Tag Archives: freedom

STRONG OF HEART

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

Hardened hearts break easily,

leaving broken pieces to fall

as heavy weights of brute strength,

and painful threats strewn about the streets

bathed in pepper gas and tears

of gas dripping over the faces of our children,

our elderly, our disabled; all allies

of the young who’s futures face flash bangs

of deceit and fraud and outright theft.

All of us thrown to the ground 

stumped and stamped upon

by those whose hardened hearts

keep breaking and flung about in rage.

Photo by Ramaz Bluashvili on Pexels.com

The hearts of those who protest are soft.

They are known for their easy acceptance.

They are berated for their ease of conscience.

Such hearts cannot break apart.

They are part of one eternal heart.

The hearts of protesters are soft, but firm.

Such soft hearts are resolute and unbreakable.

Their love of country and of one another

continue to beat strong and full of love.

Such hearts always remember to BE GOOD.

The only way to stop strong hearts

is to capture, perhaps kill, them.

Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com

Hearts connected to one another

always continue to beat on.

Ukraine’s heart beats on.

Gaza’s heart beats on.

Sudan’s heart beats on.

Iran’s heart beats on.

Greenland’s heart beats on.

Canada’s heart beats on.

Central America’s heart beats on.

South America’s heart beats on.

The European Union’s heart beats on.

Minneapolis’ heart beats on.

Chicago’s heart beats on.

Los Angeles’ heart beats on.

The United States of America’s heart beats on.

Freedom’s heart beats strong, 

and beats on, now and forever.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

OVERFED AND UNDER-NOURISHED

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Pexels.com

Americans are overfed

on soft food,

pre-digested,

pre-prepared,

pre-packaged

and all but dead.

“Give me something to chew,”

they say.

Even a lie will do.

Americans have learned to

eat lies for breakfast;

for lunch and dinner, too.

They brag about feasts

empty of nutrition that builds life,

but full of calories bringing strife.

Offering such empty scenes

of family life left sorrowing,

of neighborhood crime fallowing

entire blocks within every hamlet.

Sitcoms no longer hold their attention.

“Give me something to chew on!

they demand incessantly.

A I might be their only salvation.

They have lost the patience

for solemn contemplation.

They no longer know how 

to take slower bites,

to savor a meal surrounded by family;

nor keep a schedule.

They buy modern on-the-go insanity,

even while waiting forever it seems

to order a vente-decafe-no cream.

Their jealousy at losing 

what others have not

now knows no boundaries

as they gobble up

the power that such losers corrupt.

They no longer need to chew at all.

They buy all the crap, having nothing at all.

Time to go green. Time to come clean.

Of course, we shall as soon as our screams

fade away with the plea,

“Give me something to chew on”

that is real, that is true.

Is that too much to ask of you?

Over-processed replies 

may be all we can get

from those pre-packaged politicians whose lies

overcome the silence of over-processed cowards

too scared to openly repent.

Chew slowly as lies melt in your mouth.

Lies feed nothing; cannot keep you alive.

Lies are killing a land of freedom once prized.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

AWAITING SPRING

Classic Noru2019easter plowed up the East Coast of the United States [Detail] by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC-BY 2.0

The wind has ceased clearing away

old lies and false games in play.

New lies form and cling to every surface

and truth is once again surfeit.

Snow may provide pristine cover

until snow melts and we discover

one lie lies atop another.

Spring seems too far away

and each day we must wait seems unsafe.

I welcome any blowing wind that rages,

if it uncovers the millions of pages

hidden behind bureaucratic stages.

Sunlight always follows storms

which speed across a continent’s norms

and freshens the air we all breathe,

able to fill lungs eager to breathe free.

A cold wind is as good as warm.

Each wind has its own charm.

Both can clear the air and remove

what would cause us harm.

No wind today to grace 

what feels a very unsafe space.

So, I blow words across a page.

A warning wind blowing hard and truly

meant to make us all a bit unruly.

No place for Kings, I remind you.

We gather together, we too few.

Let the winds blow and harden our stance

to face and uncover lies which advance

the tyranny of greedy overlords 

who cannot stand up to truthful words.

Spring is coming, or so, I have heard told.

Until it comes, blow winds! Blow!

No matter how cold.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

THE NORTH WIND

Photo by Ben Muk on Pexels.com

A fierce wind blows hard and fast

across the tundra’s frozen mass

sliding down south furious and fast

like a feisty child on a slickened slide,

adult control no longer about,

tearing across a playground 

with hearty shouts of glee –

I’m free! I’m free! I’m free!

It is a wondrous sight to see

bending, dancing trees in sway

holding tight squirrels’ nests

close to trees’ heaving chests.

The air is alive in ways we seldom see.

reminding us we, too, can be free.

We can cross the frozen, grieving miles

and dance again wreathed in smiles.

We can find a quickened pace

as wind lifts our feet into space

we once thought too weak to bear our weight.

Mother Nature reminds us of our place

in an ever-changing world whose race

to bring us safely round the sun,

with laughter, joy and fun

brings treasured moments of grace.

North wind reminds what we already know –

we….must…. just….let……….. go!

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

THANKS GIVING

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

It is good to be thankful.

It is good to be free.

It is good to hope 

and dance so merrily.

It is good to be thankful.

It is good if we can see

it is good to keep trying

to save our beloved country.

It is good to be thankful.

It is good for more than me.

It is good for every “other”

who turns I into we.

It is good to be thankful.

But I want so much more.

I want each of us to lift 

the light beside an open door.

I want each of us to hold and defend

our sacred declared text and constitution.

I want each of us to pledge

we will begin again

and set aside fearful pride

alongside those who deny

the Rule of Law and all it means,

as it loss threatens the safety

of ourselves, and every sister and brother.

I want each of us to vote the bums out.

I want each of us to cry freedom and shout

“We ain’t buying it !” 

to all those who sold us out

so they alone can dance merrily in a ballroom

built on East Wing destruction,

giving in to autocrats’ seduction.

It is good to be thankful.

It is good to be free.

But, only if we all can be

and only if we all 

can dance so merrily.

Too many did not think this is how it would be.

They ignored the liberal thinkers they deplore,

and wholeheartedly ignored

the warnings and pleas to face reality.

Instead, they refused to see,

they refused to look into the mirror

of their own racist, sexist depravity.

It was easier to look away.

They knew they would not like

what they would see.

They felt affirmed and at their ease.

But only for a moment.

Now, this is where we are, but need not be.

It is good to be thankful.

It is good to stay free.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

HUNGER GAMES

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I see patterns, not the dead.

Patterns of the dead and dying, instead.

Death by a thousand cuts,

every strength lessened  in a labor force,

in flight controllers, educators, hospitals,

F.B.I and military personnel, as well.

Saving money is not the purpose;

but, stealing money to fill the purses

of family and those who hold the cards,

greedy sots who play so hard

they have forgotten how to work

if they ever knew how.

No sweat on their flinty-eyed brow.

The hunger games have now begun.

Watching suffering is part of their fun.

Crying children with aching bellies,

babies once thriving, who will soon be dying.

The weakened working poor and people of color

are always such a weight and bother

to those who seek fortune and fame.

To win, such weak pretenders must play such games.

The cries and shouts are soon drowned out

by Epstein’s files which stretch for miles

across every ocean, their pattern is in motion.

Overpower those you fear and take their power.

Do this day-by-day, hour-by-hour

until they die or wish they could.

Death by a thousand cuts.

Pretend you are doing it for their own good.

Your power is but a sick, slick dream;

a nightmare for hungry children who scream.

Banks profit off your every scheme and stay silent

while you threaten and demean those who show

who you really are, and strive to make clear

this is not who most of us are, or wish to be.

But, too many agree. Too many refuse to see

the patterns they have watched on TV screens

for so many generations that it is destroying a nation.

I see patterns, not the dead.

So busy feeding the hungry we have little time to fight

those who create patterns of dominance and fright

robbing us of the wealth which once fueled our success.

Now, our very democratic existence is under duress.

This is part pf the plan of the Heritage Foundation,

who has shaken the core the the Republican Party so hard

it no longer exists as a proud opposition.

It has become the source of a free people’s annihilation.

I see patterns. I see the plan has been set in motion.

Now, I ask, countryman and women to show their devotion

to a nation entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

where all are created free as a basic right of creation.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

A NEW DAWN

Photo by Ali Naderi on Pexels.com

Even the pictures on the wall

are tilted to the right.

Was there another disturbance overnight?

A tweet, and email, a deep-meet out of sight?

Did I stay asleep to avoid another fright?

When dawn came to anew and renew me 

I woke to the strengthening light.

I straightened every picture on every wall.

Was all this only a nightmarish dream after all?

I suddenly feel stronger, the longer I recall

what the world looked like before America’s fall.

Once again, I vow, Americans will be able to stand tall.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

LEAD WITH THE HEART

Lead with the heart

and the mind will follow

a path of peace and hope,

strong enough to carry

dreams and generosity

for all those you meet.

No matter how difficult

the journey it will not be taken

alone, silently, fearfully.

The heart knows best what matters.

The heart knows the best path.

The heart unites us joyfully.

The heart beats life determinedly.

The heart overcomes strife.

Lead with the heart and do your part

to create a world worth living.

Some paths are famous and large.

Some paths are unrecognized and small.

Every path matters to those

who walk it and make it their own.

Every path converges as we move

into the great unknown.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

BACK TO THE GYM

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

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!

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

INSOMNIA

Sleep catches me unaware

Reading in my chair.

A loud noise as a commercial airs

Awakens me from nightmares.

No, it is the news that intrudes

On waking dreams sharp and crude.

I have been awake more than I knew

Unable to tell what is untrue or true.

And so, I read some more

Of an entire reality to explore.

I try hard to understand and accept

A new reality in a democracy kept

Captive without due process of law

Which exposes all of our flaws.

Racism breathes deep and still

With a long-ignored strong will.

We too easily pretend

it has nothing to do with us, my friend.

Lie once and it becomes then

easier to lie again and again.

And we have lied for centuries now.

Shame beads sweat on every brow.

Cognitive dissonance

Makes us create distance

From truth, facts and connection.

Shamelessness offers protection.

Too many are willing to deny

What is clear to the clear-eyed.

I see no end in sight

And remain sleepless night after night.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY