I love my country
With a passion so fierce I
Weep like the willow.
Category Archives: POETRY
VOTE
We were assigned to write an essay on the theme
preserving democracy for the American Legion or VFW
contest. I forget which group sponsored the contest, it seems.
I recall the solemn moment I realized the cost of loss of democracy
as I pondered the yet-to-be-written script of how it could be done.
Democracy could be lost and its greatest strength laid askew
across our inattentive road to future growth and glory,
an old and Founding-of-America story.
As if !
As if !
I scoffed at myself as I looked around and listened to
the soldiers, sailors and airmen recently returned from WWII.
Those who fought against fascism and for democracy over there
would never permit freedom’s loss here. They would not !
And yet !
And yet !
I could clearly see all around me the powerful need
of individuals cowered by fear of others’ success.
“Keeping up with the Joneses” had become a litany,
a passion, a way of life, that had become de rigeur.
The challenge of battles now laid aside no longer sustained the pride.
Competing to win became a holy grail.
Leagues formed for bowlers and ballers;
their boys played Little League as parents hollered.
Trophies filled up cases with virtuous wins.
Still, this was not enough to satisfy anyone.
I heard the call and response to the world all around me,
“At least I am free, white and twenty-one.”
What ?
What ?
Free, I understood. That is what America stands for, right ?
But, white ? How is that a right and why does it matter ?
Where was that coming from? Where was that fight ?
On the movie screen with John Wayne and his troops
who pushed Native people aside and onto reservations
to avoid annihilation, hiding American’s need to claim
a false superiority, to be better than someone, anyone.
For if we are all equal, none of us can be better than another.
On the television screen we saw burning crosses held aloft
by robed and hooded Southerners hiding their sense of inferiority.
In the North the inferiority hid secretly, under false pride
that claimed no true victory over the South’s perfidy
when it refused to stay within the nation, and hurt our surety
that our Union of States could survive as equal and free
despite the legacy of enslaving people who should be free.
Viet-Nam was aflame, bombed and napalmed in our name.
Those old enough to fight and die were too young
to buy a drink or vote. Most not yet twenty-one.
Ah, I see.
Ah, I see.
And so I did not write an essay; but, a play.
Two characters with Iron Curtain names to delay
the defensive need to deny the truth I would display.
A young nephew visited his uncle in jail,
conversing through the bars of his cell,
trying to understand how it came to be his uncle
was not, and never would be, free.
The 1st. Amendment had become distorted by media,
by political ads and an opposition party
who eschewed the growing power of those formerly subdued
to salve white supremacy, and simple jealousy.
The 2d. Amendment had become distorted by the NRA and KKK;
armed to the teeth they would say is the only way
to keep America white and free as it was meant to be.
“Be careful, young nephew,” his uncle warned.
There are those who would do you harm to silence you.
“Elections no longer count, when the count is misconstrued.”
Only in the final moment, of the final scene, we knew
freedom had been lost in the USA at some time hence.
Freedom is only as strong as me and you, equals
not better than one another, Americans all.
Vote now before America falls.
It took over 60 years to see the words I put on the page
that long ago day, become reality.
The wars fought long ago never ended.
Because human beings always need to know
they are enough, though never better than another, though flawed.
They are treasured and loved more than money and profit.
America need not fall; but, you must vote for those
who recognize who you are and what you could become.
For those who see the possibility of a future
where all men, women and children are the true treasure
of a nation where all are free to engage in democracy.
Vote now. Not for the past; but, for a future that can last.
Filed under POETRY
PUTIN REPUBLICANS
If Republicans take control of the House.
McCarthy promises Putin wins.
Not just in Ukraine,
to whom McCarthy says he will refuse aid
which we now give to fight off blood and bone Russians
using real Iranian drones and North Korean missiles.
Worse or not, McCarthy also refuses
to fight Russians within,
hidden behind the faces of Republicans
who spout Russian lies
while taking Russian cash
to increase adds to propagandize
and fill their pockets.
“Oh! What tangled web we weave
when first we practice to deceive.”
A refrain that never ends;
not with Trump, nor Guiliani, nor Rubio,
nor Lindsey, nor Dewine, nor La Rose, nor Yost,
nor so many others, too numerous to list
who would sell their souls
for a dollar or a ruble…
or simply….re-election.
Such a defection to the other side
is not partisan politics.
That died long ago.
The defection is to Russia
and autocrats who control
all the wealth and power
they can lay hands on,
as if blessed by the hands of Christian nationalists
such as Flynn, and preachers like him,
who protests women’s control in privacy
which expands to every human right
which threatens us with autocrats’ control.
Go vote, for Putin. Vote Republican!
And soon, you will need to hide
not just your money and your pride
but your women and your children;
you know, those you think you own.
You don’t and never have.
They are not yours to give away.
But, they are yours to protect.
But, it seems I forget
you stopped that long ago.
Filed under POETRY
FRECKLE ON THE EYE
FRECKLE ON THE EYE
Freckle on the eye,
needs to be watched closely or
our vision may die.
Freckle on the eye
distorts image on our lens,
turns truth into lie.
Freckle on the eye,
from staring too long at their
narcissistic cries.
Freckle on the eye
make us so blind that we must
follow their sighs.
Freckle on the eye
leads to paths we had hoped
never to follow blind.
Freckle on the eye.
who knew such things existed ?
Seems, not you, nor I.
Freckle on the eye,
democracy may be lost
by those unwilling to see
their vote may kill the world’s
greatest democracy.
Freckle on the eye
of candidates refusing to see
they are the blind leading the blind.
Filed under POETRY
HOAR FROST
Frost rises before dawn and flees the garden bed
before Sun can catch her in her splendor.
Faster than squirrels she runs across fields and rivulets
leaving white crystals trailing behind in a momentary glittery shine
across the folds of orange and gold left by falling leaves
that shimmer in the slight breeze of Sun-warmed air
to prepare us for the day to come.
Each morning I rise and try to catch Frost by surprise,
but she is too slick, too quick; and I, now too slow.
She laughs in my face with icy breath until I am so cold
my limbs tremble as the those of the trees shedding leaves.
I shed my earthly dreams as frost awakens me to journeys ahead.
Frost is a fleeting thing, reminding me that I am, too.
Frost has turned my hair white; it seems, overnight.
And so I say, “Good morning, Frost.”
And she replies, “Good morning, you.”
Such days are numbered, and too few.
Filed under POETRY
MY REPUBLICAN DAD
“I just need 11,000 votes.”
“Give me a break.”
Sounds eerily like saying to my daddy,
when I was just a wee lassie,
“I just need $5.00.”
And my Republican dad would reply,
“And I need a hole in my head!”
And that was the end to that.
Because, I had sense
to know when the game was up,
to know I had lost,
to know I was on my own.
And because, I knew I could do
what I needed to do on my own
I’d get on with life and make it great.
I did not need fawning crowds
shouting hateful slogans aloud
at my Dad, who was right to deny
my weak-kneed pleas to ease my need
for the latest toy, candy, or cookie delight.
My Republican dad believed
in working his way using his labor and mind
to put food on our table and a roof overhead.
He did not run scams on neighbors
nor friends, nor even total strangers.
My Republican dad, whose Democratic friends
exchanged ideas with him every day
on how to keep our nation great
kept an open mind and used it to find solutions
to unite and expand everyone’s rights
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
especially, for his children and theirs.
My Republican dad would be turning in his grave.
A conscience stronger than partisanship
would not let him accept such gamesmanship.
I can hear his response to election deniers,
whining while shouting, debased town-criers,
“You talk like a man with a paper hat!”
And that, folks, would be that!
DREAM OR REALITY ?
Is the line between dreams and wakefulness
the same line as that between
lies and truth ?
Do those who refuse to be awoken
simply prefer to live in their dream world
where their power knows only those bounds
they tie about themselves
and feel able to loosen as they choose?
It is said the more educated one is the easier
it is to believe conspiracy theories.
Sheer ignorance does allow a lie to fly.
But, worse, are those who choose
to remain ignorant of truth by staying asleep.
They decry being woke as if facing truth
is too painful, too uncomfortable, to know it.
Incongruence is unsettling as any scholar knows.
We search for meaning in everything.
We want the pieces to fit in the puzzles we work.
When the pieces do not fit, we become angry
and blame the puzzle pieces and take satisfaction
in wiping them off the table.
Perhaps, if we could be brave enough to truly see,
the truth could set us free to choose pieces of reality
as it is when we are woke, not when we dream
of being more than we really are.
The truth is we are not perfect but we are enough.
Who told us we were not enough matters not.
Parents, wives, children, bosses ?
Conditional love leaves us bereft enough
to prefer the dream to such reality.
But, we are so much more than dreams.
if only we could realize we are loved, unconditionally.
Realize means living real lives.
And so I wake you from your dream
of superior being and dreamer of lies
to say I love you, just as you are.
Stay awake with me. There is work to be done.
A lot has piled up since you closed your eyes to truth.
I need you by my side to work within reality,
not with false pride; but, with opened eyes.
“You shall know the truth
and the truth shall set you free.”
And I shall love you through eternity.
Filed under POETRY
NUNS AND US
In the days when women’s options were few
the women I saw around me, women I knew,
found ways to become the best they could be
within the confines of misogyny.
Lucky was I to be taught by nuns,
a sisterhood which withstood Middle-Ages threats
by joining nunneries behind gates barring men.
Within such walls great minds could form
great thoughts, with freedom and creativity.
These women persisted as they resisted
the control of such men as abbots and bishops.
These women persisted as women do now
by standing up straight and taking a vow
to stay true to themselves and not be defeated
by ridiculous removal from tables seated
only by men, for men, with men who concluded
false beliefs in women’s abilities which shone
a light often greater than their own.
Nuns are not fools, far from it. From them I learned
that this is a man’s world, but a woman’s heaven.
Women who saw heaven on earth as a real possibility.
Today, nuns’ ranks are fewer as more opportunity
is open to women, who still must bring
their own chairs to the table where men are sitting.
Now, women are building their own tables
and invite men to sit there, too, no threat intended.
But insecure men unable to share power labels
fear their days of sole control are now mere fable.
Sisterhoods have expanded beyond Abbey walls.
All over the earth women now stand tall and state their vows.
The vows they share expand geography and history.
Women have come a “long way, baby”.
We are the nuns. The nuns are us.
Filed under POETRY
HAIKU
Dancing among trees
leaves drifting below my knees
breeze lifting my feet.
Filed under POETRY
VOTE BLUE
Politics well-played avoids wars.
Games require referees not on-the-take,
and rules to establish guidelines
to mark the true scores.
Even Monopoly puts wrongdoers in jail,
and cheaters lose turns to correct
false places on the board.
Poker often leads by bluffs
But stacking the deck is deplored.
Republicans no longer play politics well.
They pay off the refs and announcer in the box,
Unilaterally re-design the track
and put burrs under saddles
To fix the race they brazenly run
with no thought to the damage done;
not only to their opponents,
but to the chance to keep the game fun.
Instead, they ruin any chance to avoid
the wars and disasters sure to come.
Vote Democratic, everyone!
It is the only way our republic can last
So we can all join in and play
fair and square another day.
Filed under POETRY
annarino writes 