Tag Archives: MAGA

STRAINED SILENCE

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If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

No “both sides” today.

As if some griefs matter more.

No “hate begets hate.”

If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

Each life a sacred

moment expressed in earth-time,

born of the Divine.

If you have nothing 

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

Civility shattered.

Podcast by podcast each day.

What really matters?

If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

We all grieve always,

ev’ry moment ev’ry day.

Loss all around us.

If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

Anger lies beneath

the surface of grief today,

fearing so much more.

If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

Love is stronger, heh?

Tell us that another day.

Love now keeps silent.

If you have nothing

good to say, then stay silent.

Strained silence today.

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Filed under POETRY

THE GAME IS OVER

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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!

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

SILENCE

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The walk around the neighborhood is strangely silent.

Cicadas have ceased their songs of warning.

Birds flock south on gentle winds 

leaving the yard yearning for music.

Butterflies still sing with quiet wings 

few can hear.

Gnats and flies loosely lie low 

as caterpillars hold on tight

to leaves of flowers seeding through colder nights.

The angle of the sun has moved us

as we turn around a sun now calmed.

Its bright displays over too-hot days are over-done.

The silence grows as the cold days come on.

Longer shadows of neglect disclose

the weeds who hid in too-bright light.

We now face ever-longer nights.

Is this the calm before winter’s storms?

Are we watching the loss of every norm?

Or have we become so compliant

we fail to even notice the silence?

The neighborhood is strangely silent

as I keep vigil, and hold fast against violence.

Silence, silence. So much uneasy silence

one wants to scream and shout so loud

windows open wide in surprise 

to see what all the fuss is about.

Footsteps march around the block.

Even they are too silent to unlock

the energy sapped by summer’s too-hot heat.

We are just too tired to compete

with the silence, silence. So much silence.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

THE PERFECT STORM

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We are in the midst of a perfect storm.

Those who seek perfection, especially

a perfection to match themselves,

which they consider the norm,

relish the chaos which leads astray

a nation once dedicated to the proposition

that “all men are created equal 

and endowed by their creator with the right

to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

What a lovely concept in sunny weather,

on a clear blue day.

But, those seeing red over perceived imperfection

cannot tolerate those who refuse to let the imperfect

get in the way of the possible.

They prefer to cut programs and taxes,

to keep their money in their own pockets,

show their personal largesse to those deemed worthy.

If only, they could see their own imperfections clearly.

We would not be in this frightful storm.

The winds of fascism and authoritarianism stir wildly

every manner, moral tome, and rule of law, and norm.

The rain of terror by masked militia in our streets

is more costly than housing the homeless,

feeding the hungry, educating our young people

who live with expectations of defeat.

The young see their pursuit of happiness and their freedom

being washed away, with inequality laid at their feet.

I do not believe in perfection. 

There are few perfect days.

Clouds are born by winds unseen 

shadowing perfection and laying it aside

while violent storms brew.

I do not seek the impossible. 

It is too costly and uncontrollable.

I know no policy nor program is perfect, as is no man.

Nothing makes us greater than to simply understand

we are all flawed human beings doing the best we can.

There can be no apology for silently marveling 

and supporting these dark days.

The perfect see no reason to apologize

for the greater wisdom of their ways.

We are left to raise umbrellas 

to protect as many as we can.

But, umbrellas are no match for perfect storms

created by our fellow man.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

STROBOSCOPIC POLITICAL STRATEGY

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Imagine if you will, 

everything you see in the MAGA

movement is really still.

Moments framed in space and time

and speeded up at will.

Whose will matters; yours or mine?

Wagons moving forward

we are told but their wheels appear 

to travel in reverse.

This wagon wheel illusion

is not just made for movies.

It is made to sow confusion.

The brain’s refresh rate is slower

than the information it is seeing.

It believes it is seeing motion

when the still image is moving more rapidly 

than the brain can refresh.

Unmerged refresh rates upend believability.

Under certain lighting conditions

and with other distractions

this effect is more striking

and not to the brain’s liking.

The distracting stroboscopic effect

is not truly an illusion, but a warning.

Our brains try to make sense of the lie

right before our eyes.

Sampling any phenomenon

with the wrong frequency

leads to misinterpretation.

The frame moves faster and faster

and slower brain rates sense a disaster.

Film. Repeat. Film in bright light

to move people to the Right.

Offer more distraction

and the lies seem so real

that we put them on media’s reels

so we think were are moving 

forward; but, our country 

is moving backward.

We must understand projection

for our own and our country’s protection.

We are seeing under the illusion of confusion.

A political strategy for those untrained

to give this phenomena a name.

Now you know it.

Now you own it.

Now do something about it.

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GAMBLING ON DEMOCRACY

A I generated image

Losers unite fast.

Winners make moments last.

Spectators lose all.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

DEMORALIZED

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Newscasters used to tell it like it is.

Now, they are opinionated forecasters.

They still tell us who.

They tell us who said why.

They no longer tell us 

what, when or how.

That would expose the lie.

No wonder we are demoralized

within both its meanings, 

no surprise.

First losses began long ago:

No more manners as a guide.

No more conscience to lower pride.

No respect for others.

No authority recognized.

Second losses are less discreet:

No longer safe in thoughts nor words.

No longer safe on our own streets.

No more hopeful for the best

when every known fact is put to the test.

No more law and order.

Due process now out the door.

Demoralized beyond repair?

The people rise, at last, at last?

Not in anger and outrage.

Peacefully assembling on marching feet.

Nuns, priests, ministers, imams and rabbis

offer a morality well-intentioned if incomplete.

But this is how our story goes.

We are not perfect, heaven knows.

Our moral code is soft and flexible.

Our democratic republic makes it workable.

It offers a way to respect ourselves and one another;

to recognize all as sister or brother.

Immorality is what we see, and vote for?

Approve of, and laugh about too obviously?

See where  we have led ourselves and our country,

fueled by wantoness and greed.

Demoralized we may be.

Still a people willing to fight to remain free.”

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“NOLITE TE BASTARDES CARBORUNDORUM.” – Handmaid’s Tale

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

SMALL SPACES SMALL MINDS

AI GENERATED image of Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg

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.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

MONARCHS

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The monarchs are back

after an arduous journey

from, of all places, Mexico.

Monarchs will leave, eventually.

We now have a monarch in D.C.

who also road in over Mexico.

Unlike the butterfly

which sips nectar and gathers pollen

to leave the garden better and intact,

the D.C. monarch calls flowers weeds

in his obstinate refusal to face facts

and cuts every bloom in the garden back.

He leaves the soil once rich and black

lie fallow so the garden cannot grow back.

This monarch guards his new wasteland

that those who come to take his place

can plant their own seeds

of power and greed.

The monarch will leave as all men must

beneath the weight of soil, and those who lust

for power will take his place in the dead of winter,

and amidst the death of democracy inter

our constitutional republic.

Gardens need much more than monarchs to thrive.

It takes great effort to keep freedom alive.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

NO RETREAT

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My country is not being stolen.

It is being sold to the highest bidder.

Wealth and power

are the voices of the hour.

Not unexpected 

in a consumerism frenzy

fueled by media and investors.

Capitalism has its own axes to grind.

Now, it seems to grind down me and mine.

Turning to fascism is an easy turn of face

for a people untroubled by greed and hate;

for a nation  built on slavery and Jim Crow,

and denial of women’s rights to earn and grow

at the same pace, with the same grace,

all men seem entitled to know.

Religion once again is used to shame

and disgrace anyone unwilling

to bend the knee to fake gods

and destroy all faith

in a democratic republic of equals

with equal rights to remain free

of religious bigotry.

This is an old story, one we left behind

to build a new nation inspired by the divine

rights of all men and women to be free.

Now thugs are granted bounties

to place their heels on our necks.

Military mission which once defended

is now on our own streets, its purpose up-ended.

Wealth and power which once plundered

third world nations for fossil fuel and cash

now plunders our economy and middle class.

Science  once built a solid foundation

for a healthy, productive nation.

All our scientists built is now being turned to ash.

Massive turnouts in the streets.

Massive turnout at polls complete

our voices shouting, “ no retreat! ”

“No retreat! No retreat!”

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS