Tag Archives: campaigns

FROM UNDER THE ROCKS

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com

I cried the night Barack Obama was elected President.

Tears of joy released the exhaustion 

which I had carried door-to-door

for more than a year to those who too often

defiled all courtesy and shared community 

with unrecognized racism, or even with vile threats,

as I pleaded for their vote for HOPE.

While my colleagues cheered with broad smiles

I lay my head in my arms and sobbed. 

And, when they asked why I cried

I replied

“The backlash will be fierce 

by those who now recognize that white power

is no longer strong enough to support their hate.”

It was clear my fellow citizens would not long tolerate

power in the hands of an African-American.

The rage would be unleashed and revealed

from where it had lain hidden 

within our neighborhoods and institutions.

From that day on every African-American child

born after this date would enter a world where

dreams could be fulfilled, no matter how wild.

I rejoiced at this change of perspective,

but knew this would be just too much for a nation 

whose  history was built on white male supremacy.

Two steps forward. One step back. Progress moves

on and off-track until we wonder if we must go back.

We are not going back, just reconnoitering to find a new track.

That night, I dried my tears and planned my attack

ready to fight what I knew was coming and who would lead,

those who would block our progress at every turn

willing to let the country suffer and burn,

willing to break laws and undermine elections,

threaten and attack prosecutors and judges,

willing to engage in insurrection.

They have come up from under their rocks and we can see

those who have always threatened our democracy.

We know the way forward and we are strong.

So strong they know they have lost their control and that we

are moving beyond a world where only the good ole’ boys belong.

1 Comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

Think

“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.” – Voltaire

Leave a comment

Filed under POLITICS

Campaign Music

No single note is discordant.

No single vote voiced is wrong.

How the songwriter

puts the notes together

determines the song.

Our brains fine-tune our ears

to listen for the meaning

of words carried on the notes.

Some songs lift our spirits

to reach a higher cause.

Some songs depress our spirits

and make our hearts pause

with the fear of the other

we hated all along.

Some songs get us on our feet

to dance together, smile and sing.

Some songs hold us in our seats

ready to shout out in defeat.

The songs which truly make us strong

Are those we can rely upon

to offer hope, and love, and peace.

How the notes are brought together means everything.

The music that is America

is hard to sing if notes

are not treasured,

So many notes over so many years

from so many places refugees fled in fear

of famine, crime and even war.

We have sung the song of safety and of freedom,

welcoming all to our shore.

Songs that open minds and hearts

are the best place to start

a journey to a better future;

unlike the songs meant to keep us apart.

So many discordant notes

strung together create chaos,

not a strong and lovely song.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

THE LIGHT WE REFUSE TO SEE

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

I used to believe Truth lived in the shadows.

If only we could shine enough light,

then Truth would be set free

for all to see.

There are those who prefer we stay in the dark,

it is true. They fear the Light will open our eyes.

It is no longer so easy to darken the streets 

upon which we set our feet

hoping to reach a place of greater liberty.

Truth speeds around the world 

from one shadowed place to the next.

Through media Truth moves at the speed of light.

Truth seekers use facts to light our way

along the path to a new day,

one where Light holds sway.

The darkness can no longer hide Truth in shadow.

Those who live in the dark side of life

create new truths able to live in false Light.

In their constant retelling of lies

Truth simply dies in plain sight.

The battle between the Light and the Dark,

between Truth and Lies

is now exposed in MAGA prose

stealing the limelight with false praise

for oligarchs, autocrats and murderers

whose only goal is to control

the flow of wealth into their own pockets

while those who work to be whole

starve and struggle at their feet.

Those forced to  flee and seek amnesty as refugees

would add their story to our own 

brightening the Truth we already know.

The telling would not surprise the homeless

who walk our own streets.

The homeless, like Truth, used to hide in shadow.

We try to keep them there so we cannot see

the borders they have crossed.

Truth and Light and Love are all apiece.

Without Love we are blind and refuse to seeTruth.

There is no Light strong enough to overcome

deliberate blindness cushioned by lies.

We allow them in boardrooms, newsrooms,

hearing rooms and even, courtrooms.

“Speak Truth to Power,” isn’t that what we say?

When Power seizes the Light with falsehood

can we not see that False Light

can never be allowed to hold sway?

True Light is always more powerful than false.

Liars know this and ban books, and oppose

all who stand alight within Truth’s glow.

This is the one thing I still know.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

THE GHOST OF GOP PAST

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

Waiting for words 

becomes an exercise best used

before dawn lights the sky

and light invades the eye

and awakens the mind

newly travelled 

beyond space and time

throughout the long night.

Betrayed and out-of-sight

ideas took flight

after a bruising fight

waged the day before

watching election news unfold

with every story told and retold

until the brain became fixed

and locked in battles

new and old.

One would hope dawn holds the key

to release words and set them free.

But, like November skies

heated words are now weighted by the cold.

Darkness lingers like a dreaded scold

to a party of lies and dishonor.

A party we once found disagreeable but honest.

Where did it go? Perhaps our enemies know.

The Ghost of Republican Future asks, for we must now face

The Ghost of Republican Party past

still forging fearful, hateful trails

which cannot, which must not, last.

But, I fear they will.

1 Comment

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.

2 Comments

Filed under POETRY

THE TIME OF DAY

With disdain Dad would say,

“I wouldn’t give him the time of day.”

Want the time of day?

Some would never deign 

to give it to you.

I’ll give you the time of day.

It is time to explain 

that everyone lies.

They lie in bed and play

with lists of all they will do.

They start each day with lies

to themselves which eschew

their human frailties, and rise

to fail, but never admit

they are but lesser gods.

This is too much reality  for some

whose narcissism trods

the boards in life’s grand play.

We ignore lies with civil display

of nods and winks and handshakes.

Even liars have money to spend.
We dare not let them get away

with dodging truth and yet we do.

Why pass up the chance

bleed them dry and get some dough?

Or the votes of those who believe 

their lies, told so often truth all blends

into nonsense which makes us  

jump on their bandstand

and play their false tune.

Everyone lies we tell ourselves.

So what? Just do not pay attention

and we will be fine. 

Lies told often enough will

become the party line

and trap all who refuse

to admit the lie itself is the ruse.

The trick is not to believe the lie,

nor tune out from lies’ refrains

repeated on media outlets

until their bloodied stains

darken our ability to see

the truth which could

have set us free.

The trick is to stay tuned in

and search for facts

that disclose the sin.

Then ask for forgiveness

for the lies we told throughout the day.

So we can sleep the sleep of newborns,

awakened to a new world

where truth is explored

and lessons learned

that we may grow up in reality.

This is that time of day for me.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

STAY TUNED:OBSTRUCTIONISM IS STILL ON THE TABLE,By Louise Annarino,November 9,2012

STAY TUNED:OBSTRUCTIONISM IS STILL ON THE TABLE,By Louise Annarino,November 9,2012

STAY TUNED:OBSTRUCTIONISM IS STILL ON THE TABLE,By Louise Annarino,November 9,2012


— Read on annarinowrites.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/stay-tunedobstructionism-is-still-on-the-tableby-louise-annarinonovember-92012/

Leave a comment

Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS

State’s Rights and Fascist Court ?

I just ate an entire bag of Milano double dark chocolate cookies. Better that than crying in outrage that separation of church and state has overcome our constitutional rights as white politicians within the Republican Party exploit the personal faith of voters to retain their control of government. Why? Because of their racism and sexism, and gender fears. And, to allow corporate and private wealth to stay in power through them, personally rewarding them financially and supporting filling their campaign chests.

These protagonists blocked the Equal Rights Amendment for women in my youth. Women finally got the right to vote but it and other civil rights have never explicitly been assured. This is one reason the privacy rights under the constitution was used to explain why women have a legal civil right to decide their health care rights and family planning rights.

This same reasoning was used to protect a couple’s right to use birth control. That right is now also facing elimination according to Justice Thomas’ dissent.

The Supreme Court is our greatest and final protector of our freedoms and civil rights. Today, the court threw women to the wolves. They invaded the privacy right of a woman to her own body. They destroyed a woman’s right to safeguard her mental and physical health. Her rights no longer belong to her. They belong to state legislatures. women no longer have rights equal to men in this nation.

We have been here before. Despite the end of enslavement of African-Americans recognition of their civil rights took another 100 years to secure. And, those rights, including the right to vote are again, still, under siege. The Voting Rights Act has been eviscerated. Will the supreme Court’s States Rights Rule now be applied to any individual’s right to equality and freedoms? This case opens that door. The decision today directs us through that door.

The violence and intimidation against women is now supported by our Supreme Court, using its judicial powers. I fear it will soon be the same for people of color, LGBTQT community … indeed any group the white supremacist leaders supported by our churches think they have a right to control.

Today’s decision is far worse than overturning abortion rights. It overturns equal rights. I fear it is not only women who are under threat. Our very identity as a free society , as an American society, was destroyed today.

I am out of cookies. Out of words. Only tears remain. Fascist Court? Not usually 2 words that go together. They do now!

Leave a comment

Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS

FIXING THE DECK

Seasons change. Pandemics, too.

The same can be said for me and you.

We move about under a sunny sky

pretending all around us others do not die.

The deck carpet is covered in grime

from the years of corporate and political crime

committed by a party trapped in hate

wrapped in false flags that falsely state

women are are meant to be slaves

just as Black people, and all lesser knaves,

to their betters who wear red hats marked by lies,

under white robes hidden by suits and ties.

We try to clean the deck but the carpet is too worn 

to survive another summer of overheated scorn.

The carpet has been removed to reveal

The rot beneath efforts to steal

not just an election but a nation.

Seeing the bare deck reveals the aberration

of rotten boards, installed by fraud and deceit 

like judges and executives placed in lead seats.

Boards of all varieties falsely secured or not at all,

and easily shredded like their theories which call

for insurrection and destruction instead of restoration 

of democracy and legal protections and right actions.

The deck is so undermined I fear it will fall.

No more summers in the sun with family and friends

until the rotted deck is replaced and Republicans make amends.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS