The tree must come down.
It’s stump must be ground.
Know this,though.
Its roots continue to grow.
The lines we rely upon
To stay safe and strong
Will remain under threat
If we rejoice and forget
The threat those roots make
If we do not stay awake.
The tree may be gone.
But the threat still goes on.
We can take down the tree.
But, stay by me.
We must stay alert and fight,
the tree’s shadows alight.
It takes time for roots to die.
It takes time for truth to replace a lie.
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.
How good is good?
How far does it stretch?
As far as a lie?
Good asks questions,
while evil denies.
Who looks stronger?
The one who seems not to know
and questions everything as it goes?
Or the one who never answers,
never pauses to reflect,
never shows another respect?
How skewed is our thinking?
How screwed are our lives?
Good reaches upward
while evil takes a dive.
How do we climb
from such evil depths?
How good is good?
How far does it stretch?
Filed under Uncategorized
Get rid of the cradles.
Make America strong.
All day long,
the same twisted song.
No cradles for children sitting at their desk.
Run, hide, fight until your death.
No cradles for special needs learning.
Defund dollars which fulfill childhood yearnings.
No cradles for child workers at night.
Employ them younger and later, even on school nights.
No cradles for the hungry, the homeless and poor.
SNAP and low-income housing supplements are no more.
No cradles for immigrants, nor refugee asylum.
Go back where you came from. You are mere scum.
No cradles for a republic and voting rolls.
Gerrymander away voting rights, for sole control.
America is no longer the beacon of old,
no longer the cradle of democracy, so we are told.
America refuses to follow any rules.
The Rule of Law has become a dictator’s mule.
Americans are almost put to sleep,
distracted by fables, eyes nearly closed.
A nation of immigrants seeking their rest.
Too weary, now, to even try to do their best.
Their minds drift off as their eyelids drop.
Their minds close down as they simply stop.
Rock-a-bye, baby,
On the treetops.
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall.
And down will come baby
Cradle and all.
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?
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.
I see you looking through the glass
aghast.
As Alice in Wonderland you fear
falling down rabbit holes.
We all do.
You think the glass is a window.
It is a door.
You seem not to know
it can open for you.
A small push against the lash
can open the way
to a world where anything
is possible.
Everything is now in play.
The old ways are falling away
pushed aside by fearful elements
with false ego and too much pride.
They lie to create a place to hide.
No door is too strong to block you.
You are an American voter.
Your vote holds sway.
Yes, I see the barricades
being put in place, more every day.
Your strength, dear voter,
comes in numbers so strong
they cannot hold the door closed too long.
Once through the door
we clean the debris away.
Americans living in the light of truth;
we light our own way.
American voters will have their say.
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!
annarino writes 
DECONSTRUCTION
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.
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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