How good is good?
How far does it stretch?
As far as a lie?
Good asks questions,
while evil denies.
Who looks stronger?
The one who seems not to know
and questions everything as it goes?
Or the one who never answers,
never pauses to reflect,
never shows another respect?
How skewed is our thinking?
How screwed are our lives?
Good reaches upward
while evil takes a dive.
How do we climb
from such evil depths?
How good is good?
How far does it stretch?
Filed under Uncategorized
Most of us have been away from the gym too long.
Our freedom-loving muscles have grown slack.
We had not fully recognized the slack.
Others noted the weakness
of our democratic body.
We went about our day aware that each act
became more difficult, more strenuous.
Success became less assured, more tenuous.
While we grew soft, life grew hard.
We could no longer lift our children above our heads.
Their safety could not be assured;
not only on the playground monkey bars,
but behind their desk, or sitting in church pews.
Even our voices became more feeble
as we stopped the exercise of free speech,
and bemoaned the simple act
of marching down the street.
But others watched and saw our weakness grow.
Knew we were no longer paying attention
to our former strength and ignoring our work-outs,
while we flaunted more the medals on our chests
and the trophies on our shelves.
We no longer recalled how we earned those awards.
We forgot the daily struggle at life’s gymnasium
to keep the muscles of self-governance
strong enough to take on new challenges and ideas.
Our weakness made us run from, instead of with,
others racing along the path to freedom.
We envied their success, our own no longer moving
us forward and ahead.
The only way the weak can win is by holding others back.
The truly strong can win by running hard and long.
We all looked away from those who cheat
to claim a win they do not deserve.
It feels too close to every nerve
now weakened within each lax muscle;
a republic struggling just to stay upright.
Religion becomes the panacea of anxious nights.
We can only hope our muscle-memory
of freedoms gained in the past
is strong enough to make our democracy last.
Back to the gym. Walk the streets. Shout the speech
that you recall in memory grown weak.
Build back the muscle needed to wield your voting power.
Now is the hour
to get back to the gym.
Be strong and carry on!
Chronic pain is a thief
which stalks every bone and muscle
including the skull and brain
locking the flow across every sinew
of blood’s strength to reign
with ease and grace
across interstitial space.
Legs and pelvis lock in place
and the body can no longer race
along the path around the ponds.
Knees can no longer bend
to rest upon the earth and pull the weeds
nor plant the seeds
where the garden should grow.
Pain even steals words from where they reside
within the brain’s locked space
where dreams can no longer take hold
since sleep is stolen leaving behind
only grief and disgust at losses too great to abide.
The theft is its worst upon the face
where smiles are forced to hide
behind grimaces and half-closed eyes.
Laughter is the only relief to frozen space.
A sense of humor is the fiercer power
relieving pain hour after hour.
The deeper the laugh the looser the lock
that pain has placed upon the body clock.
Time passes with the pain as laughs invade
the place where pain thought to remain.
Laugh at pain and watch it rush,
pushed away by jokes and a comic crush.
Filed under POETRY
Each mile makes a difference.
The view changes before our eyes.
The path changes beneath our feet.
The mind changes within our thoughts.
The heart changes within our souls.
To go out and beyond the known;
to return changed and renewed
works muscles we did not know we had
in body, mind and soul.
World travelers we may be
within a single mile.
Starting out with a frown;
returning with a smile.
Exploring even familiar places
down to earth or beyond space
with each footstep we take
changes us and thus
the world.
Filed under POETRY
Saving face
By creating truth
Is the only means of escape
From harsh reality
For those whose core
Is thinned and weak
By lack of moral exercise.
Bread and circuse
Did Rome in.
History ignored
Is repeated evermore.
Distraction through attraction
Diverts the gaze, the ear, the tongue.
This is who we live among.
Doing what is correct
Does not reflect the Right
Constantly claiming false
It’s moral might
Over those whose outrage
Threatens their control,
Their wealth, their privilege.
New faces in new places
Where they were not allowed before
Distort the world view
Of the autocratic few.
It takes strong core
Muscles to stand tall
Before the attack of falsehood
Destroys us all.
Filed under POETRY
annarino writes 