Tag Archives: corruption

FREE THE STRAWBERRIES

Louise’s strawberry garden fenced to keep out chipmunks, squirrels,racoons,deer,rabbits,skunks and a variety of birds; allowing in rain, helpful pollinators, and insect enemies of other harmful insects. Rest assured the gate will be turned right side up and our American garden will once again flourish and produce sweet fruit. Patience and effort, constant weeding out those harming the garden. It takes time and is well worth the effort.

The fence is placed all around

The strawberries are in the ground.

The gate is upside down.

The harvest will be delayed

Dismantling what we made

hour by our, day by day.

Chaos alway brings change.

Gardens too rigorously defended

make fences necessarily upended

to reach fruit not intended

for anyone but a few

who fence out themselves, too. 

What is the gardener to do?

A gate is meant to let us through

to the crop we worked for,

and many of us died for,

a free country we yearn for.

We thought we planted within our reach.

We thought we had enough freedom to teach.

We never thought we would beseech

tearing down everything we had built

to avoid admitting our guilt.

The gate MAGA made is all atilt.

The fence is too high, clearly.

We are just so frustrated and weary.

We may never eat another strawberry.

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LAST BREATH

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What is the period of mourning

when a nation dies before our eyes?

Not in sudden cardiac arrest,

not like a slow cancer.

nor a natural aging

of its body politic.

But, like a chronic illness

which has worsened over time,

sometimes in remission

allowing hope to remain alive.

But, when death’s grip pries

the life from every cell

which protected a nation from demise

and its heartbeats accelerate

at a far too barbaric rate,

what then? How can hope survive

when our national freedom dies?

The violence, the bombs, the rubbled ruin 

comes after the next election, I fear. 

The election may save us from loss

of freedom, but at a cost.

Like Ukraine, we can take a nation back

by electing constitutional, loyal leaders

and set our enemies off to the side.

Like Ukraine, our enemies will regroup

and ferociously and physically attack

what they could not seize by stealth.

They will never let go of power and wealth

which we allowed them to take during this

DOGE-dealing, Heritage Foundation steal.

Courts may save us for a time.

But, be prepared.Everything is on the line.

And the mourning is ever-ceasing

for those who see the fate

of a nation which for too-long

embraced its power and its wealth, 

and allowed itself to hate.

Slavery was our original sin and set the stage

for all the other hate and division

that has led to this time of fear and outrage.

How long is the mourning period for such a loss?

It has been my entire life; yet, my hope has endured.

But, my body senses death at my nation’s door.

And, I fear I simply cannot take it anymore.

What is the end to this period of mourning?

Every cell in the body politic is warning

that this nation, our beloved nation

may be close to its last breath.

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NOT QUITE SILENT

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I listened for the voice today.

This is all it had to say. 

My teacup is filled only 1/3 of the way.

Too little water to boil in the pot.

I shall brew my tea and keep it very hot. 

Then add cooler water to the cup.

No harbor will see tea fill it up.

Not exactly as I had willed.

Seeing my beloved democracy killed.

But who am I your will to sway.

My cup does not “filleth over” this cold day.

The half-empty cup seems a blatant warning.

I refuse to name and bring to life

fearfully expected wounds and strife.

The sun blares and cuts the cold air,

melting frost gathered everywhere.

It lies on every surface it seems.

In schoolrooms, libraries, museums,

in corporation and university board rooms. Next,

on airwaves  and in chat rooms and texts. 

In law firms hallowed conference rooms,

and in SCOTUS decisions which seal our doom.

Hard to find a place where the cruelty of iced hearts 

has not settled in, stopping hopefulness at its start.

Hard to know how this day should begin.

Hard to see how we might win.

No birds gather in the yard to eat, drink and sing.

Worms like words stretch frozen on cement pathways.

Hard to stand and walk boldly, or to see our way.

May will bring flowers in graceful bouquets.

But, June, I think, will have the final say.

May summer be full of grace, I pray.

I listened longingly for the hopeful voice today.

But, this…this is all it had to say,

as I watch sunshine melt the frost away.

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LIGHT CANDLES

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Altars of sacrifice are all around.

Candles of prayer light the ground.

Darkness recedes under great duress.

Lawyers are in full-court press.

Evil lurks and lunges until we despair;

its laughter and cheers rend the air.

Turbulent times make us all too aware

how humans carry a heavy load of fear,

how ready we are to disappear

before we lose heart 

and break apart.

We are tempted to remain abed

and close our eyes against  the dread

of monsters who long played dead

and hid under rocks, yet lived in our heads.

We live lives of useless malcontent

ready to blame the innocent

for acts of contrition that belong

not to the weak, but, to the strong.

Unable to admit we could be wrong,

we allow the liars to string us along.

We vote them in to replace our lost pride.

We set all reason and facts aside.

We wear red hats with slogans to hide

a weakness too fearful to abide.

When will such depravity end?

What harm done in the interim?

Soft exhales out in metered prose.

Screams trapped within a calm pose.

This is how every morning begins.

Candles relit on altars within.

Resistance alights again and again.

Another hour, another day, and then?

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SELF SOOTHE

I paint to find a soothing space where words subside and bliss abides.
This is my most recent project. I hope it soothes your soul and cheers your heart during these stressful days.

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THIRTY-FOUR

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More reasons to reach 

for the alarm clock.

Defendant is in the dock.

Blaring guilt says the jury.

Still, reason to worry.

The only reason is written

on the forms, not by the fox

who has destroyed all norms.

No reason spoken

by the House Speaker,

who seeks to make law weaker.

The alarm keeps ringing

to wake us up,

beyond the nightmare

of so many corrupt.

Shut off the alarm.

Time to get up.

Time to reason and face the day

and stop the bullies 

who dream of getting their way.

Thirty-four reasons

will not go away.

Thirty-four reasons

to wake up smiling today.

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NAVALNY

How difficult to embrace such courage ?

How easily to allow Putin to disparage

and criminalize political opposition?

And what is our position?

How hard did we fight to protect such bravery

from an autocrats utter depravity?

We watched Navalny return to Russia 

after being poisoned by one who would crush

a man with such courage and dedication

to the spirit of democracy and anti-corruption

in the same manner of Trump’s disruption

of our democratic republic’s election.

Trump would jail his enemies if he could.

“Lock them up”. His rallying cry would

encourage the cowards to pickup their guns,

their MAGA flags and clubs on the run

to the Capitol in open display,

or hidden in darkness as they prey

on election officials, prosecutors, judges, and jurors.

threatening all opposition to his criminal furor.

By all means send your political donations

to the RNC which pledges to destroy our nation.

And put another Putin in place here at home

where the deer and the antelope roam

across a country where freedom once ruled.

Stolen elections by a cowardly fool 

is a disgrace to America, land of the free and the brave

overrun by fools giving the OK to rule by the depraved.

Navalny, we stand by your grave with great respect and pray

that we can find the courage you displayed, every single day.

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INTENT

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I thought the money in the bank was mine.

All mine. All mine. All mine. All mine.

I did not know I could not take it.

I lacked intent to commit the crime.

I had no intent to take what was not mine.

It is all mine. It is all mine. It is all mine.

As are you, and you, and you…

My people are the very best.

I am smarter than you,  not stupid,

if you believe only what I want you to.

I won. I won. I won. It’s true. It’s mine I say.

It’s all the same to those who hurt

and hate and fight against their fate,

hiding behind irreligious faith

to praise the savior of their own demise.

We won. We won. What is our prize ?

Pure intention to commit the crime

in plain sight, in plain view

in text, on tape, in interviews.

I won. I won. It’s mine, this crime

against the country, against me and you.

It isn’t a crime to take what is mine.

“I take whatever I want, and they let me”,

these people who are mine, all mine.

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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.

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