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On paths of love for freedom.
Let us walk in peace.
Tag Archives: democracy
NO KINGS DAY
The day begins with signs
Of all that any patriot finds
In need of expression
To resist oppression.
We line the streets
Feet deep
Only to meet
Aggression
From those who seek
Our suppression.
Gerrymandered districts
Are incomplete,
Unable to meet
Fair representation,
Denying the nation
one person one vote,
Intimidation afloat
In every state.
We pray it is not too late.
We pray our efforts matter.
We pray our mad-as-hatter
Administration
Stops destroying our beloved nation.
We sing. We dance. We shout.
This is what democracy is about.
No kings today.
No kings in any way.
No kings over courts’ justice.
No kings over any of us.
Every king eventually falls.
We do not want a king at all.
AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR
Cold air is heavier.
Its density
has a propensity
to hold us in place,
inside,
asleep.
It is enough
to make one weep
who loves the heat.
I welcome it
for its cooling property,
its innate ability
to calm and soothe
the painful reality
of an overheated,
seemingly defeated,
world once at peace.
Oh, it was but a brief
moment in time
when hope was alive
and the country thrived,
and nations strived
to help democracy
overcome autocracy.
But, I digress
under great stress.
Cold air is weighted
with shards of ice
torn loose from northern fields,
with such power to wield
that it weighs down sunrise,
to no one’s surprise.
It puts the worker bees to sleep.
They awaken inside flowers
lacking the power
to find their way to their hives.
Cold air makes dreams
more difficult to bear,
their messages too heavily aware
of all the world’s problems
fair and unfair.
Autumn is here
and the world bows down
under the new weight.
Winter is not far away.
I cannot wait!
As sun rises the only sound
is the song of geese southward bound.
I place the heating pad round
a sore back from bending down
to plant bulbs squirrels have already found.
Soon, snow will coat the frozen ground.
SHOUTING OUT IN THE HALL
The voices are too loud out in the hall.
No one sitting solemnly inside
can understand the meaning of it all.
No matter how close one tries to listen
the cacophony distorts all meaning
of words angrily shouted, until tears glisten
feeling the hatred and monstrosity
which keeps all ears and hearts enthralled.
Thrills and chills sell as well as bloody gore.
“If it bleeds it leads” is a phenomenon
we know too well.
Shouters point a finger and shout some more.
Such behavior always draws a crowd.
Once they have your attention
the “soft-sell” begins the con in whispers.
And while they have your keen attention,
hanging on every word they mention
in the twisted story, repeated over and over,
using religion and love as a cover
to bring us to our knees to beg forgiveness,
they try to manacle our minds and tongues
if successful. If not, our hands and feet
in courtrooms, jail cells and on the streets.
Once all this is done, the coup is complete.
The Bill of Rights becomes an empty promise,
a useless piece of paper torn asunder,
while disingenuous voices thunder
in all the halls, in every building, across the nation.
It is when the voices stop we shall finally hear
that democracy has been lost, as we all feared.
THE GAME IS OVER
It is hard to stop this rush toward self-destruction
by a nation so far ahead in the race
no one else could compete and play.
There is no reason to mourn the last mile run
in a race no longer any fun
for any but a very few,
and fewer still each day in play.
We all know American’s greatest sin
is loving nothing better than a game they can win.
When winning is no longer fun
we look for someone to blame, and make them pay
for reminding us the game is over
and a new game must be put in play.
And, so, we blamed Joe,
who simply, in so many ways, happened to be
the last leader to toss away the final play.
No one has been a winner since,
nor could be since that final day.
A new game cannot be worth our while
if the top few are the only winners.
The old game with so many losers may be over.
But, we Americans are not over the need to play
a game we all can win,
a game we call Election Day.
Let the new game begin!
PUTINIZATION NATION
We now live in
Putin’s America.
Thanks to all of you
who voted
for Trump/Vance
and every republican
in every state house
in every political position.
I could not feel more derision
for you and what you do
every day you stay
silent,
unapologetic,
absolutely pathetic.
A country I thought you loved
more than you hated
women and people of color,
the disabled, war veterans,
children and the elderly,
homosexual and transgendered.
I underestimated your greed.
I underestimated your need
to make yourself
feel better than someone,
than anyone,
else.
I lost your pulse.
My bad!
And, I know you blame me,
and every liberal,
compassionate,
forward thinking
person you see.
So, you bend the knee
and deny democracy
its rightful place
in American History.
Our loss is Putin’s gain.
Your patriotism
has always been feigned.
Mine, yet remains.
My country may not.
4TH.OF JULY, 2025
Today is my funeral.
I have always been myself.
everyone else was taken.
I had become a fossil.
So many layers of sediment
have built up over time
that I
am hard as rock.
Too soon
It has become
too hard
to remain human.
Especially, when monsters
roam the earth with heavy feet
in lockstep with one another.
They stand atop
the crumbling rock and pray.
They say
that they
are God’s representative
on this dying earth
to show all the way
to greater days.
We were already pretty great,I say.
I thought we were stronger than they.
I thought they could not
make me, me, me ! their prey.
Yet, on this day we celebrate my birth,
I die during parades
of those who march behind
school bands playing my songs.
A Statue of Liberty drone-scape
dots the night-time sky
above Red-White-and Boom
crowds cheering while immigrants die.
De-naturalized, de-refugeed
de-citizenized.
No irony there?
How can the crowds
not realize I am dead.
They are cheering at my funeral.
After all is said,
I am done.
Too few mourners attend.
They have been forced to hide.
Even the Fourth Estate
has crumbled before my eyes,
its voices silenced,
without enough pride nor ratings
to turn the tide of my demise.
Perhaps it is a Celebration of Life
which once was, but is no more.
Can you bring me back from the dead?
Can you resurrect what I stood for?
“Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door.”
You can still speak these words.
you can still act on my behalf,
on behalf of liberty itself.
This. This. This! I sincerely implore.
MY MOTHERS TAKE TO THE STREETS
“Her money is just as green as mine,”
my mother told the clerk who passed over
the African-American woman waiting
at the counter before we arrived.
“She was here before us, after all.”
The clerk then moved beyond us
to a white woman who had just arrived.
My mother went to her side
and told her politely,
“You must wait your turn,”
to the woman’s surprise.
All commerce stopped
at that counter
on that day.
And my mother taught me
what I think of today.
Always speak up at injustice.
Always seek fairness for all.
Always let your voice be heard.
Always ask for others to join your cause.
Never leave anyone standing aside.
Never be afraid to act with pride.
Today, hundreds of thousand of women
such as my mother are on our streets
in thousands of protests
for justice
for fairness
for democracy
for our pride
as Americans
whose strength resides
not in military strength
but in the Bill of Rights
threatened openly by a fool
who like all fools
thinks he is king
This fool says
Anyone who protests
his $45 million birthday parade
will face “very heavy force.”
He never met my mother !
He will today.
Filed under FAMILY STORIES, POETRY, POLITICS
MAMA
Let’s start a new movement in America.
It is not too late to start anew.
I know I can count on most of you.
We shall call it MAMA,
Make America Motherly Again.
We have had our fill of paternalism.
Let us try maternalism.
We can feed every child meals
to feed their bodies, hearts and souls.
We can tenderly listen to ease the loneliness
of every grandparent, taking on their former role
as caretakers and dream-makers.
We can heal the sick and ease the way
of those whose minds are different so
all of us can live, love and laugh together.
We can build solar and wind energy makers
to ease the threat of out-of-control weather.
We can offer a living wage to those who labor
on behalf of every family, everywhere.
We can lead our children in private prayer,
within our own homes, and leave to others
whatever prayer, or none, they choose.
We can teach our children well, and if we do,
they will also learn to be good, for the common good
of every person on the planet, like me and like you.
Are you ready? Mothers’ Day will soon be here.
MAMA is on the march to a loving place
of freedom and peace, absent all fear.
We can wear hats, aprons and gloves in blue
A blue hat to block out the heat of hate on any face,
a blue apron to protect the garments of democracy we sow,
and blue gloves to protect hands worn thin by our work
to make our need-to-be renewed nation grow.
annarino writes 
DECONSTRUCTION
The streets were lined for blocks on end.
Signs reminded all who rejoiced to attend
Why they walked and talked and smiled and waved
At passing cars who braved delays
While drivers honked horns and shouted out
“Vote him out and make it a rout!”
Costumed critters danced to our delight
Knowing their freedom would give him a fright.
Deconstruct the lies we have been told.
Deconstruct the narrative being sold.
Deconstruct the bullie’s hold.
Deconstruct institutional mold.
Gather in peace the young and the old.
Stronger are you, more wise, more bold.
Deconstruct so we can rebuild
What he has destroyed with his minions’ lack of skill.
We know how to do this, and more.
We have done it many times before.
My thanks to my friends in Clintonville area of Columbus who helped me attend this moment of patriots’ challenge to the con men robbing the USA of its power, wealth, ideals and humanity. The lack of media coverage was appalling. The misrepresentation of attendance numbers cannot be challenged when media fails to provide images of the gatherings. A local station covered it AFTER it was over and crowds had dispersed. Another stated hundreds attended when it was actually thousands. We are here. We are resisting. We are going nowhere until the despotism and kidnapping of people and the Supreme Court, universities, news organizations, social media outlets, medical and public health Institutions… even our very language and the meaning of words and phrases has been brought to an end and freedom restored.
We shall not be silenced.
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