illegality of their activity,
Spray poison on their flowers,
The poison raping the user,
Penetrating them with disease and addictions,
The flowers grow and grow.
Money rains down on thugs,
They sling Mary Jane’s flowers on street corners, alley ways and in living rooms.
The thugs and cartels grow strong while society crumbles,
Wars are fought in the streets with innocent people in the crossfire,
They wait for the day that they or their loved one dies in a senseless war.
Meanwhile The Lawman tries to explain the state of affairs today.
He kept bowing down the sacred dollar.
Dollar god told him to give his people’s jobs to foreign lands,
“Forfeit your people’s livelihood, health and safety for the sake of your own profit, and when they question your methods fill them with guilt. Tell them they are traitors to their flag if they question your morals, your people are now sheep and negative words scare them away from tough issues.”
The Lawman successfully broke the people.
The Lawman is arrogant and he thinks that his rule will run unopposed,
He is wrong.
For money makes bad men blind.
By and by each decade passes,
Mary Jane’s flowers are needed again.
The economy is fallen,
The people are sick,
The earth is dying,
The wars in the streets have worn on too long.
The people begin to question,
Where is our prosperity you promised us?
Why does your medicine make me feel sicker than my illness does?
Why do you offer no comfort when the earth weeps?
Where is the peace that your rules were supposed to give us?
Lawman, your god has led us astray.
People begin to question,
And when they do the lawman locks them away,
“I’ll make an example of you if you speak he says to his subjects. You have no choice. Follow my lead or be sent away”
But the lawman cannot lock us all away,
The lawman cannot burn down every grow house and dispensary.
The lawman cannot silence the world anymore,
For his idle dollar god has abandoned him for more profitable land.
Mary Jane’s flower children grow and grow,
Under black lights with thumping bass,
In dimly lit smoky rooms,
In the moonlight staring into the gods’ skies
And sometimes even under the sun,
With its infinite rays shining enlightenment upon the fortunate few who listen to the forgotten gods of the skies.
And it is good.
Gradually the illicit pleasure is accepted more than condemned,
People once again begin to honor the gods of the sky,
Partaking in the ancient ritual,
The ritual of puffing, puffing and passing Mary Jane’s flowers,
Filling the room with smoke,
And the enormity of deep conversation and true understanding of one another,
Words like sin are laughable here.
And we say to the lawman,
“You work for us, keep your addictions, lies and infidelities. While you write blowjobs to your business associates, your people die and suffer. There is no prosperity, there is no health, and there is no safety. Give us back the flowers, take them away from the thugs so they can’t sell them laced with poison to my babies and shoot my lover in the street.”
The Lawman will fight every step of the way,
Every blow he throws is futile,
For the battle he is fighting a losing battle.
One day Mary Jane’s garden will grow under the sun again,
The flowers will be used in the stead of inadequate substitutes.
The way god intended it to be all along.
For god gave us a cure,
A lift in our spirits,
A solution to so many of life’s problems,
Mary Jane’s flowers will grow and grow,
The seeds will spread far and wide.
Under the sun with infinite possibilities,
Beauty, life, science and industry will grow.
And it will be good.
