Throughout November I will be writing a poem every day as part of an effort to raise funds for The Center For New Americans. If you like the poems (or even if you don’t) and would like to support this fantastic organization, please follow this link. Thanks.
28
Thomas A. Turkey 2019-2019
Thanks to Eve Smyth for narration
We grieve Tom Turkey, my what a shame
Richly deserving of much wider acclaim
We say goodbye, with a prayer sacred, stately:
“No, it’s not dry, I just really like gravy!”
He knew from the start like Papa and Mama
He’d play his part in the white and dark drama
And though for a while he railed at his fate
(he fought but failed at losing some weight)
He became courageous at not keeping silent
“We are not ageless! Why try to deny it?
Still we must try to love one and all
Such a beautiful sky although it will fall!”
Chicken Little said, “Wait! What did I hear?!”
He was off meds and manic was near
“Little! Calm down! It’s mere metaphor
Like ‘running around with your head on the floor!’”
But the damage was done, for Little too late
he was on the run from the sky and its weight
Painting descriptions scary and gory
Every depiction a variation of “poor me”
But that’s another story
Meanwhile
Thomas A. Turkey saved not his breath
Straight out of Missouri, “Show your face, Death!
There is no defense, we all will be killed
If there wasn’t a fence I’d push a rock up that hill”
“Life is unjust but what can we do?
We’ll end up as dust (but first we’ll be stew)
Let us have courage to live in the now
It could be much worse….we could be cows!”
“Can you imagine a life without feathers?
We have such an advantage to weather the weather
They have more freedom but who’d want to be them
with no more threesomes with roosters and hens?!”
Definitely another story
Tommy sneaked under the gate (he couldn’t unlatch it)
Went to speak to his fate: the harrowing hatchet
“You must do what you will, it’s preordained nature
My blood will be spilled, the pain will be major”
I will face you with dignity, to live is to die
But I have to admit this, see, sometimes I cry
and I think, oh I know it’s crazy, but let’s run away
oh it would be amazing, no Thanksgiving Day
We defy the plan of the Ultimate Maker
we find the land of no butchers and bakers
Romantic sentiment, a wish on the moon
but there is precedent: Dish and Spoon
They fled to New York, but Spoon fell for Fork
Which led to the stork and soon, well…Spork”
Right, another story
“Oh Blade your silence is nothing but wise
I’ll face the violence and be cut down to size
And though I might want out in the worst way
I’ll say goodnight. See you on Thursday!”
Tommy lay down his life so that others could eat
He leaves 42 wives who will grieve when in heat
812 chicks mercifully chosen
to be freshly served though some will be frozen
And now for our story
We are odd and beautiful birds
And if there’s a God, she must be unnerved
We were gifted the earth bountiful blue
We stripped it of worth, boundaries grew
We assail and rail against states that are red
We read and repeat what’s already been said
Oh if only if only there was something to do
Well there is someone lonely sitting next to you
Our lives will soon end that’s has always been true
and maybe it’s too late for the earth to renew
Despair is convenient- why bother to try?
But what if we just lean into just saying hi?
And throw off our lassitude on Gratitude Day
Make a start with our hearts and humbly pray
Give thanks and praise for this crazy-ass trip
and “Could I please have more gravy on this?”
27
Call Out Our Names
I came to Cincinnati when I was ten
with my sister and my daddy and my mama’s best friend
We’d left Lafayette on a midnight moon
Mama was a waitress, worked till noon.
I silently died in the back of the car
Sister cried quietly in my arms
We hid under covers ‘neath a midnight moon
Thinking about mama comin’ home at noon.
She would call out our names
Call our names
She would call out our names
“Margaret! James!”
We crossed the Ohio, I can still see the sign
I started tryin’ to put Lafayette behind
Took care of my sister, prayed every day
“Oh Mama, cross that river, take us away”.
Call out our names
Margaret. James.
It’s been ages since Lafayette
But it’s just yesterday when we left
My sister got married, was born again
Seems to have buried what will not end
I’m in a car, I’m ten, I want to turn it around
Find her house and then I’ll burn it down
Want fire in the sky, the moon aflame
Want to ask her why, why she never came
She never called out our names
Called our names
Call our names
Margaret. James.
26
Farmers Market
Winter was gone
May an easy chair for us
Sunny days a prayer to us
You were bouquet and asparagus
Our love was young
So were you
Days grew long
we sweltered in the marriage suite
to love I fell and all I cared to eat
was your melons, your berries sweet
Love was tongue
and honeydew
You are gone
When last we met you were hardly there
Our sun has set stark and bare
How I wept upon your Bartlett pears
Our love was young
And now is through
25
I Was a Pilgrim
I Was a Pilgrim
Oft I’ve wondered out under the sky
(OK, “oft” is a number not that high
Too much pollution no planetarium close
And too much abuse of my ambien dose)
But here’s what I’d wonder if I stayed up late:
Is it nature or nurture that parlays our fate?
Physics might surely completely determine
Are we a Pasteur, Madame Curie or Pee Wee Herman
Was the die cast from an implausible quark
My future my past an unalterable arc?
Is my life-long despairing caused by DNA?
Or because my parents blew off my 2nd grade play?
I was a pilgrim! I wore shoes with buckles
Would it have killed them, to go to the trouble
to take some time from their graying days
They missed my line in “Amazing Maze”!
I can recall it even now:
“How!”
Is it simply genetics that makes life unfair?
Or my parents pathetic attempts to care?
Darwin would say I need to get fitter
But maybe that play is why I’m a quitter
I was a pilgrim! You shoulda seen those shoes
Hey I filled ‘em and there were even reviews
and a picture – St. Anne’s Elementary News
It was on our fridge but I was not soothed
I know what you’re saying, my argument’s refutable
My parents were obeying laws immutable
But hey they coulda just shoulda resisted The Grand Plan
some laws are unjust Take a fucking stand man!
There are those who leave their mark, who will not give an inch
Jesus, Ghandi, Joan of Arc and early David Lynch
But my parents bowed to power, oh how they would have loved it
It was my finest hour, I carried a musket
They paid for my degrees it’s the least they could do
My rent and my therapy now I’m a therapist too
So now they’re broke (look what karma set loose
Grandpa had a stroke was their 2nd grade excuse )
Up in the attic I take the stage
And I reenact it but with a new page
My parents are there
I see them now
And before my bow
I take my vow
“How!”
24
The Lonely Hat
THE LONELY HAT (click here for song)
It was seven in the morning, seven below
I was livin’ in a little town in Ohio
I was walkin’ my dog, his name was Joe
When we saw a curiosity in the snow
It was a lonely hat, blue and black
Dirty but furry with floppy earflaps
I picked it up, put it in my black back pack
And I took it home that lonely hat.
I brushed and dusted the dirt away
I was gonna have a happy hat by the end of the day
It was fluffy, puffy, cute as a cat
But it wasn’t enough – it was a lonely hat.
It was a lonely hat, blue and black
Dirty but furry with floppy earflaps
I picked it up, put it in my black back pack
And I took it home that lonely hat.
Was I doing something wrong? Maybe I should quit
Then I tried it on, it was a perfect fit
No more lonely hat, on my head it sat
Friendly, furry with floppy earflaps
It was friends with my jacket, my black backpack
He had a home, that lonely hat
23
2019 Notable Deaths
Peter Fonda 1940-2019
Peter Fonda’s first movie was breezy with sweet Sandra Dee
Then for a ride to The Big Easy you can’t beat LSD
He finally stepped from the shadows of that family tree
“We can only learn when we are free.”
Fonda was once shot in the stomach, “a mishap” he said
By his own hand he’d done it and look where it led:
His friend Lennon took note and followed the thread:
“She said ‘I know what it’s like to be dead’”
Jessye Norman 1945-2019
She sang Janacek, Wagner, Bartok and Strauss
Jessye Norman seemed to sing without effort
Her opulent tone would bring down the house
The most sumptuous voice since…well forever
Oh so at ease in so many genres
She worshipped in many religions
When asked of this her response was
“Pigeon holes are for pigeons”
James R. Leavelle 1920-2019
Leavelle was cuffed to the killer of JFK
Ruby rushed forward with his 38
Live television a grey matinee
Conspiracy theories lying in wait
Eddie Money – 1949-2019
Eddie used one of his Two Tickets to Paradise
Something he always wanted for sure
On Stubhub you can name your price
And join him there…I think I’ll demur
Robert Hunter – 1941-2019
He’s dead but let us be grateful
for Robert Hunter’s lyrical spin
A life spent abetting the faithful
What a long strange trip it’s been
Dr. John 1941-2019
Malcolm Rebennack, Ivory Soap infant
But gris-gris spirits is what got him clean
Kicked smack else he would have been fucked
And Dr. John would have long left the scene
Francis Crowe 1919-2019
At one hundred she still protested
Persistent, passionate, tough
Asked how many times she was arrested
Francis Crowe said, “Not enough!”
Unita Blackwell 1933-2019
She was sharecropper-shack raised
Risked her life to rise from there
Unita Blackwell remained unfazed
First black Mississippi mayor
Hal Prince 1928-2019
Hal Prince was not a musician
But without him there is no “Todd”
He had a mission and naked ambition
And it helped to partner with God
Daryl Dragon 1942-2019
The Captain went overboard
Did Tenille give him a love tap/shove?
Love kept them together but oh Lord
Could anyone forgive “Muskrat Love”?
Mary Oliver 1935-2019
Likened to Dickinson, Whitman and Frost
“I made a world of words as my salvation”
Mary Oliver lifts us when we are lost
“I was a bride married to amazement”
W.S. Merwin 1927-2019
A poet, a pure one, W.S. Merwin
Words of evanescent enchantment
If ever there were one, a modern day Merlin
And a master of sensual enjamb
ment
I.M. Pei 1917-2019
Respect I suppose is hard to get
If your career is too brief to pick up steam
I.M Pei might have made it as an architect
If it hadn’t been for that pyramid scheme
GOP Commitment to Rule of Law – 1854-2019
They were elected to the U.S. Congress
But cower at confronting wrongness
They stand up to Trump:
“How high do we jump?”
And prolong this night that is dawnless
Mcconnell could have been a great leader
But opted instead for boss bottom feeder
If there is justice at all
He’ll be stopped at the wall
That guards the Gates of St. Peter
22
Voted Most Likely
Voted most likely
To fall just short of his goal
at Haiku High
Still he showed promise
Harvard Haiku took a chance
It got worse
Studied in Japan
Zen Monastery Master
still worse
The harder he tried
The more it all receded
Still
He would not give up
Wanting more becoming less
Psychotherapy
Mother always distant
Father’s unkind cuts
Still now losing blood
Binding now his wounds
Too late he fears
Smaller still his world
Circling
He puts down his pen
Walks
Sun sets on the wood
He is silent
Wind in leaves
Alone
then
A river ran here
Silent dark firs surround us
Still you can hear it
21
The Poetry Police
The Poetry Police
The Poetry Police paid a visit last night
Drop the pen and nobody gets hurt!
They only come when I put out the light
There’s no need for handcuffs! They’re too tight!
They said they’d received an alert
The Poetry Police paid a visit last night
One thing is clear: they’re not very bright
Their eyes are dead and inert
They only come when I put out the light
Some things, they said, must remain from sight
You’re too much digging in dirt
The Poetry Police paid a visit last night
I want a lawyer!I have a right!
And why are you wearing my father’s shirt?
They only come when I put out the light
They left me in a room and said sit tight
I escaped disguised in my mother’s skirt
The Poetry Police paid a visit last night
They only come when I put out the light
20
Poetry in Pie
Poetry in Pie
This is what nature teaches:
Time drifts quickly by
But for today we feast on peaches
There is poetry in pie
Last year brought unwelcome weather
Peaches in short supply
Which made their juices so much better
There is poetry in pie
It could be a metered sonnet
A haiku or just a sigh
Put vanilla ice cream on it
There is poetry in pie
A slice or two could be your breakfast
Go back to bed till the sun is high
It calms whenever you are restless
There is poetry in pie
When at last I turn to dust
Bring your friends to say goodbye
Eat peaches with a flaky crust
There is poetry in pie
19
Rising Water
Day upon day the rain gray not easing
Roads submerged sheep, pigs and cattle were drowned
The river claimed where wheat once ruled the ground
We watched the water our hearts were freezing
Ascend the cellar stairs air decreasing
Wind on the walls, rage on the roof that sound
Said you’re going down dark never be found
I blessed myself knelt and prayed unceasing
The rain let up I thought because of me
I was a child so for a while was sold
But slowly surely faith slips away
If there is a God he is pretty cold
But when I cannot go another day
I pray out loud dear Lord let me be free
18
It’s Not That Dark Before The Dawn
It’s not that dark before the dawn
It’s not that dark before the dawn
Astaire and Rogers could not dance
I will not miss you when you’re gone
Mozart’s life went on and on
There’s not a decent bakery in France
It’s not that dark before the dawn
My yard is greener than your lawn
Donald Trump never rants
I will not miss you when you’re gone
A queen is weaker than a pawn
You look so thin in your new pants
It’s not that dark before the dawn
No subtly to Sarah Vaughn
Discordant are monks’ chants
I will not miss you when you’re gone
Shakespeare never said perchance
Las Vegas is an even chance
It’s not that dark before the dawn
I will not miss you when you’re gone
17
One Does Not Love Breathing
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird
One does not love breathing
It is simply done
One does not love evening
It is simply setting sun
One does not love cooking
It is simply the next meal
One does not love looking
It is simply what is real
One does not love waking
It is simply what we do
One does not love aching
It is simply where are you
One does not love grieving
It is simply ever blue
One does not love breathing
It is simply what we do
16
Beatle Boots
In Beatle boots, we walked tall
New recruits to John and Paul
Ringo George Twist and Shout
No one more Fab Four devout
Ably armed with crazy cool
An Iowa farm in Liverpool
An angry mother gave us a thrill
“You and your brother…” we knew the drill
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Heals high high school halls
Could not deny we had balls
This boy and I packed 45’s
This joy is why I’m still alive
Soon those shoes were stashed away
(of no real use for baling hay)
Now gone gray these careless brothers
And soon one day one bears the other
15
Daniel Johnston 1961-2019
He had a gift for melody, boyish voice
But sometimes it was hell to be him
His mental health could leave him no choice
But to go dark and stay within
Schizophrenic and manic depressed
Without art he could not get through
He wrote and drew like someone possessed
Which was quite often true
Don’t play cards with Satan
He’ll deal you an awful hand
Please believe me
Did I ever stop and tell you I am a desperate man?
His art it was said had notes of Blake
And Hieronymus Bosch appeared
His heart led where it would break
He helped keep Austin weird
Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain
The first two albums by Daniel Johnston
Recorded in a basement of pouring rain
But would anyone want them?
But fans loved the way that he saw things
Tom Waits and Kurt Cobain
The Whitney showcased his drawings
But in the end was it all in vain?
Even though his demons took over
He waged a battle that is ageless
And if we looked at our lives closer
We might see we weren’t as courageous
Despair came knocking at my door, and I let her in for a while,
She sat on the couch and began smoking.
She said nothing.
14
Matthew Wong – 1984-2019
Matthew Wong 1984-2019
Tourettes, depression
He spoke of the presence
The devil dusk to dawn
His left us a confession
His art distilled an essence
Of why we can’t go on
A theme oft returning
One figure barely there
A landscape vivid vast
Melancholy yearning
Palette as prayer
Loneliness will last
13
Kinky
Kink can refer to outrageous sex
Acts, photos and texts
But as we age
We reach a stage
When it’s just a pain in our necks
Speaking of kinks their sound was new
“Tired of Waiting For You”
They took the stage
When I came of age
When youth would never be through
Speaking of youth I’ve no regrets
The lack of photos and texts
Some memories stay
Night became day
And I fell in love with my ex
Speaking of her and her fragrant fur
I came upon what women prefer
And she blew off the lid
Off this Catholic kid
Christ was risen for sure
Speaking of Jesus, at me he winks
And I no longer care what anyone thinks
No hell to pay
L-O-L-A
All day and all of the night, The Kinks
Yeah, your really got me now
You got me so I don’t what what I’m doin’ now
Oh yeah, you really got me now
Ya got me me where I can’t sleep at night
You really got me
12
If Life is so Short Why Are Nights So Long?
If life is so short why are nights so long?
Must be that relativity theory
I think at times I’m doing life wrong
I have an illusion that i’m being strong
I don’t let anyone near me
If life is so short why are nights so long?
There is no tribe to which I belong
“To be or not” a too familiar query
I think at times I’m doing life wrong
My family and I don’t get along
I realize now that they fear me
If life is so short why are nights so long?
My style of writing works well in a song
But for poetry it can get weary
I think at times I’m doing life wrong
There was a time I saw life clearly
But that was due to Timothy Leary
If life is so short why are nights so long?
I think at times I’m doing life wrong
11
I Object!
Home alone again, watching TV
A young girl sees who she wants to be
She hears a phrase and sees the effect
So she tries it out: “I Object!”
She sees herself in a courtroom drama
Of course the judge looks just like her mama
Who looks at her daughter with little respect
But then the whole world changes: “I object!”
Her mother’s not one too easily fooled
And is about to gavel her down “Overruled!”
But stays her hand – reflecting (that’s new)
“Exactly what are you objecting to?”
The young attorney does not hesitate
“You drink too much stay out too late
Your boyfriends are creepy and you get so mad
When I barely even talk about Dad!”
Thank you Counselor….
And I object to the fact that again we moved
“It will be better” but nothing’s improved
The teachers are awful kids are mean
I have to make my own breakfast I’m 13!
And I object that at school we are drilled
How to keep our heads down or be killed
By some sociopathic guy an apostle of that awful
all automatic rifles are perfectly lawful
Thank you Couns……
And I further object to the poisonous air
The world is dying but you don’t care
We looked to you to help get through it
You had your shot. You fucking blew it.
Sustained
10
Let Us Now Praise
Let us now praise the donut that is glazed
Its existence surely a quantum leap
Pastry evolution crawled at a creep
The shape, the hole, we were not yet amazed
Icing ideas unthought never fazed
Divine inspiration – baker asleep
A sweet syrup dream to taste is to weep
Let us now worship with coffee cups raised
If his final meal had been at the dawn
Communion would find us sipping caffeine
Sunday mornings give us our daily bread
Transfiguration a Krispy Kreme scene
Give me a dozen I rise from the dead
I’ll push this rock up the hill till they’re gone
9
A Father and Daughter Enter Into a Dialogue Regarding Pets
If I had a pet
I would never be alone
How happy I would get
To give a pet a home
She would jump into my lap
Whenever I would call
Oh If I had a cat
or better yet I had a dog!
No question that a pet
Would be very cute
But the job that I would get
Is cleaning up the poop
You would say to me
“It’s way too gross!”
Sorry baby not a maybe
It’s a NO!
If I had a pet
A cat or better yet a pup
I wouldn’t get upset
I would clean it up
You completely underestimate
How responsible I would be
Please let me get a pet
I promise you will see!
How about a fish?
Let’s see what we can find.
You know what I would wish? (What?)
You’d keep an open mind!
You know I’ll never be
Your little girl again.
You might get regrets
that I didn’t get a pet at ten!
You are only ten?
You’re nothing of the sort
How could you learn then
To be a lawyer in court?
I won’t say ‘No’ for now
That’s the best you’ll get
And someday, maybe baby,
You will get a pet.
Oh my birthday’s Thursday
I hope you don’t forget
And I will get a cat or dog
Or pony better yet!
8
Scream
Click here to Listen
Scream scream scream scream
Scream scream scream scream
It all began three years ago
Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio
I was seeing red I lay in bed
I Scream
It’s so wrong this
Pain I am in
I thought that Congress
Would reign him in
But they made a choice
I’m losing my voice
I scream
It’s so outrageous
Kids in cages
Somethin’ new every day
And the trouble is
I’m pissed
I’m screamin my life away
He’s got to go
Or or we will die
Loathe him so
And that is why
I’m so blue
All I seem to do is
Scream
I have a hunch
It’s Moonk not Munch
But you know who I mean
That Norwegian guy
And the burning sky
I see him in my dreams
I am scared that in a year
I’m unprepared for what I might hear
World absurd
I don’t have words
Scream
Throughout November I am writing a poem every day as part of an effort to raise funds for The Center For New Americans. If you like the poems (or even if you don’t) and would like to support this fantastic organization, please follow this link. Thanks.
Thanks to Bob Jackson Miner for harp and guitar!
7
This Brown Paper Bag of Peaches
“This Brown Paper Bag of Peaches”
(“From Blossoms” by Li-Young Lee)
Oh words words how they topple from the tongue
such fun (like many things this tongue has done)
Simple sound saves us is what poetry teacher
From blossoms come this brown paper bag of peaches.
From a rose is a rose to that boat you row row
To Roethke I learn by going where I have to go
From the caged cry a child’s barely born breath
To Lear’s final stage the rage against death
With only twelve syllables Li-Young Lee creates
An arc from invisible to texture and taste
Poetry is prayer and I want a Pastor who preaches
From blossoms come this brown paper bag of peaches
I would like an epitaph but please pray you
No At Last He Hath Passed to be with Jesu
Mark my grave above the maggots and leeches:
From blossoms come this brown paper bag of peaches
6
Our First Gods
They were our first Gods
With secret shame they breathed us
Into a world of water sky
Cain and Abel sacrifice
Celebrated and disparaged
They were our first Gods
Prayers not meant to free us
Within a world (the Eden lie)
A made-up Christ to sacrifice
Faith unsafe and careless
They were our first Gods
They die but never leave us
In a world where we deny
Our lives are but a sacrifice
To their ancient fateful marriage
Our Father who art in heaven
Oh Mother have mercy
Throughout November I am writing a poem every day as part of an effort to raise funds for The Center For New Americans. If you like the poems (or even if you don’t) and would like to support this fantastic organization, please follow this link. Thanks.
5
Thou Shalt Dance
I walked a bridge – never meant to cross
I couldn’t see that it would be any loss
Climbed over the rail, the end of my arc
Ready to sail…then a voice from the dark
“Really?”
I wanted no witness, I hadn’t foreseen this
None of his business, an inconvenience
I did not move yet I longed for the water
He didn’t say don’t do it, but what he offered
Was
“Really?”
I said give me a reason I should stay
I thought he was leaving, he backed away
And then he began this strange ballet
Jumped and twirled i thought “No way”
He just danced
And I laughed
He walked me home it was getting light
He said next time you’re alone in the night
Raise up your hands begin to sway
You’ll understand what it means to pray
Just Dance
Thou Shalt Dance
There are stars amidst us who deserve our applause
And when I cross a bridge I make sure to pause
And I thank that man – he made it clear
The Eleventh Commandment is why we’re here
I am still laid low by darkest of nights
But somehow I know there’ll come the light
The rhythm we’re given within all of us beats
Our mission? Dance in the streets!
4
The Ken Burns Effect
When he orders a meal, he slowly raises his head
The waitress comes into focus quite slowly
And when he finally orders, no words are said
But there’s a voiceover by Peter Coyote
If there were an effect that bore my name
Jittery out-of-focus closeup shots
The subject drifts in and out of the frame
Narration by….Don Knotts
3
Albert the Kangaroo
Albert was a kangaroo
Who lived in a zoo in Kalamazoo,
Michigan, which is not
Australia
OK food, OK view
Friends, furniture OK too
but then again, this was not
Australia
One evening he spoke with Joe Giraffe
Who told a joke, Al did not laugh
He was low could only wonder
how to get over and go down under –
Australia
Elephant Jack said get on top
Got on his back a mighty hop
into the middle of
America
They called in vain, “Albert stop!”
but he hopped a train, out-hopped the cops
and began a trip across
America
All-a-meme the internet
And with a team of kids and pets
Open hearts and open doors
helped him start out from the shore of
America
Then riding on a blue whale back
And guided by a porpoise pack
He spied the land that he adored
Australia
And then he gave a happy hop
Into the arms of mom and pop
laughed and cried and then he slept
For ages
Now a papa with plenty of kin
Albert says again and again
No one should be kept
In cages
2
Beverly Watkins 1930-2019
She liked to tell the story, when she was sixty two
Nominated in the category of Best New Artist Debut
If you were a woman of color, pretty sure to be
Playing undercover in obscurity
Like Memphis Minnie before and Sister Rosetta Tharpe
And many more who blazed guitar to a wailing harp
Misogynist racists kept them out of the light
She cleaned houses by day and then took back the night
Men would ask her who taught her to play
She’d say “Jesus!” and then blow them away
She felt it her mission – to play was to heal
If Christ was arisen he’d probably steal
Her amp and her axe and with a lowdown growl
backed by a sax and sinners would howl
Delivered from Sodom yeah they got the Good News:
Beverly Watkins is rockin’ the blues
1
October 2019 – RIP
Eighty minutes of light went south of the border
Trump thinks “Ya know, if we just had the wall.!!”
I fear the night, the right’s righteous disorder
But I’m privileged and white and there’s a sale at the mall
Indigenous Day Discounts! The deals! For instance
Fifty percent off! Shirts from Phnom Penh
But I am so proud to be part of the resistance
I didn’t buy a thing! Can I get an “Amen!”
October brought this hopeful appraisal:
From the ship of Trump rats will jump…maybe?
Ukraine, the insane stain of Kurdish betrayal .
Wait..Wait…I’m the one surely crazy
Eighty minutes of light went south of the border
Trump thinks “Ya know, if we just had the wall.!!”
I fear the night, the right’s righteous disorder
But I’m privileged and white and there’s a sale at the mall
Indigenous Day Discounts! The deals! For instance
Fifty percent off! Shirts from Phnom Penh
But I am so proud to be part of the resistance
I didn’t buy a thing! Can I get an “Amen!”
October brought this hopeful appraisal:
From the ship of Trump rats will jump…maybe?
Ukraine, the insane stain of Kurdish betrayal .
Wait..Wait…I’m the one surely crazy
Elijah Cummings lay down his gavel
Integrity’s beacon, a force for the poor
Sharecropper parents, what a distance to travel
His loss reaches way beyond Baltimore
Robert Forster – his career revived by Tarentino
From Medium Cool peak 27 years down
Then a bail bondsman becomes Valentino
When he falls in love with sweet Jackie Brown
Harold Bloom, a critic, acidic, intelligence rare
When he entered a room there went the air
Of white dead male writers a devoted disciple
But thought it was a woman who authored the Bible
Peter Baker, by every account, pretty hard to bear
But from those who really count, he had no equal
Nicknamed Ginger because of his hair
He blew up Cream and then its sequel:
Blind Faith and the faithful followed
First rock drummer to prominently solo
An unkind wraith in drugs he wallowed
But his poison of choice was (honestly)… polo
Her sculpture of a child and mother
Symbolized her belief that always would guide her
“As long as we talk we won’t kill one another”
Dorothea Buck, Nazi survivor
Sputnik was first, Gargarin was next
Then Aleksei Leonov strolled into space
America cursed, “How will the moon be annexed
If Russia keeps on winning the race?”
Sinatra of the East, Czech Karel Gott
But could ‘Ol Blue Eyes do it this way?
42 times top honors? (kind of a lot)
And in five languages Night and Day
Karen Pendelton, paralyzed for years
Counseled others who asked “How come me!?”
She was an original Mouseketeer
Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company
M-I-C See you real soon
K-E-Y Why? Because we like you
M-O-U-S-E