Tag Archives: INDIVISIBLE

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

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

HELP US ON OCTOBER 18th.

This is difficult to write for several reasons. 

First because I have chronic fatigue syndrome, sometime called ME, CFIDS, and now, similar to long Covid. I became very ill and disabled from my illness 36 years ago. I was told then I would be lucky to walk again, likely need a wheel chair or cane. Great medical care from osteopathic manipulative medicine and acupuncture, years of pushing physical boundaries allow me to walk, for short distances. I can care for myself at home. I taught myself to read and write again by writing in a journal every morning. Despite brain fog, I developed  a blog. My earliest efforts were poems. Gradually, I re-learned grammatical forms. Dyslexic imagery means my written words are sometimes corrupted. Lately, ChatGP has stolen even more of my words when it fails to recognize dyslexic word forms and alters words I do not always catch. My eyes and my brain take a while to catch up. Still, I must write to connect to the larger world I once participated in with gusto. 

I practiced law as the Associate Director of Legal Affairs for Ohio University and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. In my spare time I taught law as an adjunct Associate Professor to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. I taught Business Law, School Law, Vocational Education Law, Law and Medicine (at O.U.medical school), and created courses and taught Social Welfare Law and a race relations course. I co-founded OU STARS, training and mentoring students to run race relations programs and workshops. I visited other campuses, community organizations  and political groups and lectured on law as it applied to them. I love the law. I love the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. I loved teaching and sharing my love of law with every audience available to me. 

It was difficult to be sidelined from such an active life sharing the love of the law. It is difficult now to watch the hatred of the law spewed from the lips of a president, vice-president, Secretary of State, Director of Homeland Security, every federal agency, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader. Watching the dismantling of the Rule of Law is almost too painful to write about. Watching the Supreme Court ignore centuries of stare decisis, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and every legal norm makes me want to scream until my throat is raw. it makes me tremble in disgust. Nightmares steal my sleep. I watch my country dissolve as it laws are twisted, debased, ignored and stomped upon. The only thing capable of holding together a nation dedicated to personal freedom is the law assuring no person is above the law. Otherwise disrespect and hatred toward other persons fueled by our animal nature inevitably leads to anarchy and self-destruction. We must hold the line against this administration and those who have tried to take and hold power only for themselves. To do so they must destroy the rule of law. That is what  see every day. That is what I mourn every moment. Thank God for lawyer Marc Elias. He holds our hope and beliefs in his legal briefs.

The media giants, universities, Republican state and local leaders are silent or complicit in the destruction. Worse, the voters, including family-friends-neighbors, pay little attention to what is happening. Or. worse, support what is happening. I do not know how to find forgiveness. I pray for grace to do so. Finally, my church is realizing it must oppose such forces. However, its last few decades has seen it fully supporting those destroying our freedoms because of its unwillingness to acknowledge the right of women to control their own bodies. The right of women to hold sexual power. Nothing threatens a misogynistic organization more than women holding power in their own hands. At last, heroes like Fr. Pfleger of Chicago have seen enough. They are speaking out. An answer to my prayer. I keep praying!

On October 18, I shall join millions of Americans our government has labeled traitors and evil people as we American freedom-lovers celebrate NO KINGS DAY. I ask you to join us, wherever you live. Will it place you at risk? The federal government leaders want you to think so. They want you afraid to stand up for the Constitution and laws which govern our democracy, and protect it from autocracy. We are stronger the larger the groups. If you are unable to stand on the street beside us, drive by and honk in support. If you cannot do that, encourage all you know to join us in any way they can. Please do not sit there and shake your head. Please do not lose hope. Please do not be afraid. We are stronger than we know. Never listen to those who tell you that you will never walk again, never speak nor write again, never advocate for change again. You can. You must. Help us!

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Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS

THE DAWN OF DISCONTENT

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Darkness has not yet lifted

from the night of a waning moon.

This is the time of discontent

when one feels most alone, but soon,

the sun shall rise.

Others choose to sleep through darkness.

I cannot. Like a lone wolf,

I choose to stay awake, woke to wonder

hidden in all I yet may discover

in people and places I have never known.

I plant seeds of yearning in my soul

that love may take root and grow

beyond my own cultural limits,

beyond the bounds of all I know.

I try to stay awake, though weary,

to watch the new day dawn.

As it surely will.

As it surely will.

As it surely will.

Turn three times and make a wish.

I wish to fearlessly face the heat of these days

with cool calm and laughter so strong

it awakens the entire world.

Will the new dawn reveal 

that which was destroyed

while an entire nation slept?

This question is what makes some people

sleep the whole day long.

Their eyes appear open, but they sleepwalk;

perhaps hoping they are dreaming

and the day is a mere nightmare

from which they will soon awake.

I cannot pretend. Not I.

Even in the dark my eyes open wide.

I must see what darkness has wrought.

I tend to the garden I have created,

to the life of growth I have sought,

as the sun rises over roots sorely stressed.

I cannot allow the plants, nor my self, to die

even though they can no longer thrive.

I am awake in the dark, but not alone.

So long as I see clearly, if not cheerily,

the life of other living things all around me

resisting the threat in the day ahead and hanging on.

Sensing our togetherness is what makes us strong.

I watch the discontented dawn.

The sun continues to rise.

As will you. As shall I.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

NOT A LOOKING GLASS, NOR WINDOW

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

I see you looking through the glass

aghast.

As Alice in Wonderland you fear

falling down rabbit holes.

We all do.

You think the glass is a window.

It is a door.

You seem not to know

it can open for you.

A small push against the lash

can open the way

to a world where anything

is possible.

Everything is now in play.

The old ways are falling away

pushed aside by fearful elements

with false ego and too much pride.

They lie to create a place to hide.

No door is too strong to block you.

You are an American voter.

Your vote holds sway.

Yes, I see the barricades

being put in place, more every day.

Your strength, dear voter, 

comes in numbers so strong

they cannot hold the door closed too long.

Once through the door

we clean the debris away.

Americans living in the light of truth;

we light our own way.

American voters will have their say.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

COLUMBUS,OHIO 4-5-2025

Thousands gathered in pouring rain

that fizzled to drizzle

before again filling drains

in a deluge of tears shed from the sky

for all the cruel MAGA plans in 2025.

Cars in parade drove round and round

filled with those too weak or sick to stand

letting the blare of horns shift feet off the ground

as protesters lifted signs and waved

in true solidarity, camaraderie and pride.

Every viewpoint, every age, every gender

straight or pride, every religion; all differences aside.

Small towns, big cities and rural hamlets,

countries all around the globe 

joined together, lifted signs with epithets

and reminders the people run this country

not oligarchs, nor despots, nor traitors, nor kings.

Enough is enough and this is too much

as it silences the Liberty Bell’s ring.

And, best of all, this is just the beginning.

Soon, MAGA will fall.

Still, local and national news ignores

the true message sent today

to save our beloved USA.

Media moguls saw no need

to shoot themselves in the knee

and tell the story of our glory

as we gathered to redress grievances

and demand our government comply

with federal laws and court orders

lest we watch our nation die. 

We are here, and here we shall remain.

We are our own best hope. We refuse to lie.

Fascists now rule over the home of the brave,

supported by Republican cowards

whose complicity credulity strains.

And the news media offers no discourse

to educate and explain

why millions of Americans stood so  resolute,

so long, in such  drowning rain.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS