Nightmares roam freely
while voters watch fearfully
death of a nation.
Tag Archives: voting
DAWNING
I have been carried over mountains
dredged in gold
by sunlight’s curve of light
as dawn unfolds
and opens her arms,
and gently releases her hold
on earth’s many charms.
The wonders of my world shift
within my sights
in bits and pieces set adrift
until I string them together like jewels
to hang around my neck
and light the darkest days ahead.
Indeed, dawn’s delights
can lighten even the darkest nights
in waking dreams sensing the coming light.
Dawn works her tentative way
across this bleak space every day.
Dawn awakens an eagerness to find my place
among other beings also lit from within.
Together, we can light the entire world.
It is dawn. We have dawned.
It is time to begin.
Filed under POETRY
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
I envy those still able to place words on a page.
I hesitate at what I might say to display my rage.
Silence is its own subtle, harmful, deadening cage.
I refuse to become like you – a killer
of all that is good, all that is free, all that is true.
I refuse to become like you – a silent witness
of all that is evil, all who are held in bondage,
all of the lies which rely upon you.
I refuse to become like you – a sycophant
in silent praise of racist, sexist, xenophobic chant
by tiny minds, fattened by greed, with tiny hands
grasping for the sacred trust, and pedophilic lust
most hide from civil and moral view.
I refuse to become you – a lost boy
in Never-Never Land, fearful and confused,
afraid to grow up, preferring to fly high
above those you believe inferior
so that you can feel superior.
I know who you are; and so, do you.
I refuse to become you; and so, extend a hand
to help you settle down upon a branch of freedom.
It is weakened; it is true.
But still strong enough
with love enough
to hold us…together.
BACK TO THE GYM
Most of us have been away from the gym too long.
Our freedom-loving muscles have grown slack.
We had not fully recognized the slack.
Others noted the weakness
of our democratic body.
We went about our day aware that each act
became more difficult, more strenuous.
Success became less assured, more tenuous.
While we grew soft, life grew hard.
We could no longer lift our children above our heads.
Their safety could not be assured;
not only on the playground monkey bars,
but behind their desk, or sitting in church pews.
Even our voices became more feeble
as we stopped the exercise of free speech,
and bemoaned the simple act
of marching down the street.
But others watched and saw our weakness grow.
Knew we were no longer paying attention
to our former strength and ignoring our work-outs,
while we flaunted more the medals on our chests
and the trophies on our shelves.
We no longer recalled how we earned those awards.
We forgot the daily struggle at life’s gymnasium
to keep the muscles of self-governance
strong enough to take on new challenges and ideas.
Our weakness made us run from, instead of with,
others racing along the path to freedom.
We envied their success, our own no longer moving
us forward and ahead.
The only way the weak can win is by holding others back.
The truly strong can win by running hard and long.
We all looked away from those who cheat
to claim a win they do not deserve.
It feels too close to every nerve
now weakened within each lax muscle;
a republic struggling just to stay upright.
Religion becomes the panacea of anxious nights.
We can only hope our muscle-memory
of freedoms gained in the past
is strong enough to make our democracy last.
Back to the gym. Walk the streets. Shout the speech
that you recall in memory grown weak.
Build back the muscle needed to wield your voting power.
Now is the hour
to get back to the gym.
Be strong and carry on!
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?
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.
Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
NO KINGS DAY
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.
SILENCE
The walk around the neighborhood is strangely silent.
Cicadas have ceased their songs of warning.
Birds flock south on gentle winds
leaving the yard yearning for music.
Butterflies still sing with quiet wings
few can hear.
Gnats and flies loosely lie low
as caterpillars hold on tight
to leaves of flowers seeding through colder nights.
The angle of the sun has moved us
as we turn around a sun now calmed.
Its bright displays over too-hot days are over-done.
The silence grows as the cold days come on.
Longer shadows of neglect disclose
the weeds who hid in too-bright light.
We now face ever-longer nights.
Is this the calm before winter’s storms?
Are we watching the loss of every norm?
Or have we become so compliant
we fail to even notice the silence?
The neighborhood is strangely silent
as I keep vigil, and hold fast against violence.
Silence, silence. So much uneasy silence
one wants to scream and shout so loud
windows open wide in surprise
to see what all the fuss is about.
Footsteps march around the block.
Even they are too silent to unlock
the energy sapped by summer’s too-hot heat.
We are just too tired to compete
with the silence, silence. So much silence.
KEEP BREATHING
upon hearing results of 2016 election in USA.
Chains of cool air
strung like loose beads on thread
rattle unsteadily
within lungs too tight
to move out the breath
aching to leave
a heavy chest,
weighted down
by tears of regret.
In the first stage of grief
I am angry,
so angry,
my country is dead.
Who will grieve with me?
Those watching reality TV?
Those betting on games?
Those still seeking fame?
Those paralyzed by fear?
Those who only hold dear
their latest triumph over others?
Worn-out working single mothers?
Frustrated youth, anxiously hopeless?
Fired civil servants abandoned, feeling useless?
There are tears enough for us all.
But, too few who will cry out loud.
The screams must be released, you see,
that we may again breathe free.
Breathe out, damn lungs, despite the pain
Only then can we breathe freedom in again.
IT IS ALWAYS IN THE NUMBERS
Reports indicate attendance at NO KINGS events is somewhere between 5.2-8.2 billion persons. It is possibly much larger than any assumed count. For example. If one counts those registered with organizations who counted attendees, one simply gets a flat number of those who bothered to join through the organization. I registered and reported my attendance. By the time I attended three more persons joined me. They remain uncounted officially. I am sure this is true for families and friends of most attendees.
In the past, for individual rallies, law enforcement using drones mapped the crowd and made estimates using “so many persons per square inch” of their photos to create crowd attendance figures. While major big cities may have done so, mine did not. Local news did not. nor did Law enforcement in my locality. I am certain this happened in much of small town America. So when these numbers are posted, assume they are sorely undercounted.
Nevertheless, no matter the total count, the wide extent of events across the country in red and blue states and cities, in small hamlets, on rural roadway intersections, outside nursing homes and senior care facilities is significant. And, such small groups are likely not part of the count. Yet, the fact they showed such resilience and disgust for what is happening and took to the streets gives us cause to hope we can face down fascism and remove those traitors to our core American beliefs and to our Constitution from office; from School Board, Board of Health, City and County commissioners, mayors and city council, to Congress and the White House.
Local politics is sometime hard to unravel, especially for races where platitudes replace true positions and no party affiliation is required. We have tools those who came before us did not have, the internet and email addresses. Ask candidates for specific position statements. If they do not answer or provide gibberish, there is your answer. Be an informed voter. Help register new voters. Help motivate and take voters to the polls. We must now march to the polls as we marched through the streets. As Winston Churchill said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Now, the hard work begins. Please remember the joy you felt on No Kings Day and let it propel you to even greater efforts. We now know for certain, what we believed. We are not alone.
Leave a comment
Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS
Tagged as congress, crowd control, crowd count, dictator, donald-trump, elections, journalism, law enforcement, news, no kings day, political organizing, politics, propaganda, school board, social media, voter registration, voter suppression, voting