Tag Archives: MAGA

BORN IN THE USA

Photo by Daniel Bendig on Pexels.com

Being born in the USA

does not make me better.

It makes me luckier.

Winning the lottery

brings euphoria.

Sharing the winnings

brings me satisfaction.

That is love in action.

My question is always

one taught me by JFK.

Not, “what can my country 

do for me?”.

But, “what can I do 

for my country?”

The only way

to make America better

is to remind myself

I do not matter

more than any other 

American, immigrant

or refugee.

I do not matter 

more than any other

African, Asian, Latino

nor European.

Each of us hopes to be free.

Each of us has our own journey.

Some of us are luckier than others.

All of us are sisters and brothers.

My country is better

when I am better, kinder, truer

to the home of the brave

and the land of the free

where democracy demands

I stay on guard against those

who would embrace autocracy.

This is what America asks of me.

3 Comments

Filed under POETRY

THROUGH-LINES

Supreme Court Building 1 First by Carol M Highsmith is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Before amendments,

only white men could vote

under a constitution meant

to protect white male power

and their wealth to control the hour.

The hours of Women’s Labor.

The hours of Black Labor.

The hours of Asian Labor

on railroads crossing the nation

with white men’s wealth protected

in box cars, from southern fields

and northern industries.

Photo by Christian Catamo on Pexels.com

Oh, we can easily see

why Originalist judges seek

to turn back time and make weak

the power gained by women’s suffrage,

African-American civil rights fights,

and Japanese reparation gains.

Each accomplishment a refrain

against white male supremacy.

There is a through-line of meritocracy

from serfdom and caste

until at last

white men must choose 

which they love more;

their country or their power,

their countrymen or their wealth.

There is no stealth 

as they seek to regain

what they once owned.

The rest of us!

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

Think

“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.” – Voltaire

Leave a comment

Filed under POLITICS

HOLY SATURDAY

Photo by atiabii on Pexels.com

Time hangs suspended in the tomb,

rolled back behind a solid stone

chasing thoughts away

of what occurred yesterday.

Shrouded in a mystery

foretold by history

evil reaches across the space

where fearing loss of power

the great losers rage by the hour.

We helped create our own purgatory,

where all we do is worry

rather than embrace the true reality

we not so suddenly face.

We must roll away the stone

and bring truth home;

look at what we have done

and what we have failed to do.

The stillness of this day must renew

a strength we once embraced with pride.

Now we cower and we hide.

Are we so fearful and so weak

we dare not take a peak

into our shaking souls to see

the selves we have come to be?

Only we. Only we. Only we

becomes our litany.

Only we can stop the hate

that acts upon the institutions

we must rely upon

to uphold law and seek justice

to protect all of us

and this country we proclaim to be

the seat of freedom and democracy.

We must open up our eyes

and roll away the lies

that block this holy space

where salvation will arise.

Vote away the hate.

it is not too late.

1 Comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

THE LIGHT WE REFUSE TO SEE

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

I used to believe Truth lived in the shadows.

If only we could shine enough light,

then Truth would be set free

for all to see.

There are those who prefer we stay in the dark,

it is true. They fear the Light will open our eyes.

It is no longer so easy to darken the streets 

upon which we set our feet

hoping to reach a place of greater liberty.

Truth speeds around the world 

from one shadowed place to the next.

Through media Truth moves at the speed of light.

Truth seekers use facts to light our way

along the path to a new day,

one where Light holds sway.

The darkness can no longer hide Truth in shadow.

Those who live in the dark side of life

create new truths able to live in false Light.

In their constant retelling of lies

Truth simply dies in plain sight.

The battle between the Light and the Dark,

between Truth and Lies

is now exposed in MAGA prose

stealing the limelight with false praise

for oligarchs, autocrats and murderers

whose only goal is to control

the flow of wealth into their own pockets

while those who work to be whole

starve and struggle at their feet.

Those forced to  flee and seek amnesty as refugees

would add their story to our own 

brightening the Truth we already know.

The telling would not surprise the homeless

who walk our own streets.

The homeless, like Truth, used to hide in shadow.

We try to keep them there so we cannot see

the borders they have crossed.

Truth and Light and Love are all apiece.

Without Love we are blind and refuse to seeTruth.

There is no Light strong enough to overcome

deliberate blindness cushioned by lies.

We allow them in boardrooms, newsrooms,

hearing rooms and even, courtrooms.

“Speak Truth to Power,” isn’t that what we say?

When Power seizes the Light with falsehood

can we not see that False Light

can never be allowed to hold sway?

True Light is always more powerful than false.

Liars know this and ban books, and oppose

all who stand alight within Truth’s glow.

This is the one thing I still know.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

ELECTIONS 2024

Carnival rides at sunset by Marcus Burnette is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

The election year carnival has set up on the town square.

Hawkers shout from every tent, “come try our wares.”

Games of chance do not come free.

Choices are forced by our monetary needs.
Every player needs tickets to play.

Too few funds shortens the stay.

The House of Mirrors is on full display.

But the images inside are shattered in the fray

of fast-moving events and fast-talking cons.

Bombarded by fractured light we simply go on.

We get lost amid broken images

with pattern-less scrimmages

as we move through mirrored rooms.

Our hearts pound out a sense of doom.

Anxiety reigns.This feels like no game

that anyone can win, nor simply gain fame.

This House of Mirrors creates fear

and makes each step too dear

to waste on those seeking our vote.

We respond to the loudest note,

no soft word can compete

as we close our eyes and complete

the winding route to the outside.

Suddenly, we just want to hide.

It is all too much to pay attention.

We are as fractured as the mirrors we faced,

mirrors which displaced reality’s space.

Down is up and up is down.

We search for a safe space with none to be found.

We are surrounded by the false laughter of clowns.

All we once knew to be true is turned around.

We yearn for past days when we stood on solid ground.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

UNDERSTATED

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

There is so little that is understated now.

No more elegant lifting of a single brow.

Excited stammers and caustic frowns

by the faithless Republican clowns

who mimic a man who would wear a crown.

There is no thoughtful, errudite display.

There is only posing false, and evil, play.

Trumped up hearings day-by-day

now hold sway hiding reality away.

He does not lead; but, is just a toy

they use as an effective ploy

to take away power from the many

so they can hold on to every penny

they have gained by writing rules

to benefit themselves and other fools

who overlook their history

and their sworn oaths and holy duty.

What games are played out every day.

While we are left to hope and pray.

And legislation is torn to shreds

that protected us lying in our beds

believing we could face another day,

and see more laws added to hold harm at bay.

They play on fears which they create,

their greed for money and power to satiate.

Vote before it is too late

and democracy is no longer ours to celebrate.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

LIES

Photo by Carlos Herrero on Pexels.com

The universal lie is

that I never lie.

Always untrue.

We all lie.

We all do.

There are but two reasons why.

Knowing that is seeing true.

Knowing that may save you.

The first lie

may save your injury,

comfort your suffering,

grant you your freedom,

shelter and protect,

uplift and encourage,

open you to love.

The first lie is the oil over 

troubled waters,

is the hidden key 

to new discovery,

is the extra note to more harmony.

The first lie brings peace.

The first lie helps us see

we are part of loving community.

The second lie

causes injury,

increases suffering,

denies our freedom,

makes us feel unsafe.

Discourages our history 

Berates new ideas,

closes us to love with hate.

The second lie is not 

so noble as the first.

The first lie is for us.

The second lie is for the liar.

The first lie sets boundaries

to expand our sense

of love and creativity.

Its purpose is to protect.

The second lie has no “red lines”

it refuses to cross; but, only seeks

to sate the need of the second liar.

The second lie is for him, not us.

The second lie denies our right

to create connections and see the light

that fills all persons whose lives intersect.

It restricts any chance for us to connect.

The biggest liar of them all

is not the first, nor will be the last.

He is simply the liars’ poster boy.

And poster boys never last.

But the lies they tell persist

no matter how many resist

the pull of hate to the surface.

The greatest lie of all

is the one we tell ourselves

that we are somehow better,

somehow best.

We are liars, all.

If not we would have let him fall.

He would join other liars in jail.

Let up hope that soon

truth will finally prevail.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

FELLOW TRAVELERS

Trump supporters near the U.S Capitol, on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC
Getty Images

Cliches are used to describe

beliefs held by members of the tribe.

Fellow Travelers need never think.

They simply repeat without a blink.

They readily follow the scripted lines

which leaders lay down clean and fine

on minds at ease and entertained

by political games played again and again.

Fellow Travelers are nothing new.

Names have changed as hatred grew.

Stalin or Putin, Hitler or Ali Khamenei,

Leni Riefenstahl or Kelly Anne Conway,

Mitchell or Flynn, Himmler or Halloway,

Chamberlin or Trump, Goring or Meadows,

“Both sides are good people” and happy fellows.

No Fellow Traveler deserves a pass.

Two Party systems have paved the way

to allow us to defeat hate each voting day.

Until now, when an entire party has become

the Fellow Traveler of world leaders of hate

whose acts of oppression and crimes of war

remind us humanity has not come so far

as we imagined and hoped and prayed.

We must vote them out next election day.

Elections have never mattered more.

No Fellow Traveler can be allowed

to cross the threshold of Congress’ door.

No Fellow Traveler can take up residency

in The White House of our nation’s  presidency.

No nation can remain free

whose voters cannot think independently.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY

POETRY’S PATH

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Poetry may hide under rocks, too.

Poems litter the path with words

often unattached

to any reality,

and blocking the way

to progress.

But, poetry exposed to the sun,

and shared with everyone,

opens up paths of discovery.

Poems can be used as tools

to bring back home

fearful fools

who climbed too high,

led astray by fraudsters

who use their fear

to build a gate,

and create hate

to block the way

to unity and community.

Our village awaits

the return of those who thus roam.

Let poetry guide you home.

Leave hate behind.

Make easier your climb,

unfettered by false letters

in tweets and squeaks

by cowards, hour upon hour.

Such false facts weigh you down

more than personal adversity.

Community will share the load,

no matter how hard your road.

Love, not hate, always finds its way.

Come home.

Come home.

Come home.

Today.

Leave a comment

Filed under POETRY, POLITICS