Tag Archives: trump

MAGA CIRCUS

MAGA CIRCUS

The clown leads the circus parade

Following the elephant ahead,

Carrying shovels to clean up the way,

And invite us under the tent.

The clown interrupts each display

Of circus performers’ great feats.

The clown make us laugh to distraction

And keeps us in our seats.

The clown is what we best recall,

For memories are short.

We may not remember what we see.

But, we remember how hard we laughed.

The circus is not a school to teach.

The circus is a business to empty our pockets

Until it once more moves on.

The circus is not a church where we pray.

But a place we feel it is okay to play.

When the tent stakes are pulled and the circus train pulls away

All that remains is an empty field

Trod into mud on rainy days.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

THE AGE OF PRETEND

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels.com

We find it charming, not alarming,

when children pretend.

The young boy child,

towel tied beneath his chin

and spread across small shoulders

waves an imaginary sword high

and suddenly feels bolder;

his power felt from head to toe,

ready to defeat any foe.

The young girl child,

Her American Girl doll in tow,

and dressed for the next chapter

she reads in her book which will show

how she can claim her place

in a world within her safe space.

It is a world of their own.

Children too often feel alone.

Childhood play is a godsend

when the acceptance of fear

is boldly met by playing pretend.

It does not stop at adulthood

when we need  for ourselves to fend

and parents’ efforts subside

as children claim adult pride.

Adults, too, need a reprieve

from threats vaguely perceived.

The woman alone in her bed

seeking a strong chest 

upon which to lay her head,

clutches her pillow instead

to lessen her dread.

She seeks a strong arm

to lessen her alarm.

The man alone on his couch,

in front of the TV, leaps from a crouch 

and shouts with untamed glee

when the quarterback throws free

and the opponent is defeated,

the pass completed.

The victory becomes his own.

At every age we pretend

to overcome what we fear,

what we do not feel strong enough to overcome,

what we imagine might cause unknown harm,

what we cannot imagine we can handle alone.

We are never, really, fully grown.

We fear we shall always be denied

the connected love our hearts need most.

We pretend the pride which allows us to hide.

What if, we stopped pretending?

What if we reached out for community?

What if we sought requited love in unity?

We live in an age of pretend.

When and where will it end?

Photo by Polesie Toys on Pexels.com

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Filed under POETRY

INSOMNIA

Sleep catches me unaware

Reading in my chair.

A loud noise as a commercial airs

Awakens me from nightmares.

No, it is the news that intrudes

On waking dreams sharp and crude.

I have been awake more than I knew

Unable to tell what is untrue or true.

And so, I read some more

Of an entire reality to explore.

I try hard to understand and accept

A new reality in a democracy kept

Captive without due process of law

Which exposes all of our flaws.

Racism breathes deep and still

With a long-ignored strong will.

We too easily pretend

it has nothing to do with us, my friend.

Lie once and it becomes then

easier to lie again and again.

And we have lied for centuries now.

Shame beads sweat on every brow.

Cognitive dissonance

Makes us create distance

From truth, facts and connection.

Shamelessness offers protection.

Too many are willing to deny

What is clear to the clear-eyed.

I see no end in sight

And remain sleepless night after night.

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Filed under POETRY

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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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

WE THE PEOPLE

The people’s house is no more.

Oh, the structure still stands,

It’s East Wing destroyed.

It rose garden paved over.

Its grounds defaced.

It is no longer democracy’s safe space.

No woman, nor child yet protected.

Hidden files of pedophilia and rape

Keep Republican representatives

Of the people away.

No chance to obstruct

as we fearfully watch all we love destruct.

Money directed from its appropriated place

Into the pockets of the man in disgrace,

Who crowns himself king,

And demands all kiss his ring.

Our right to rule ourselves now firmly displaced

By cruelty and hate,

absent a single moment of grace.

There are no longer two sides.

None of us are left with any pride.

We the people now have no place.

Unless we stand together to fight

The destruction of freedoms that are our constitutional right.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

MOURNING PRAYER

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Wake up.

Sit at the table.

Open the MacBook.

Click on the key.

Open Pages.

Take a deep breath.

What new horror?

Unlock the jaw.

Try to forget.

Relax the fingers.

Swallow the sigh.

Move the cursor.

Try not to cry.

Who was stolen overnight?

Who was charged?

What new non-crime planted?

What court noted what lies?

With what order do they not comply?

What illegal moves have they made?

When will law once again rule the day?

Discover anger and fear drops away.

There is beauty outside.

There is love everywhere.

Take a deep breath.

Breathe slow and deep.

Beg the silent watchers to wake.

Do not despair.

This has become my mourning prayer.

As a lawyer, I am in deep mourning over the DOJ and SCOTUS breech with Constitutional law, precedent and ethics. The law is king in the United States. No man is above it. Apparently, leaders of this current republican-controlled administration believe they are our now our “supreme leaders”. Speaker Johnson keeps the House of Representatives on vacation for another week, and refuses to swear in an elected official to protect the release of files naming powerful pedophiles and rapists. A private army in masks, with no names, kidnap citizens and non-citizens and disappear them. This is evil done in our name. Seven million speak out. But, most do not. They go about their day, perhaps complaining about high prices. As if that is what the true issue is. When hate and destruction attempt to rule over all of us. The White House is being deconstructed both physically and morally. Pray with me, even if you lack the will to fight with me.

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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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Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS

NO KINGS DAY

Acrylic on canvass by Louise Annarino

The day begins with signs

Of all that any patriot finds

In need of expression

To resist oppression.

We line the streets

Feet deep

Only to meet

Aggression

From those who seek

Our suppression.

Gerrymandered districts

Are incomplete,

Unable to meet

Fair representation,

Denying the nation

one person one vote,

Intimidation afloat

In every state.

We pray it is not too late.

We pray our efforts matter.

We pray our mad-as-hatter

Administration

Stops destroying our beloved nation.

We sing. We dance. We shout.

This is what democracy is about.

No kings today.

No kings in any way.

No kings over courts’ justice.

No kings over any of us.

Every king eventually falls.

We do not want a king at all.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

WHERE HAS LOVE GONE?

Photo by Nicola Barts on Pexels.com

I do not know where love has gone.

Into hiding, I believe, free from harm.

So much anger clothed in love’s costume,

hate hidden from view so I am not consumed

by the true nature of what the costume hides;

all except the hands fisted by my side,

which velvet-suaded gloves still reveal

all the angry violence I could wield,

if I were not so terrified of the pain

I could visit upon others. I refrain.

I refuse to become just like those

who name-call with fake smiles and pose

under crosses, and above crowds,

saying the the ugly hate-filled truth out loud.

I desperately try to maintain my balance.

I believe compassion bears no allowance

to strike back when under attack.

But, turning the other cheek is a trait I truly lack.

Never take a punch and not fight back, I heard dad say.

But, never start the fight, if you can safely walk away.

Is this where we are now, afraid to put up the fists

when the attack is scheduled on government lists?

How long do we wait for the blows to fall?

How far before we are imprisoned inside the wall

of government ordnance and secret police?

How will we ever know any peace?

I do not know where love has gone.

I search and I search for however long

it will take me to find it and hold it tight

while I build strength for the coming fight.

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Filed under POETRY, POLITICS

SHOUTING OUT IN THE HALL

The voices are too loud out in the hall.

No one sitting solemnly inside 

can understand the meaning of it all.

No matter how close one tries to listen

the cacophony distorts all meaning

of words angrily shouted, until tears glisten

feeling the hatred and monstrosity

which keeps all ears and hearts enthralled.

Thrills and chills sell as well as bloody gore.

“If it bleeds it leads” is a phenomenon 

we know too well. 

Shouters point a finger and shout some more.

Such behavior always draws a crowd.

Once they have your attention

the “soft-sell” begins the con in whispers.

And while they have your keen  attention,

hanging on every word they mention

in the twisted story, repeated over and over,

using religion and love as a cover

to bring us to our knees to beg forgiveness,

they try to manacle our minds and tongues

if successful. If not, our hands and feet

in courtrooms, jail cells and on the streets.

Once all this is done, the coup is complete.

The Bill of Rights becomes an empty promise,

a useless piece of paper torn asunder,

while disingenuous voices thunder

in all the halls, in every building, across the nation.

It is when the voices stop we shall finally hear

that democracy has been lost, as we all feared.

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