Don’t look up. Don’t look down, And whatever you do, don’t look around, Or within. Don’t look at all. Just be happy, have a ball! Nine nations have the bomb, And they’re all going to the nuclear prom! Everyone with the bomb has a date! If not, it might be too late! Russia and France …
Until the rhythm shifts (poem for the New Year)
Read to: Start at 15.00 / Low volume / slow read That day I was respected Was an argument of some kind Then rest a moment and breathe The pain of sitting down At the juncture of two rhythms One thing against the other Tension in the abdomen Groundwater bubbles to the surface He makes …
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Happy crappy New Year (a sonnet)
Are you a lover or a killer. You can’t say both. Straddling doesn’t cut it anymore. I’m tired of people dicing and splicing their truth, Praying for forgiveness while gearing up for war. Spears of righteous immorality are ready. Guns are locked but loaded on the wall. After all the kissing and confetti I’ll be …
Living on the edge — Egology 101
We think we’re talking important talk We think where we walk is important, But we really have been going nowhere, We’re only smiling in the snapshot. In the big picture I’m anxious, you’re depressed, He’s angry, she is furious, He is shut down, they aren’t talking, That relationship is abut to snap,. I feel I …
Let’s not blame God (a sonnet)
I feel for Kentucky for all that they have lost: Lives and property, whole towns! For some, a line of trust might have been crossed! Something has gone haywire. What is going on? The notion of rebuilding is a recurrent nightmare. How can one rebuild the church? Great grandma was baptized there! Where is the …
The Martian
My sister invited me to an arts festival In her small town in Connecticut. We spent all morning dropping in To open-house studios of local artists. My sister is a potter. We had lunch at her studio. She said, I have to stay here But you should check out the Martian. The who? She laughed. …
Dropping the shield (followed by an autobiographical note on the writing of this poem)
A memory held in the back Of these aging eyes Is probably more than a memory More like footage of a lost film, The quintessence of A story never understood Until now. There is young so-and-so And another scamp and me In a sandpit Ecstatically undermining The great cuts Left by a backhoe Where the …
An Apt Metaphor for the Entire Afghan War
The Disastrous Final Drone Strike Says It All
As the US was making its exit from Afghanistan, on August 26th, thirteen US servicemen and -women were killed in a terrorist bomb at the Kabul airport; 20 more were wounded. The President saluted the coffins at Dover Air Force Base. Given the nature of a war like Afghanistan, this bombing put pressure on US …
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Prejudice pervades Philadelphia's justice system
An All Too Typical But Typically Bizarre Injustice
Jesenia Calderon knew foul practices polluted Philadelphia’s justice system years before Philly’s District Attorneys Office released an unusual report in June 2021 that decried injustices arising from official misconduct by prosecutors and police. The insights into injustice held by Calderon, a nurse and military veteran, come from decades of seeing her father victimized by prosecutors, …
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Stand by
“The strike on the vehicle on 29 August . . . killed 10 members of one family, including six children, relatives told the BBC.” The drone is a Reaper, The missile it fires is a Hellfire. There you have it. The person who programmed the drone is a nobody, A minion of the Great Satan …