Only a moment
in time, outrage so profound,
turns nation around.
Unknown woman posts “I VOTED” sticker on Alex Pretti memorial.
Tag Archives: Democratic Party
DECLARATION 2026
It is time to open words stored in safe spaces.
Behind the clock where time passes unaware.
Behind the freezer where thoughts hunger for truth.
Behind the bed where slumber overtakes rage.
November cannot come soon enough for words.
Words cannot wait to learn their fate.
Voices may be denied, decried, deceased.
But, words?
Words persist long after we are gone,
long after we overcome, or we are overcome.
Speak now, beyond the pain and indifference to them.
Speak now while breathing still moves you to act.
Speak now into a future which never looks back.
Speak your words, joined with mine;
words recorded for all time.
START YOUR DAY THIS WAY
Start each day with something to say
that cheers the heart and paves the way
for kindness unbound by fear of loss
of reputation and a safe situation,
threatened by retribution for your contribution
to truth and justice hour-by-hour, day-by-day.
We are on a common journey lifted higher
by a deep yearning for freedom and equality
to which every American and immigrant aspires;
tied down with words in our Constitution
and protected by laws, enforced by courts
which pledge apolitical, neutral decisions
rendered with stated grace and precision.
But, when law is ignored, or twisted by greed or hate;
when SCOTUS corrupts its mission and states
precedent no longer controls politicians
who are free to break laws and showcase their flaws
without any constraints, our laws carry such taint
that constitutional words become blurred on the page.
Crying over each turn of the page by a party of miscreants
takes too much energy and lessens our pace.
We are still here. We are still to be feared
by those who would take our freedoms away.
We are not going back. That is not the progressive way.
We only go forward to claim a new day
where America’s promise wins over the fray
created to disrupt and corrupt election day.
Stop whining. Stop crying. Get out and register voters.
Drive them to the polls. Guard their way.
There are more more than enough of us to hold sway
and create a better country, one we can take pride in every day.
KILL THEM ALL?
Fraud plot in which some Somali immigrants participated? All Somalis are garbage so get rid of them all.
Criminal activity in which some African-Americans engage? All African-Americans are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Investigations and questions by journalists you find troublesome? All journalists are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Some women refuse your advances and sexism? All women are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Venezuelan boaters survive an illegal attack at sea? All Venezuelans are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Democrats pass legislation restricting corporate greed? All Democrats are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Military heroes remind military personnel to refuse unlawful orders? All military and veterans are garbage. Get rid of them all.
CEOs defraud, overcharge for goods and services, underpay workers? All CEOs are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Some White people commit crimes? All white people are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Some men abuse and rape women? All men are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Some bankers hide criminal gains, make money off the deposits? All bankers are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Hate has no logic except its power to destroy.
Hate has no reason except its delight in abuse.
Hate has no goodness in thought or in deed.
Hate is a damning influence and creed.
Hate is the one thing no one needs.
Some people hate? All people are garbage. Get rid of them all.
Hate until no one is left alive, no one at all.
BALANCE OF POWER
Nature restores balance
upset by human hands
on air and sea and land.
Government becomes unbalanced
when leaders fail to understand
no government can serve us
when controlled by a single man.
No single party can control
a seamless governance of the whole.
Power unbalanced is doomed to fail.
History and Nature tell the tale.
Diversity is the golden rule of life,
counteracting hidden strife
as it strives to interact and share
what keeps the planet alive and fair,
what makes us glad to be alive.
Cooperation is not just wise.
It is the seed of all that grows.
It is the only means Nature knows
to grow the wheat and the rose,
to water the farmland and dry the bog,
to cool summer heat and fire winter’s log,
to spread seeds on the breeze of dawn
and weight the wind blowing too strong.
We have run away from Nature far too long.
We have forgotten to listen to Nature’s song.
We have been singing a discordant tune
to instruments so loud, the song is ruined.
But Nature always restores balance.
It is the base note of Nature’s parlance.
Take off your shoes and walk in the grass.
Feel the freedom you feared lost in the past.
Turn your face into the wind and hold tight.
Feel the freedom you feared lost beyond your sight.
Wade in puddles catching raindrops on your tongue.
Feel the freedom you feared lost and with hands wrung.
We fear we have no way to save our nation.
But Nature gives us a new generation
every spring and through every season
Nature restores our world and our reason.
Balance of Power is the song of the hour.
FEELING THE WORDS
WRITING SEEMS
A FEEBLE ATTEMPT
TO COUNTER FEELINGS
WITH THOUGHTS,
I FEAR.
BUT, THAT IS THE POINT
WHERE WE
ARE MEANT TO MEET.
NOT IN RATIONAL THOUGHT
WITH FACTS, NOT FICTION;
BUT, IN MUTUAL FEAR
WHERE CONTROL UNWINDS
AND THERE CAN BE
NO MEETING OF MUTIAL MINDS.
THUS, FEELINGS MATTER MORE
THESE DAYS, THAN EVER BEFORE.
FEAR AND LOATHING ARE COMPANIONS
TOO OFTEN USED TO DIVIDE
THOSE CAPABLE OF LOVE.
WORSE, WHEN DESIGNED AND LED
FROM THOSE ABOVE.
Filed under Uncategorized
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!
SMALL SPACES SMALL MINDS
The smaller the space in the head
or in geography, or in any cartography,
The less room for challenges and new ideas.
Facts have only so much space.
They must cling fast to last.
Those who limit themselves
to live inside bubbles
seldom recognize such troubles.
They are sure of everything
and wrong about nothing.
They have organized their small space
impeccably, intelligently, flawlessly.
So they must be as well.
They have neither time nor space to dwell
upon possible fallacy.
Only those outside the bubble can see
the absolute dangers of such insanity.
It is a new kind of mental illness
born in the stillness of active minds
revolving unchallenged by facts
that would make their theories unwind.
No such persons should be given power
over those who would see freedom flower
with a just and truthful effort, hour upon hour.
Those who live in openly-wide spaces,
who are woke to every possibility,
to every person and new discovery
are shut down and shut out
until autocracy has destroyed democracy.
IT IS ALL TRANSACTIONAL
I lifted the blind, closed against the heavy weight of darkness.
But, the darkness lingers still in a world where the ability to see
has become transactional instead of factual.
It is all about the money, we now see.
Truth is no longer able to set us free.
The heavy weight of lies shackles and chains us
and keeps us in our place, where lack of opportunity
now extends beyond those once enslaved.
Too many blindly bow to the oligarchs who stole a nation’s wealth
and put the blame not on themselves, but on everyone else.
It is the people of color, women and homosexuals;
the immigrant and refugee, asylum seekers, librarians,
historians, veterans, unions and universities…
the truth-tellers the upper 1 percent would hide
to save their greedy selves, and tame their shame
behind a white Christian nationalism’s false pride.
Resentment has been nurtured over decades of time,
hardened into stone and fossilized, with guns loaded and primed.
Do not shoot the messengers who only try to lift the blind
and tell the truth you need to hear, about those who put you in this bind.
The sun shouts in voices of students and grandmothers,
unionists and progressives who only want to remind
the leaders still in place, but powerless as institutions crumble,
that we the people will never give up the freedoms so hard-won.
We will not allow the tyranny of the greedy few to rule
over the nation and world we love, never over me and you.
Have we become what we fear most ? A nation of cowards and bullies?
Are we strong enough to lift the blinds and see the truth, finally?
Are we asleep at the post, we guardians of freedom’s hope?
Has greed brought us all to our knees before those who wield wealth
as a cudgel, a chain saw and a weed whacker
to root out those who seek equal opportunity to build wealth, and be free?
Are we willing to worship the new gods of control, corruption and greed?
It is always about the money; transactional, not factual; selfish, not loving.
Has our beloved community and country been brought to its knees?
Is our ability to love now simply and blindly transactional?
Is no one left to hear our heartfelt, truthful pleas?
DANCE IN THE RAIN
If not too early, perhaps too late
rain falls through parched skies,
in drizzles and drips only;
clouds’ moist linings absorbed
by dried out cells
of the hydrogen and oxygen
we need to survive.
The train’s whistle blows
in drowned out gasps.
Wet skies hold back
the usual click and clack
of dry wheels over steel track.
Iron wheels now slip and slide,
a smoother if more uneven ride.
Wet nights lead to wet mornings
drowning our the train whistle’s warning
of all that is to arrive
during this election drive.
Tom-toms beat quieter drums
to speed up hearts
and slow down minds
as the train approaches
the nations’s destination.
AI interrupts nature’s offer
to set things straight
without a factual bother,
as facts fall beneath
the slippery wheels,
and we are easily thrown off-track
unsure now what is fiction or fact.
We will all soon be mad as hatters.
Too soon, we wonder if anything matters.
After drought, roots unfold soundlessly
and it is hard to hear the truth’s refrain.
Our senses our dulled by falling rain.
Our restless sleep disrupts our days.
We are lulled by quieter chants,
but nothing has changed.
Courage now, lads and lasses.
The polls await the arriving train.
We must vote, in sunshine or rain.
Open sad and tired eyes.
Listen with too-numbed ears.
The sounds may be different,
but not the refrain.
Time to vote the danger away.
Time to learn to dance in the rain.
Vote!
