I’m done racing rats
Through a seeming endless maze
Chasing smaller chunks
Of stinking green Limburger.
I see, now, the trap
Set by those soulless fat cats
To keep us from succeeding.
conflict
Our Country, Black and Blue?
Perhaps it ‘s finally time to strike
that monochrome, blue striped bastard,
abomination of our flag
(the sacred symbol of our country,
emblem of all that we hold dear,)
that takes a stand for harsh repression,
desperation, hate, and fear.
I reject your blind defiance
of our citizens, repressed
who have gone a step too far
in their hope to find redress.
Their mistaken, hasty actions
don’t confer on you the right
to take our country’s noble flag
and corrupt is as the vile banner
of your self-righteous foolish fight.
First, Bull. Run!
In the distance, sharp,
the crack of rifle fire
echo high above farm ford
the peace thereof polluted.
Buffaloed
Here we go again:
one more white supremacist,
hopped up on Tucker Carlson,
popping off in nurtured rage!
Decisive Daffodil Duo
Version 1
Daffodils care not
For the mad machinations
Of tyrants or mortal men
~
Version 2
Daffodils care naught
Of the mad machinations
Of tyrants or mortal men.
Two subtle wording differences produce two wholly different feelings.
UN-AMERICAN? EXCUSE ME?
Though we disagree
About this country’s problems
And about the solutions
We both remain patriots!
Long Unspoken Fury
How was it my fault,
Dad,
When those dime store Wallabees
Melted through the furnace grate?
How you always chided me
When I said I was afraid,
“Don’t be such a fraidy cat.”
Now you stand and seethe, enraged
Learning what I always know.
Floor grates lead to misery
And premature, stinky, deaths
For green plastic army men
And your cheap-ass knock-off shoes!
Questions of Heroes and Saints
Do heroes have to be perfect
in order to earn our respect?
Must they be free from all blemish?
Is that what we’ve come to expect?
How much stain, how much tarnish,
how much of a character blemish
can be glossed over by splashing
on coats of whitewash and varnish
before the seething and gnashing
of the oppressed leads to the trashing
of monument to those held dear
in eruptions of violent clashing?
The answers, my friends, are clear.
Let’s open our ears and try to hear
the history of brutal oppression
that cause so many to live in fear.
Since if we can’t learn this lesson
we’ll lose more than an election!
Folks, it’s high time to reject
this notion that every hero warrants beatification!
Savage Waters
This disease leaves wounds,
rivers both wide and deep.
Too deep for fording
and much too wide for bridges,
so we build ferries
and brave treacherous waters,
holding connections
to our loved ones long estranged
by these savage waters wide.
A Welcome Abridgement
Should I never hear,
Again, the words, sham or scheme,
Their absence I, shall not miss.
A Statesman’s Prayer
When we disagree,
can we not remain civil
and work to find common ground?
~
You know I love our country,
as I know you love it too.
Let us not cast stones!
A Tangle But No Tumult
Basking in the balm
of this fire sale we lit,
ashamed at my schadenfreude,
yet still gleeful, all the same.
What Am I Missing?
Seems, now, the problem’s
not guns but video games
and not Dayton… Toledo?
My Struggles
Not to your vile
nature nor to your greedy
ways do I owe my sorrow.
~
I revolt myself,
every time I wish you ill,
yet I can’t refrain.
Aroil in Pain 