Food for Thought: Poems, and Songs Without Music

By David Fishel

It’s insufficient just to call it a poetry book, but some might say that is accurate. Progressive satirist, songwriter, and poet David Fishel invites readers to grab a “jay” and ease into a wildly diverse and eclectic collection of previously published songs. He’s known as one of those proud progressive liberals unafraid to share his opinions whose songs run the gamut from humorous poetry to bawdy limericks.

The real purpose of his satirical song lyrics is to open minds and create a dialogue through political poetry that engages readers to think independently and form their own opinions. Yes, the political songs shared without music provide the author’s unashamed liberal perspective in this diverse poetry book, but his genuine desire is to elicit conversation.

He hopes to reach back to what some refer to as the “Age of Enlightenment,” using the muse of satirical song lyrics and political poetry to pause, reflect, and ponder on the writings or perhaps share them with a friend.

It's not just a poetry book for progressive liberals but for open minds and those who appreciate a well-metered and rhythmic verse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663223555

David Fishel

David was born in Pennsylvania and grew up during the tumultuous decades of the “Post War Baby Boom” era. He attended the Philadelphia College of Art, and worked as a Filmmaker, Photographer, Musical performer and Songwriter, and school teacher. He has produced eleven albums of songs and shares his residence between his adopted second home of Menorca, Spain, and Pennsylvania.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 David Fishel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

844-349-9409

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-2354-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-2355-5 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 07/06/2021

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my small, but loyal

coterie of friends and fans who have visited

my performances and bought my albums and followed

me on my many You-Tube offerings and Facebook

posts over the years. And especially to those who have

helped and contributed in some small way in making this

effort a reality. I would especially thank my long-time

friend, sound technician, recording co producer and content

contributor, educator, and the only person who was there every

step of the way helping to share the experiences that

are represented, in these songs, Mr. Rick Gladfelter.

May these songs remain after I am gone.

If you would like to hear the songs represented here in

Their original form I will try to make them available on I Tunes,

because they really have to be heard to be appreciated.

Also, you can visit my Website, davidfishel.net and of course

many of them can be listened to on YouTube and Spotify.

ALEA IACTA EST

Contents

Dedication

Preface by The Author

The Magician and The Gypsy Boy

What’s a Raindrop

The Predators

The First American Video Junkie Quiz

What Do You Like

Dana’s Song

Playa Blanca

Eating Habits

Think of Me

Lonely in a Crowd

Matty Freeman

"Faces to Match The Weather

Menorca

Autobiography

Don’t Stop, Highway

The Piper

God and Man

Song without a Reason

Child of The Sixties

Ramona from Sedona

Spring

A-T-O-M-I-C

You Can’t Go Home Again

The World’s Most Dangerous Man

Them

A Poem within a Poem

Bad Hair Day

Yesterday’s Bread

Block This

Love Wounds

Bumperstickers

Halliburton’s War

Why I Cry

Born to be a Politician

The Luck of The Game-Symbiosis

I Don’t Think Anybody Cares

If Jesus were a ‘Christian’

How to Start a War

Reverse Polarity

The End is Near

Confusion

Cherubim

Through a Glass, Darkly

The King of Creating Accounting

If

Thurston Cooper

Crying for Kim

Waltzing with Despairs

Dirge for a Dying Planet

The Nomad

Meriweather Kinsman

Too Many Idiots

The Day The Swallows Returned

Brady Bill Blues

Baby Talk Blues

For Those Who Tried and Failed

Aristophanes’ Garden

Raxa

Buddy Boy

Ode to a Shi-Tzu

Retail Redemption

The Right to Belong

Great Expectations

Things I Haven’t Done

You Shouldn’t Eat Spaghetti with Your Knife

Epilogue

American Show

The Chilling Fate of Herman Schmidt

When I was a Republican

I wouldn’t Choose Insanity

Growing Smaller

Never Mind

"In The Ruck

Multi-verse

To The Losers2

Uncommon Sense

Teach Me

Nobody’s Gonna Miss Me

Someone Else’s Eyes

Wishing Well

36304.png

"The real skeptic lives in a constant atmosphere

Of carefully balanced dubiety about everything; he will not

Accept that there are satisfactory grounds for acquiescence

In any statement or proposition whatever. Of course, if some

Fool tells him that it is a fine day, he will probably nod

Because he hasn’t time to haggle with the fool over what

He means by a word like fine. But, in all important things

He reserves his judgment."……….Robertson Davies

43385.png

Preface by The Author

This book has taken me over 45 years to write. I was not born a poet or a song-writer but I believe I was born an artist through no fault of my own. Conceived during the so-called Baby Boom generation, I was subjected to the influences inherent in the Sixties, notable for such so-called social phenomena as Flower Power, Political Protest, Human Rights and Racial Equality, all washed down with mind altering drugs and new age philosophy. Add to that several decades of some of the most diverse and eclectic musical influences in our nation’s history. My generation took freedom seriously, and we let everybody know it. We were also a generation that was open to new experiences and new places, and I was no exception.

The confluence of all of these forces resulted in my four year tenure in what was then the Philadelphia College of Art, and after several indecisive course changes I finally ended up with a degree in Film, since the more classical disciplines eluded my limited talents. During my residence in the City of Brotherly Love, I was seduced by the Folk Revival movement that was prevalent at the time, especially in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and L.A., and as a result I learned to play the ubiquitous guitar, and eventually began composing my own songs. In short, I became a folk singer. Having learned to play without the benefit of musical training of any kind, the only thing that I ever wrote down were the lyrics. The tunes remained in my head.

Upon graduating, I drifted into several jobs in what I refer to in one of my songs as my one-eyed monster peer; that being television, where I developed my skills as cinematographer and film editor, and for a short time even tried my hand, with very little success, at operating my own business. During my dubious attempts at engendering a career, I, together with my co-worker, audio technician, and house-mate, and best friend, Rick Gladfelter, began to undertake various trips to Europe during which forays I continued to develop my talent as a writer of songs. Many of my earliest attempts at this art were included in my first album of songs, which shared the same title as this composition which, for lack of a better name, I am calling a book

In those early trips abroad, in the early to mid seventies, our most protracted stops were in England, where I worked for several months as an Au Pere, and in Amsterdam, where we lived on a houseboat, and where I wrote