Only the young believe they have time
to wait for the perfect time
to make a difference over time.
Older persons have too little time
to wait for perfection lost over time.
Neither can afford the time
it takes to find the perfect time.
Neither must let the perfect
get in the way of the possible
None of us has that much time.
Time was
when we
wondered
if we
would be
together
tomorrow.
Now is
when we
wonder
that we
are still
together
today.
fifty-six years
is a long time
and no time
at all.
Not enough time
for those who fall
in love.
Filed under POETRY
Earth is laughing so hard
she is holding her sides.
Her laughter has not died.
She holds it inside.
Too often, there is not a smile to be seen.
Comedians and laughter are under attack;
sad attempt to kill laughter, it is true.
But, let me tell you
I awake every day with a smile on my face
and my mind full of plans and laughter as I cope;
planning strategies to keep us all woke
enough to strategize and energize
enough to keep Earth and our freedom alive.
I smile when I find new ways
to resist, persist and overcome
those who strive so hard to make us glum.
Where they see threat, I see possibility.
Where they feel fear, I feel connected community.
When they shout their pain, I shout my glee.
Earth trembles to keep her laughter inside
at the foolish ego-maniacal MAGA leaders’ pride.
Earth continues to teach us her lessons
with a smile on her face from sunrise to sunset.
Giving us the means to keep us alive, and all our needs met.
Balance and connection are what we need
to continue on the path to wealth without greed.
Intersected boundaries are what we need
to continue on the path to true peace.
This is Earth’s greatest gift: her instinctive ability
to make us laugh as we grow in humility,
knowing we cannot berate nor control
Earth’s power to grow, to heal and renew
the damage men and women unintentionally do.
I laugh aloud with Earth today.
Our guffaws and chuckles thrown out wide.
Come laugh with us, then; and hold your heaving sides.
Try to unbend and dry your eyes so you can see.
That laughter has not died, nor ever must.
Constant negativity has nowhere to go
except “dust to dust” buried below,
in the space laughter has made deep within Earth.
And once this doom and gloom comes to an end
the entire world united in mirth
shall laugh once again.
Future refuses to talk.
She holds her cards close.
No expression crosses her face.
Her fierce calm holds us in place.
We gamble our fortunes, our lives,
within her unfathomable space.
Withholding breath we wait
to discover our curious fate.
“Play the cards you have,”
she says,“before it is too late.”
The game here now will last until
each card has been played.
Holding onto cards
means new presents are delayed.
The young know this better
than their elders do.
The young play with greater abandon,
unconscious of the heavy stakes
that keep my eyes open all night through,
awake, until light from a new day
through the closed blinds seeps through.
A new day.
A new game.
Time to play.
Future cuts the cards.
No time to waste.
Vote!
Filed under POETRY
The older I get
the harder it becomes to
carry heavy hearts.
Young hearts are heavy
these days of heatwaves, flooding
and fires of war.
My own heart has slowed,
unable to speed or race,
beating a steady pace.
The young run shouting,
fueled by alcohol and fun,
circling around me.
I try to tell them,
straighten your path toward the goal,
a race to be won.
I shout from the sidelines
loss of freedom is gaining
on you, as you play.
Age carries no weight.
My words tossed away as trash,
as victory fades fast.
Woke becomes useless
for the young who sleep too late.
Please, now, come awake!
Somewhere along the way
the package I carried has been mislaid.
Since I did not notice it missing until today
its importance has made little impact, I’d say.
The years rolled by day-after-day.
space where the package once stayed
grew dusty with age.
Until the day, where nothing could stop the rage
of loneliness filling page-after-page;
searching for communion with those not my age.
Old connections are no longer stable and sure
as death knocks at too many old friends’ doors.
That space covered in dust reminds me anew
of those friends I mislaid as loneliness grew.
Seeking youth and more life is nothing new.
But, I know this to be true.
Old friends can never be replaced.
Their faces remain. They occupy my space.
Their love for me is my only pride.
Dead or alive they fill every space inside
where memory and love will always abide.
Filed under POETRY
Fear is funny that way.
Sometimes it runs hot.
Sometimes it runs cold.
Sometimes it sits and cries.
Sometimes it runs and hides
inside the mouth
under the tongue
where it is held hostage,
until it bursts forth in words
which ride on unleashed breath
in gasps and gulps
but flying free across the breach
to land on other tongues
younger, stronger, more free
to speak the truth
from mouths opened wide
whose words turn into votes
that set aside liars and their lies.
Then fear, finally, subsides.
Then words can move forward
to cool the earth,
to warm the hearth,
to fill us once again
with pride.
Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
Earth, our Mother, in so many ways
never rests, as good mothers everywhere,
until her children are safe
and able to become their very best.
Earth streams winds seldom seen
in ages past, to cleanse the air we breathe
of toxic chemicals and toxic thoughts,
too often ignored until humanity seethes
with anger torn from shattered dreams.
Earth’s tears drown our shores,
our over-run rivers and streams swollen
beyond the banks of civility and decency,
spreading across villages and cities.
We watch earth’s loving children join hands
to help those caught within the bands
of hatred fueled by power and greed,
furthered and supported by religious creed
distorted by self-indulgent need
to retain a control it never had;
dividing the world into good and bad,
which Mother Earth understands
could destroy her children and leave her all alone.
With Mother Earth we make our stand to secure
a future of loving kindness for all her children,
of every kind. Rock, wind, water and fire we implore
have patience with us as we try to create
a world right, not might, rules once more.
Filed under POETRY
Live long enough
and enough becomes more
then was once imaginable.
It is not resignation
to the seemingly insoluble
problems making the young
passionate and high strung;
nor to youth’s perception
that old people are stuck
in the past, and even the mud.
No, the old are simply elated
that problems which once made them
passionate and high strung
have been overcome.
The old simply have
more hope for
and less fear of
the future the young will live
with greater energy;
a future which the old may not live to see.
Reluctance to become irate,
wave arms and raise voices of dismay,
may simply be the wisdom to see
no problem is without a solution.
It just my not come for a few more days.
Truly, the old and the young
are writing the same story.
They are merely on different pages
in the book of life.
Filed under POETRY
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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Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
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