Is it possible
for three hearts to beat
within one body?
One full of love and joy
for every creature,
every life form?
One full of sorrow
of what tomorrow
will likely unfold?
One full of anger
and a rage so profound
a heart breaks in pieces?
Oh, now I see.
I have but one heart
being torn asunder.
I am no longer in doubt.
I am no longer unsure.
I am no longer whole.
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We see you. We hear you. We stand beside you.
But now, in spirit, bowed down
by age, and illness, and disability
we no longer meet you at the march in body.
The feet and legs no longer allow
standing on the corners, hugging the curbs,
marching along with you one-by-one.
The hands and arms no longer allow
lifting the sign, carrying messages aloft,
marching along with you one-by-one.
We can still lift a pen, still lift a brush.
We know it is not nearly enough
to calm the heart, comfort the soul
or change a stiff and unrelenting mind.
It is enough to calm, comfort and awaken
our weakened, weary, warrior selves.
We send our spirits to stand beside you
as you march along one-by-one.
We can remind you and all who watch
that more stand with you than they can see.
You are not alone
as you march to keep us free.
I thought I could not write because of my pain.
Not, so.
I hesitate to write because of my disdain.
You know.
I think you have may felt it before.
It rises not from my within.
It rises from your within. It is your most-feared sin.
It sleeps in the place your secrets are kept
of all the times you felt inept.
While I simply raced along your side,
trying to match all the runners with pride.
But, you did not want me there.
That is your eternal prayer.
You thought I should stay in my place.
You feared I could actually win the race.
You deep-down know how weak that feels.
You deep-down know how foul the appeal
to those who would embrace
every runner in the race.
So, you create fake news and tell stories
that cause the runners and watchers to worry
that the race is fixed, corrupt and costly.
You can only lose if there is nothing left to gain.
You prefer full destruction than your personal pain.
You care not the cost.
You cannot handle a loss.
It is you I disdain.
You, I hear explain in rambling detail the goodness,
rightness, advancement of hate.
You who shuts doors and padlocks the gates.
You, I watch burn books and erase history.
You, who imagines a world draped in mystery
where no scientific fact
can remain intact.
My words cannot be allowed to create
more fear, more sense of loss, more hate.
My words could darken the stars.
My words could start wars.
That I cannot allow and must abate.
I cannot add one ounce to your tons of hate.
If you think these words apply to one man,
you sadly misunderstand.
They apply to all of us, to me and to you.
We created the world we try to eschew.
In our deep spaces are we mere bagatelle?
Are we a nation without a story to tell?
We need not seek nor accept our ruination.
We have a Constitution, amended to perfect our nation.
We race not to win a trophy nor prize.
The race does not rely on crowd size.
We run to show how races can be won
when runners align and voters cheer on
every runner who flies by.
By my definition
the greatest competition lies within.
Racism is our Original Sin.
The Cold War taught school kids to “duck-and-cover”
to save their lives, not from bullets fired by fellow Americans;
But from Russian bombs put in place
to put America in its place
in every available space
where bombs could reach our shores.
President Kennedy intervened to stop the ships
carrying missiles to fill silos built in Cuba.
School kids stopped to pray that day
before being sent home to “be with their families.”
I recall that day when annihilation of my nation
became too real to hide away.
Khruschev shouted “We will bury you” as he beat his shoe
where he sat at a desk in the UN.
He foretold our future there and then.
He said we will “destroy you from within.”
That is when the great pirates began to grow rich
in their race shore to shore running
arms, and drugs, and sex slaves galore;
depositing money passed hand-to-hand
into banks off-shore until it washed up and over
the World Bank, its monolith waves too big to ignore.
The dish on American tables ran away with the spoon
feeding the greed of a growing American oligarchy.
It has taken my lifetime to measure
the true loss of America’s treasure
amassed in stealth by pirates dressed as lobbyists,
and PACS funded by dark money
who claim the false goal to live free in our fragile democracy,
our greatest wealth.
The pirates stole into control of our country
with entertainment instead of news.
Encouraging citizens to sleep and not be woke to the tragedy
of pirates placed within a government grown too thin
by tax cuts for the pirates like Trump, Vance, Bannon, Musk, Ramaswamy,
Hegseth, Gabbard, Alito and so many others.
Leaders now promise to deregulate all guards against their pirate theft.
And a sleeping nation nods “yes,” ignoring the pleas of true patriots, left bereft.
The pirates have opened the gates and our Ship of State is un-moored.
They smile and smirk with strong-men and must not be ignored.
We cannot simply give up and give in
watching our country destroyed from within,
while Putin and America’s pirates count coins and grin.
annarino writes 