Category Archives: POETRY

PARTING WAYS

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Duty.

Honor.

Country.

Fear.

Cowardice.

Submission.

The first three I claim

The last three I disdain.

No more need be said.

A national honor now dead.

Killed by those who fled 

their duty to country,

a brilliant democracy.

I cannot shake the hand

of one unwilling to stand

by my side and claim 

a nation fighting shame. 

Pretense has no place

in a nation ruled by truth and grace.

Ignorance is no excuse for surprise

by those who choose to close their eyes

to crimes and fraud and hate

until it becomes too late

to grasp and seize and save

Duty,

Honor,

Country.

Parting ways.

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UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS

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Ugly Christmas sweater season has begun.

Americans seem to think it is fun

to dress themselves not in the season’s finest,

but in the ugliest sweater they can find

to celebrate together a sacred date

forgetting the solemnity of Advent’s long wait

to share with us a love divine.

Trees go up lit by flames to give us warning

that climate change may soon end

the faithful earth upon which life depends.

A cabinet full of ugly sweaters fills,

worn by those who think they are better

than faithful civil servants whose only goal

is to keep America safe and whole.

Executives dodging background checks

don the ugliest sweaters they can find

hoping to make a buck or two

off the game pitting us against each other,

me and you,

against all hope that we can survive

a very dangerous political ride.

The party which once celebrated 

freedom and patriots’ pride

donned ugly sweaters when it realized

white control was on a slip and slide

with the rising hopes of women

and people of color’s growing pride.

The uglier the better the saying goes,

for Christmas sweaters worn by those

who forget the reason for a season,

forget the principles of a constitution,

forget the laws and regulations

which hold together a flawed nation

and allow democracy to thrive.

The time of ugly sweaters has arrived.

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CIVILITY

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Civility is not servility.

Civility ends when aggression begins.

Civility ends when sexism begins.

Civility ends when racism begins.

Civility has no place

when legislation threatens harm.

Civility has no place

when incitement threatens harm.

Civility has no place

when lawlessness threatens harm.

Civility has no place

when disinformation and lies threaten harm.

Servility cannot become an excuse for civility.

Are we to be lead by uncivil hate and greed?

And should we then be civil and agree to bend a knee?

Servility must never be mistaken for civility.

Civility must not become servility.

No bending knees before hate and greed.

No bending knees at the death of democracy.

No bending knees at any man above the law.

No bending knees at freedom’s last straw.

No servility for me. 

I resist any suggestion to show civility

to those insisting upon my servility.

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I AM CLEAR NOW

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I no longer awaken thinking I had died during the night. 

No more heavy weight in my chest dragging breath down.

No more lead-bottomed stomach trying to turn fear over.

No more panic tightening limbs positioned to run.

No more thinking  thoughts unable to connect.

I am clear now.

Righteous anger replaces my new-found ability to hate.

Courage courses through veins relieved of pain.

Love for others suffering alongside me on common ground abounds.

A coalition of resistance finds strengthened legs and spine.

Brains calm and stay alert and plan how to go up and not down.

I am clear now.

I see the game to disarm and disarray all opposition.

I see the realization victory by evil forces always subsides.

I see the ability of good hearts to speed the failure along.

I see creativity lead ideas ahead, instead of repeating past retreats.

I am clear now.

Here.

Now.

Let me show you.

Together.

 We can move mountains

of greed and fear and doubt.

I am clear now.

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POST-ELECTION 2024

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My sorrow does not come

from the loss of an election.

Sorrow bubbles up and pulls down

faith and hope and trust in

legal and constitutional protection

for the progressive direction

we moved, pushing hate aside,

within the blue bubble 

where I reside, 

within a gerrymandered state

full of Christo-fascist pride.

Court protection is now

too often set aside.

Criminal leaders with immunity

can now act with impunity

to destroy an entire nation,

indeed a  free world.

Greed acts with such speed

to push grace and care aside.

And truth is destroyed

by incessantly repeated lies.

My sorrow does not come

from watching my nation die.

It comes from watching

fellow citizens kill my beloved nation

Right before my eyes.

And the worst part of it all is,

that it is not a surprise.

I have watched a predator party

stalk us creatures of democracy

my whole life.

The day I most feared 

is no longer just a nightmare.

It is the reality of imminent strife.

I cannot simply smile and reach out,

asked to shake hands with voters

with blood on their hands,

when I want to shout “traitors!”

I think of all who died to protect

and defend my country, my best friend,

I cannot stand to watch cruelty up-end

a nation now at-sea, afloat on lies

that all is at is has always been

after an election.

The desperation of a nation

tears at the soul within.

The soul of each and every American,

until America is dead and buried,

so that rich oligarchs can feed 

their need for power and control.

Citizens United has long been on a roll

to knock down all opposition,

and watch weak Americans fold

their cards and lose their last hand.

Such sorrow, I fully understand.

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LAST DANCE

The young believe the aged

are forced to live isolated lives

because of aching bones

and wilting blood and sinew.

But, this is not totally true.

As time shortens our pace

and length of our dance

we choose our partners

more wisely, with more patience

and with more grace.

We make each moment count,

and leave less likeable partners out.

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VOTE BLUE

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This blue earth,

this place of our birth,

grounds us against flight

from this tiny iron rock

hurtling through the dark.

And so, we hold on tight,

bathed in blue light,

sun reflected off ocean’s face,

keeping us in place.

We are cleansed by earth’s air,

a clear and free atmosphere.

We breathe in and then out,

Each breath removes any doubt

that we are of this world, in this place.

We hurtle through darkest space

on this earth, this hard rock

with all its hard knocks.

It is not our imagination.

The gravity of our situation

keeps us awake at night.

We are blue light 

against a dark sky.

Help earth and its people survive. 

Help keep freedom alive.

VOTE BLUE! 

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ART

JUST BREATHE, acrylic on canvas, painted the day Trump was elected president by Louise Annarino. He is still making it hard to breathe.

Art seldom follows

where there is nothing new to see.

Art creates new eyes

new ears, new hearts to set us free.

Art imagines what minds can’t comprehend

forging new beginnings as old ways end.

Politics is an art form

tossing power to and fro 

showing us what we really think

and where we might go.

Art is everywhere we look

showing us what we need to know.

Art has no end date;

its timeliness simply portends.

Vote! it is still not too late.

Art is our dearest friend.

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HOMELESS SMILES

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I had only eight one-dollar bills in my purse that day.

The too-battered man standing at roadside a few feet away

caught my attention with his too-battered sign held 

close to his chest, on crudely-cut cardboard dirtied 

like him, over time; both dusted clear of all grime.

“Smile today” was the message he carried so closely.

A message so needed, so welcomed, so worthy.

Crossing over a lane to reach his side, traffic waiting

for the light to change, let me and my car, squeeze by.

I passed the dollar bills to an outstretched hand.

Then, the grey-haired man in need of a cut, 

leaned in to say “Thank you. God bless you.Have a nice day.”

The phrase a common lingo in the homeless way.

His eyes were lit from inside and he smiled, not trying to hide

his humanity, his sanity, his grace so sublime.

I smiled back and told him that I loved his sign.

Pulling out a second sign he had hidden behind the first,

I read the line, “Always Smile” and felt his thirst

to be seen and recognized and able to offer something to me.

Tearfully smiling in a moment of grace 

I thanked him the gift he had given to me,

a smile I had unknowingly needed desperately,

the “greatest gift I had received in very long time.”

a thousands suns lit his eyes and opened mine.

Homeless people need to help others as much as you and I.

They may not have shelter, nor food, nor rest;

yet, they still continue to give their best.

They watch us hungrily as we drive by on the road

They hunger not only for what we can give.

They hunger for what they can give to us.

It unburdens their load.

We are in this world together, one smile at a time.

A message of love from one man, alone by the road.

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SEXISM 2024

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Better to wait at the gate?

The temptation is to lift the latch and enter.

It is, after all, a public space.

But women know guard dogs lie in wait

on the other side of the gate.

Thus, carefully, we negotiate

each step along the way,

fearful of unleashed dogs nipping at our heels,

ready to tear apart our bodies and our dreams.

And, when they hear our screams

they say, “I had no idea.”

Plausible deniability is their way.

Men, and women too weak to lift latches, 

deny that sexism is at play.

They laugh and joke at our fright.

Then simply go on their way,

as they believe it is their sole right.

Anyone who is not Christian.

Anyone who is not white.

Anyone who would lift latches

and move beyond the gate;

only does so, when they can no longer wait

for justice and progress, 

which lie beyond the gate,

and the only place 

where their suffering can abate.

Are those who lift latches “the enemy within”?

Lift latches in the safest space.

Then, keep the gates open.

It is not yet too late!

Vote!

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