Tag Archives: racism

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

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TO BE OR NOT TO BE

The dark of night yet lingers and hides horrors from our sight,

as surely as using his poisoned pen our would-be king

claims undeserved, and hitherto unknown, power and might.

Disguised as feeble-minded and deranged in his fake rage,

surrounded by sycophants helping him turn every page,

he orders and re-orders freedom as his serpent

sibilant breath hisses and shouts across a stage,

revealing his sins and our own, as old as this nation.

Our fears and incoherent anxiety revealed with every breath,

as old as earth’s uncertain and unknowable creation.

Our American Garden of Eden has been turned into hell

for people of color and women, immigrants and refugees

who come with promise and work hard to make true

the promise that over 250 years determinedly grew,

and journalists pledged to tell us truth that is balanced and fair.

Even a live view of a firing squad of a criminal in a wheelchair

does not diminish the would-be kings charm

like a snake sung into action by Congressional inaction

which daily increases a litany of new harm

while they refuse to impeach and remove him 

and his co-horts who claim he is only joking, 

and ask us to believe he is such fun,

as he destroys the Bill of Rights, one by one;

and ignores every court order to cease and desist

his personal form of corruption and grift.

The rule of law, its lawyers and judges live in fear

as he unleashes his supporters to threaten and sneer.

Americans, it seems, find some ability to be tolerant,

though not as we hoped, to keep us solvent.

Americans accept racist and sexist firings

to make white supremacy in charge, and re-wiring.

Americans accept attacks on the Capitol and its defenders,

and pardons for criminals whose attacks never ended.

Americans can accept attacks on electoral process

and threats of vote seizures meant to intimidate

and stop voters who cannot wait to participate

in tossing the bums out with freedoms’ voting clout.

Americans can accept endless war financed by the poor

while the richer get rich making deals with enemies galore.

But, hands in our pockets, is a step too far for us.

You cannot steal our money like you steal our Jesus,

to convince us neither He, nor we, are who we once were.

Money has become our one, true god;

and whiteness, and gas prices, our only guiding star.

Vote evil out of this garden of Eden,

the serpent and all who will not act against him,

who now pretend they are on our side with false pride;

while cutting trees into crosses and debasing the wood.

The promise of America  requires you vote Blue

to keep this nation free, progressing, and claiming what is true.

Join NO KINGS rally and marches near you on October 17.

Make a plan and VOTE on or before November 3.

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Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS

AMERICAN RENAISSANCE

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The dark ages were not dark everywhere.

Light shown to the East, the South, and the West

while Europe cloaked itself in dark days;

as The United States of America does now.

Even camera crews have turned off light and sound.

And evil men and women try to rebound

by creating their own clown-faced muse

with his crypto, coins, twitter, and TV news.

These wanna-be strong-men turn away from the Light of Truth

forsake the Bill of Rights’ light once so very bright

with promise by all, for all, and to do all things right.

We watch all systems fail across airports,

roads, water plants, farm fields, schools and hospitals

and death becomes unleashed by ICE men

playing false as con-men overrule the Rule of Law.

Their appointed judges enact The Rule of Flaw

This may be America’s final straw;

judges sitting in dark court rooms

unable to see what facts there be

so precedence can be overruled

and lights kept turned off, but not for all.

January 6 criminals, rapists, pedophiles, and fraudsters are free

to roam in darkness so deep we cannot see

that none of us is allowed to remain free.

None of us are safe from deportation

to an unknown country, or to our own private hell

here in our own homes, on our own streets,

within our universities and our own communities.

The lights seem to be growing dim

as Dark Ages descend again.

Artists can paint, sculpt and write in the dark.

They see more clearly what is, and imagine what can be.

Their imagery is lightened within dreams and memory.

A new Renaissance can overcome such darkness.

It did so once. It can, again.

There should be no return to the old days, but a rebirth

of those ideals sought enacted by people of Earth,

when our constitution, its amendments and Judicial Act

were put in placed to support a Bill of Rights

to overcome dark night and shine a brilliant Light

across an entire world. Peasant freedom unfurled. 

The work of artists is to bring forth light and right;

a Renaissance of love and peace, respect for all;

and, the courage to make things right.

Art and artists’ dreams dispel, like a liars’ tell,

 shining light in the depths of these dark nights.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

IN THE RING

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Simply waiting will not do at all.

When did simply waiting

accomplish anything at all?

Yogis pose in silent waiting,

fingers touching in connection.

While we who simply wait

have no connection at all,

and lose ourselves 

in self-destruction when we fall

within the ring where the fight is set

by the one percent and big tech bros

placing their weight and cash

heavily upon our backs

until the fight is so unfair

we realize we have not a prayer.

Church pews sit empty.

The fight is on every screen.

We fail to realize we are in the ring.

We cannot simply watch the fight.

Simply waiting cannot make all right.

We will go down with the count

toppled by high winds, fire, and flood.

The severe cold will freeze life’s blood.

Recognize we are in the fight.

We have always been in, to our chagrin,

fighting for our very lives;

while being entertained to silence

and static acceptance of violence.

Simply waiting did not stop slavery,

Jim Crow, voter suppression, child abuse,

sexual harassment and women’s subjugation.

This has always been the fight of our nation.

This is not a new fight we watch as battles

in the ring to see which latest victim falls.

We cannot simply watch from the sidelines

because it is us inside the ring.

It is we who shall fall.

We the people shall participate.

We the people shall win or lose.

Do not sit in your corner. 

Don’t throw in the towel.

Get up and fight. It is not too late.

Then get to the polls and vote to win.

All bets are on you. Gloves at the ready, and grin!

Then prepare for the backlash, 

one worse than the one before.

Get in the fight again.Knock your opponent to the floor

with such a strong vote he cannot rise.

Put him down for the count forevermore.

Then raise your gloves high and stand tall.

Simply waiting will not do at all.

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DANCE TO THE MUSIC

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The music calls

across the walls

that separate

the hopes and fears

each of us hold in thrall.

Music is our common language,

the heartbeat which unites

and could, if we allowed,

enlighten and enrich us all.

Our feet tap tentatively,

lest in shame, we fail or fall.

We must learn to walk before we dance;

and before we walk, to crawl.

Crawl, then walk, my pride demands.

Then dance a sacred dance with all.

Dance, while still, the music calls.

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Filed under POETRY

ZEN I.D.

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The only escape

is to write your name backwards,

as you disappear.

Sleep cannot compare

when engulfed in a nightmare,

mocking exhaustion.

Sleepless nights unite

tortured souls in free nations,

sensing bombs dropping.

The enemy lurks

behind a fascist facade

we call government.

Overnight votes rule,

hidden by crushing nightmares,

in yours and my names.

The only escape

is to write your name backwards,

as you disappear.

Finally, sleep comes. 

Democratic socialists

take back our freedom.

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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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ODE TO LINDSEY GRAHAM

Senator Lindsey Graham speaking at a podium with a microphone during a press conference
Senator Lindsey Graham addressing the media at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

How does one honor the dishonorable ?

Whose deeds and words were  unfathomable?

Not while he lived to injure and harm,

stepping on humanity to reach the stars.

It was always just part of his charm,

which gave him power to praise and assist

acts committed by others,

as he laughingly followed along.

Then, he died.

The rules change as custom required.

Speak no ill of the dead, 

as if evil deeds, too, expired.

How do the tears rent in our nation mend

if we must simply pretend

He was all goodness and light.

Such a memorial I cannot attend.

Who am I to judge? Imperfect in every way.

Silence is golden on a day like today.

He tried to do good, in his broken way.

I cannot offer false condemnation nor false praise.

I can simply write an ode to death’s malaise.

Finally, finally able, to continue to pray

for a soul laid to rest, as our struggle against hate continues.

Perhaps he can finally find love in his new venue.

This is all I can offer. This is my best.

Now, lay this flawed human being , like all of us, to rest.

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HEGSETH, et.al.

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No need for the KKK.

No need for Nazis.

No need for MAGA.

No need for a Tea Party.

Not today.

Pump T not into the harbor,

but into young white men.

Into a military cleared of women,

people of color, and gays.

Young men who joined to serve

in a citizen army meant to save

peoples’ freedoms and the aspirations

of a constitutionally protected nation.

Instead, testosterone infusions

will create such confusion

and a masculinity

straining their humanity

with drugged brutality;

an aggression pumped up in display,

ordered now to act in a way

that serves the few leaders,

not the nation nor its citizens.

Leaders who will not allow soldiers

to show their humanity.

Soldiers drugged to match their leaders’ insanity.

Soldiers sent to control elections.

Soldiers whose protections

are meant only for the wealthy con men

who cheat and steal from honest men and women

working too many jobs to pay attention

to leaders’ lies and disaffection

for principles soldiers were meant to offer protection.

No checks and balances on insanity.

No effort to save our humanity.

First, we must protect our soldiers.

Only then, can we protect ourselves.

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DECLARATION 2026

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It is time to open words stored in safe spaces.

Behind the clock where time passes unaware.

Behind the freezer where thoughts hunger for truth.

Behind the bed where slumber overtakes rage.

November cannot come soon enough for words.

Words cannot wait to learn their fate.

Voices may be denied, decried, deceased.

But, words?

Words persist long after we are gone,

long after we overcome, or we are overcome.

Speak now, beyond the pain and indifference to them.

Speak now while breathing still moves you to act.

Speak now into a future which never looks back.

Speak your words, joined with mine;

words recorded for all time.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

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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