Tag Archives: oligarchs

GREED

Despite what we have been told,

money is not the root of all evil.

Money is neither good nor bad,

It can be either warm or cold.

But, greed, that nasty fellow

eats away at heart and soul.

Puts self above the common good,

turns courage into cowardly yellow.

Shame finds no home among the self-serving.

Enamored wealth sets its own pace,

sets purposeless and questionable goals.

The weighty stacks of greedy acts is unnerving.

Senselessness rules its theft of compassion.

Ignorance shelters the ruse of satisfaction.

Depravity sets up cruel games of distraction.

Fear, baseless fear, becomes the sole passion.

Greed can become the ruin of us all.

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BE NOT AFRAID

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As the first female attorney to advise the white males controlling the institution I worked for I understood the underlying hostility that colored every conversation. I sensed the fear of most of those men, fear of a female with power. At one meeting with 3 levels of administrative authority needing my legal advice regarding a personnel matter, I summed up the position our institution faced and explained the necessary actions needed to avoid liability. I asked if they understood and they nodded “yes.” I picked up my file and prepared to leave, raising from the long table around which we all sat with the words, “I shall leave you to it, then.” 

One man directly across from me sneered and said with derision, “You’re  a cold bitch, aren’t you!” I paused, slammed down my file folder and leaned into his angry face and replied, “Yes, and I worked damned hard to get this way.” I smiled “good-bye, gentlemen” and left as a single man applauded me, to my surprise.

I have been called a communist, a pinko, a flower-child, a “n” lover, a socialist, a racist, a bitch, and worse (use your imagination or locker room references) since my late teens while I sat-in, went on hunger strikes, marched and protested racism, war, sexism, ageism, homophobia, classism, unfair tax relief for corporations and unearned wealth, privatization of hospitals-schools-infrastructure-roadways-anything originally financed by laborers’ taxation and turned over to privateers. I watched this agenda progress in the name of conservatism (talk about turning truth on its head)to utility grids, farms and farmers, schools, universities, the internet and other technology, our immigration system…even NASA. 

I learned that calling  me names was a projection meant to distract others from the goals of the Republican Party on the rebound after Nixonian corruption was exposed. Nothing new really. Ask the Native Americans and those enslaved by greedy Americans whose self-interest always overcomes the common good. Call me any name you want. I welcome it. Bullies always go a step too far and say too much when we stand up to them. They look and sound like the fools they are. Be proud of the names you are called. You are getting our nation’s true enemies and worst game-players to show their hand.

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” – Winston Churchill

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WE SHALL OVERCOME

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Grind the beans.

Heat the kettle.

Start the day with verve.

Do not start the day with anything less

than love and hope and nerve.

Love is wiser than all the lies.

Love is bolder than fear.

Love is stronger than greed.

Love is all we need.

Love mends broken hearts and nations.

Love is how we succeed.

Love welcomes each dawn’s transformation,

chaotic though it may appear to be.

The path of love, poets tell us,

ne’er does run smooth.

But with many hearts joined as one,

the chaos can, and shall, be overcome.

So, we raise our cup to smiling lips

and sing a victor’s song.

We shall overcome, my loves.

We shall overcome.

Sing it all day long.

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IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

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In the middle of the night 

when darkness curries favor

with sleeplessness and fright,

I wander room-to-room

in hopelessness that dawn

will come bearing anything 

more than false light.

Too many days of bold lies

called forth from the darkest 

spaces of twisted minds

force us all to walk in darkness,

and into exhausted days unable

to perform the simplest tasks,

weary beyond all telling,

silenced senses yelling,

deadened and unfeeling.

To feel would be to die,

or die trying

to make sense of such evil.

The cost of others’ greed is too high

for men and women of conscience,

of even Mother Earth herself,

to survive.

There is no answer

to the question, “why?”.

And so, I continue to roam 

dark spaces, seeking answers.

I am woke. I stay awake

to face dark days

and dark nights.

I roam looking for ways

to pull us all to safe spaces

where restful sleep may come.

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START YOUR DAY THIS WAY

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Start each day with something to say

that cheers the heart and paves the way

for kindness unbound by fear of loss

of reputation and a safe situation,

threatened by retribution for your contribution

to truth and justice hour-by-hour, day-by-day.

We are on a common journey lifted higher

by a deep yearning for freedom and equality 

to which every American and immigrant aspires;

tied down with words in our Constitution

and protected by laws, enforced by courts

which pledge apolitical, neutral decisions

rendered with stated grace and precision.

But, when law is ignored, or twisted by greed or hate;

when SCOTUS corrupts its mission and states

precedent no longer controls politicians

who are free to break laws and showcase their flaws

without any constraints, our laws carry such taint

that constitutional words become blurred on the page.

Crying over each turn of the page by a party of miscreants

takes too much energy and lessens our pace.

We are still here. We are still to be feared 

by those who would take our freedoms away.

We are not going back. That is not the progressive way.

We only go forward to claim a new day

where America’s promise wins over the fray

created to disrupt and corrupt election day.

Stop whining. Stop crying. Get out and register voters.

Drive them to the polls. Guard their way.

There are more more than enough of us to hold sway

and create a better country, one we can take pride in every day.

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MARCH 28, 2026

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The place where I write may have to change.

A soft couch for a hard chair I must exchange.

Age hardens the bone more than the sight.

Age does not dull the urge to set things right.

Except…

Age questions all sense of reality.

It doubts what right seems to be.

Age moves faster the longer it goes.

It upsets the cart full of all we know.

Age unsettles from head to toe.

We see higher up and deeper below.

Age quickens and shakes our stability.

It makes us question who we will be

in an uncertain future coming so fast

we wonder how much longer we shall last.

Age keeps reminding us we cannot fall;

not our selves, nor our country, no one at all.

So we march for a future, a future unclear and unsure.

Bravely, because we have done this many times before.

Are we wisely foolish, or foolishly wise ?

The fact we don’t know is no surprise.

So, I get up off the soft couch, and drop the pen.

Time to go march, one by one step, together again.

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CHORUS

The blinds have been opened. But, I sit in the dark.

Another morning at the table, set for one.

Alone in thoughtful reverie, with nowhere to run.

Heaving from grief and sorrow, viewed on every screen.

We are all aging fast before the onslaught

of armed men, masked and acting obscene.

This is not some video game we are playing,

detached and watching, divorced from reality.

When did Americans stop believing 

what their own eyes could clearly see?

It did not just happen. It is not new.

It happened many years ago.

Americans took flight in fright

from the reality unfolding before their eyes.

How we came to this fraught moment

is actually, not a great surprise.

People of color best know the story.

Wages stagnated and prices rose.

Profits soared for those “in the know”.

Americans ignored responsibility

and entertained themselves endlessly.

While women and girls became commodities;

and discounted people, un-housed and un-fed

roamed the streets living in dread.

Soldiers returning home from un-named wars 

and too many tours, stopped being cared for.

Now fake soldiers, cowardly cruel, take their cue

from technocrats and bureaucrats

seeking wealth and power.

There is no man of the hour calling the shots.

This is not what all this evil is about.

We did not get here led by a single man;

nor by a single party, nor political  stance.

We got here as the great pirates planned,

as we entertained ourselves with games of chance.

We could have noticed where we were headed

with a single, wake-full, glance.

But we were led on a merry dance.

And the dance no longer matters, as we die

at the feet of civil disorder.

We rise up and listen to new voices.

We now have limited choices.

But, still we can open our eyes

and seize the prize, once earned

by those who  have gone before us.

Lift voices of hope and power

into a freedom-seekers’ chorus.

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MY FELLOW AMERICANS

MY FELLOW AMERICANS

I hold my tongue.

It takes strength I do not have.

Whimpers escape

On shattered breaths,

In silent screams.

The fight worries my soul,

Battle weary and choking,

On words held tight inside.

Once the scream begins

I doubt I could stop.

I wait for your speech.

I yearn for your promise

To stop the authoritarian

Who has taken over our house,

Emptied its vaults,

Stolen its wealth,

Sold its power

To the highest bidders.

So, I write. That I can do

While I wait for you.

To me, this nothing new.

Do you believe me now?

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DECONSTRUCTION

Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025

The streets were lined for blocks on end.

Signs reminded all who rejoiced to attend

Why they walked and talked and smiled and waved

At passing cars who braved delays

While drivers honked horns and shouted out

“Vote him out and make it a rout!”

Costumed critters danced to our delight

Knowing their freedom would give him a fright.

Deconstruct the lies we have been told.

Deconstruct the narrative being sold.

Deconstruct the bullie’s hold.

Deconstruct institutional mold.

Gather in peace the young and the old.

Stronger are you, more wise, more bold.

Deconstruct so we can rebuild

What he has destroyed with his minions’ lack of skill.

We know how to do this, and more.

We have done it many times before.

Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025
Columbus, Ohio 10-18-2025

My thanks to my friends in Clintonville area of Columbus who helped me attend this moment of patriots’ challenge to the con men robbing the USA of its power, wealth, ideals and humanity. The lack of media coverage was appalling. The misrepresentation of attendance numbers cannot be challenged when media fails to provide images of the gatherings. A local station covered it AFTER it was over and crowds had dispersed. Another stated hundreds attended when it was actually thousands. We are here. We are resisting. We are going nowhere until the despotism and kidnapping of people and the Supreme Court, universities, news organizations, social media outlets, medical and public health Institutions… even our very language and the meaning of words and phrases has been brought to an end and freedom restored.

We shall not be silenced.

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YOUNG AND OLD

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The young ones seem to know

that our world is threatened

is ways we not fully know

but fear all the same.

With each sunrise

another un-nerving surprise

until we are afraid to awaken,

afraid to open our eyes.

Not so, the young 

for whom time moves slow

and each change is noted

and each move forward

is celebrated, not feared.

But, we, the old 

whose breath is slowed

while time speeds away

know life becomes shorter

day by day;

even if the earth 

should pass away.

It will not be without us long.

We are growing weaker

as the young grow strong.

So, we must listen

to their protest and shouts.

They understand better

what each bully tactic is about.

We pretend it is only intimidation.

In reality, it is annihilation;

the end of freedoms seldom known

in ages past. As time has flown

we old ones forgot to pay attention.

Now, the young, whom we also ignored

beg for our attention.

We are never too old to mother the young.

We are never too old to stop what has begun.

We may not be able to march so far as they.

But we can shout from each of our front doors.

We can organize, assist and earnestly pray.

We can honk as we pass the marchers on parade.

We can give courage to those who are afraid.

We can write and call those in charge of our fate.

Time passes quickly for us, but it is not too late.

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