Category Archives: POETRY

WORLD WAR AGAINST DEMOCRACY

Putin is winning his war against America

even as he loses in Ukraine.

Tucker Carlson, FOX News

and the Freedom Caucus

of The US Congress

plight their troth to Putin’s cause

while their citizen supporters

cheer Putin on to defeat

not only Democrats and the Democratic Party

but democracy itself.

Americans focus on the war abroad

where Ukrainians who refuse to be conned

by Trump and his MAGA cons

fight for their freedom.

The war here at home rages on.

Putin wins without a shot, 

funding the NRA and lobbyists instead,

for guns to wage war on our children

gunned down in city streets.

Drugs fund his efforts and continue

the blight of Putin’s fight

in every city in every neighborhood.

The World War is hidden behind

institutions meant to guard freedom.

But when they do, Putin’s army

of the American right takes flight 

and drops word bombs

to destroy the weapons reason wields.

Americans must take to the fields 

to defend SCOTUS appointments,

election officials and elections themselves.

the Republican Freedom Congress raises funds

and pledges support to candidates

who will tunnel inside the only defenses we still have 

to defeat the enemies of our democracy.

The Russian War in Ukraine is one of many fronts.

The war is worldwide. It has already begun.

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SEND IN THE PLANES

It is uncomfortable.

It causes pain.

Is it insane?

or, is there a good reason

to refrain 

from sending in the planes?

Watching a fight

from the sidelines

is no way to win the bout. 

Democracy must win.

Never doubt.

Planes sit on tarmacs

as children die

in the arms of the wounded.

It is uncomfortable

to watch their pain.

Send in the planes!

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SPREAD THE WORD

Be bold. Be brave.

Small efforts

small victories make.

Be curious, not furious.

Distill solutions

from confusion.

No regrets is a sign

you left your life behind.

Be bold. Be brave.

Small efforts

small victories make

until you add yours to mine.

Spread the word.

Be bold. Be brave.

Together, 

larger victories await.

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AMERICAN HYPOCRISY

Don’t talk to me of hypocrisy.

I am an aspiration,

not an ideology.

I am American democracy.

Like the people who bear my name

I sin, repent, then sin again.

My faith is in future possibility

of behaving with greater civility.

My hope is that together we

can find more equity and equality.

My love is for those like me

who strive to create a better reality.

Perfection is not my goal.

I am prepared to bare my soul

with all its failures and deceits

and courage to hand out receipts

to those I have failed or freedom denied,

determined to atone for unworthy pride.

I am an aspiration. I can say I tried.

I can believe in a future yet untried.

I believe in myself with you at my side.

I am an aspiration,

not an ideology.

Do not talk to me of hypocrisy.

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Angel Prayer

Do angels fear to tread

Mariupol‘s streets

lined with the dead?

Who else will guard

the skies that bled

upon her living souls ?

A single prayer is said,

asking skies to close

and ease the dread

of more to fall and fail

than bodies.

Listen well, angels of Ukraine.

Speak to angels everywhere

and pass along the prayer,

lest dictators leave their stain

on centuries of despair,

on the streets of Ukraine

and elsewhere.

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Wheat and War

Bread is life.

Ukrainian wheat

Feeds the world.

Fields plowed.

Seed sowed

While bombs fall

On fertile earth

Watered now

By chemical rain?

War kills.

Not for hours,

Nor days and weeks;

But, for months and years

Or even decades.

Another Chernobyl looms

Over wheat fields

And their children,

Young and old,

Hungry and waiting.

I grow cold

Fearing more, contemplating

Famine and war.

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JUST BREATHE

Wiser heads than mine

Form a summit line,

G-7, EU, NATO.

Titles matter not.

Nor names.

Smiling nods in greeting

Begins their meeting

While phosphorous bombs

Drop fires no one can put out.

Ukrainians await the word

Which assures they can endure.

Europe holds it breath

On the front lines of its defense.

Do not hold your breath too long.

That way lies death; not just

For Ukraine, but for all of us.

Hopes rise and once again

We fear the lateness of the hour

As Russia tries to devour

Ukrainians holding tight to freedom

On the outskirts of Western Democracies.

We plead, just breathe!

Breathe support and protection.

Stop holding your breath.

Just breathe!

Just breathe!

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AGING DREAMS

There were no stairs to climb

between four floors explored

in dreams repeated through the night.

Questions roamed with me and more,

excited by the unexpected chance

to replace an old dwelling with new,

under reconstruction which winds blew

through openings in walls.

The misplaced furnace unable to heat

such a large space blocked a place

to park a car. No garage. Its saving grace

was its place on a city street

where I could walk amid constant activity,

unlike the sedate pace of my current home.

The mortgage would be the same

I was assured. No years added

to its satisfaction date.

Did I want this new home built on the old?

Or this new body if Jung is to be believed?

Indecision and insistent queries gave me pause.

Better to draw an old body into new?

Or stay the course more ancient but more safe?

A question for the ages?

Or simply for the aging?

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Unseen Unsaid

There is always more

In the unseen

Unheard

Unsaid

Of every story.

Each hidden word

Preserved in silence

To hide the truth

And preserve

The glory.

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CLIMBING WITH UKRAINE

Keep watching.

Keep helping.

Do not stop now

when the road rises up

and we near the brow 

of the hill.

From the top we will see

both the way we have come

and where we shall be

once we descend

the other side

now unknown.

keep climbing.

Tired and worn,

soul-sore and forlorn,

we must trudge on.

Despite the sirens which warn

of incoming cyber 

and missile attacks.

Prepare to fight back.

Find strength to continue.

There is no going back.

Peace of mind is the price we pay

standing outside comfort zones,

as day follows night,

to defeat the evils which delight

despots and autocrats.

Goodness and mercy light our way.

Be not afraid. Stay the course.

All roads come to an end;

unlike rainbows,

which use our tears

and the sunlight of truth

to color a new world

where peace can rebuild

new cities on the hill.

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