Tag Archives: democracy

STAND TALL

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Where will be on Tuesday ?

How can we stand to see

the end of democracy’s vote

shredded by violent rhetoric

crushed like a skull

by hammers of deceit

and lies meant to overrule rules

putting power into the hands of monsters ?

Our Republic is being brought to its knees.

How will it stand strong 

under such assaults as these

threats to voters and election workers

and candidates and incumbents

whose only purpose is to bring peace

through ballot boxes instead of swords

wielded long ago, before our day,

to put in power those who would control

every hour of every day of every year.

If democracy falls to its knees

how will we, its greatest fans, continue to stand ?

We will stand, resolute and firm in our resolve

to stay standing through it all,

to never bend a knee to autocracy,

to never fall below the standards we have set

to remain civil and unbent

to prevent the loss of liberty

for people of color, LGBTQ, 

women, refugees, immigrants, and Jews.

Where will we be?

Standing tall, 

like the Madame Speaker’s husband Paul,

refusing to allow democracy’s fall.

Grab onto freedom and hold tight.

Tuesday will be a very long night.

“Look for the helpers”.

They are standing alongside us all.

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COMPANION POEMS

POET’S LAMENT

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I do not wish to get stuck

in the MAGA yuck and muck.

I wonder if those Germans

who watched fascism unfold

believed the stories they were told

by their brownshirt supported bully;

as the MAGA-hatted crowds

 who cheer our own

American grown version

of violent political rhetoric

mant to intimidate and eradicate

those whose power they fear,

and propelled by a sense 

of victimhood raised to an art

they plot and plan and strive

to drive Americans apart. 

A nation may not survive at all. 

Or, if it can survive it may not be intact.

And freedom may be forestalled

until the danger stops casting its pall

on its very survival.

So, instead of love and flowers,

sunny skies and dreamy hours

I write of dangers big and small.

I write of questions which call

for prompt response.

I note with dismay the loss of time to play.

I wish for earlier days

when citizens felt a duty to stand and say

democracy is under threat this day.

DREAMS OF HYPOCRISY

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The dream stayed with me through the night.

Over and over the image repeated despite

frequent awakenings disturbed by the sight

of four babies with open staples in their eyes.

No matter other images crossing left to right

in dreams arranging matters as they might,

allowing mind to gain much-needed insight.

Those babies needed someone to make right

harms foreseen if removal was not done right.

I struggled with ideas of how to help all night.

Finally, firmly grip with tiny tools and pull tight

became the answer as I awoke at first daylight.

Then a new thought occurred and set truth alight,

“…first, remove the beam out of thine own eye.”

But, then a new thought came to light.

The staples were open to grab whatever came in sight

and make it their own view, with new and greater insight.

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MAGA World

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Most only look for the exits

when the are ready to leave the store.

Those more anxious and insecure

look for the exits as soon as they arrive.

Others block the exits to keep shoppers inside.

The most hateful stand in the way

intimidating and bullying shoppers to stay.

The media reports no progress is being made;

shoppers are worried, stagnant and afraid.

It reports the bullies’ lies and stance

as if justified and true, asking trapped shoppers

to reply as if such obstruction is the rule.

Do those who own the store, own the media, too?

Some shoppers try to reason with those blocking the door.

Most, see what happens to those who seek egress

and stand silent, waiting, hoping for any progress.

Shoppers thought they were free within the store

to buy what they want and need, and then leave

to find a better  store where new and better goods

were finding their way to shelves,

at prices more shoppers could afford.

Silently, too many acquiesce to the bondage

they now face, hunkering down in the aisles

hoping they can outlast doorways to a future

blocked to keep them in the past.

What happens when the stock becomes too low

to sustain the people waiting in the aisles?

Will silence fill their bellies and their souls?

How can any business survive

such a cowardly enterprise?

How do we reach those trapped inside?

How do we help move shoppers into the future?

By opening barred doors wide

and pushing MAGA blockers aside.

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SINK OR SWIM

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The lights are low

aligned with thoughts

of swimming free,

a simple fish

swimming toward light,

suddenly caught

now distraught;

facing a tightening thread.

lifted alight and set right

on the trawler’s deck,

only to face slaughter.

Low thoughts, indeed,

in an ocean of democraseas.

“if onlys” abound

as I flutter and flounder 

and flap atop the heap

of fish so like me.

Unsure of success

I push fear aside

propelling my self

over the side,

carried away on the tide

of endless seas of hope.

I am free!

I am free!

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FIXING U.S.

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The dining table is the place

where family and friends gather

to partake of shared memory,

long history, and future planning.

I sit at a table with a leg cut short.

It wobbles and shakes discomforting

all seated round, frowning

and disconcerted, alerted to danger

of falling plates, tipped glasses.

We make an effort to stabilize the table

while grabbing utensils and protecting laps.

Some say, let’s move to another table.

Others look for a deck of cards

or a roll up napkins to place under 

the shortened leg, while the rest wonder

how a simple meal could have become

such a disturbing conumdrum.

Any fix cannot last. The thought

of a restful meal is long past. 

Many simply leave the scene

wanting only peace and a place

where they can eat decent meal.

The table can be fixed we know.

It will not be fast. Any fix should last.

Remove that bad leg and replace

with a leg that carries the table with grace.

Cutting off the other three

might improve the table’s stability.

But would anyone but the very small

fit at such a table, not brought low?

Ignoring the furniture in our world

has brought us to this?

No place to safely and calmly sit?

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DESSERT LINES TAX DEMOCRACY

There were too many choices on the dessert tray.

“Each one take one” deserted us in the fray

to take more than our neighbor day after day.

Only those who had already eaten their full

were allowed into the dessert line’s pull.

They soon fearfully learned to guard their place,

that their rights to the line were not earned, but disgrace 

to those deprived of sweet-takings

engaged in new nation-making;

not filled with days of Turkish delights,

but with hungry days turned into endless nights.

Where dreams dashed middle-class hope, 

which died on buffet lines, the poor man’s trope.

The anger is real, if misdirected

believing The Big Lie that goes un-dissected

lest truth arise before their eyes

explaining they face their country’s demise.

We are the source of our own destruction

electing leaders who lie without compunction

and promise to allow us into the buffet line

where dessert is denied time after time.

Democracy dies with the death of the middle-class.

Without “each-one take one” our democracy cannot last.

The buffet lines of life are heavily taxed

while the dessert line where few stand tight go un-taxed.

They are bloated and full of themselves, supremacists all,

while the rest of us watch democracy fall

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Philly

24 shootings in 24 hours

In the cradle of liberty

Whose cracked bell rings out

Warning a country

To place a sentry

On the triggers of violence.

What are we truly about?

Gunning down civility

With inhumanity.

Would shouts and fists not suffice

To quell the fear unleashed

In a moment’s rage?

Let’s be clear.

The fingers on these triggers

Are not well-regulated

Militias protected by the Second

Amendment, as stated.

There can be no democracy

Among the trigger-happy.

Like the innocent

Democracy is caught in the crossfire

Of those who wield there ire

Against those they desire

To wound and destroy.

War in American streets

Is a cruel violation

Of a democratic nation’s

Efforts to endure.

Too many guns in too many hands

Enrich those seeking it’s ruination.

Control the guns. Make war no more.

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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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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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ANGELS OF DEMOCRACY

The foreign life of angels

is to earth brought down

to fight the good fight

for freedom to abound.

Zelensky leads his people.

The whole earth gathers round,

defended by angels

on Ukraine’s sacred ground.

Putin’s fallen countrymen

attack with cunning and deceit

to undermine democracy

and its mission creep.

Tyrants fear their citizenry

exposed to the fruits 

of democracy.

Putin fears the loss of power

as Ukrainians move west,

and Ukrainians fight valiantly,

stand and give their best.

Zelensky needs more than angels

to keep the Ukrainian people free.

One thing is certain

even if cities fall and people flee.

No people is more free

than those who stand and fight

for freedom and democracy.

Such people live among angels

no matter where they be.

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