I got into an argument with my boss the other day
and afterwards I got drunk as a skunk
with a lot to say
I lurched around the office
in an alcoholic haze
a pissed-of apprentice
ending his days
-30-
Drunk as a Skunk
Christmas Story 2025
Baby Jesus quietly slept in a bed of hay
his parents nearby keeping guard
night and day
while ICE agents roamed the land
preying on Brown people in a sickening display
of racist hatred during the Christmas holiday
What would the grown Jesus have to say?
-30-
Reality Challenged
they met the morning after the Great Realization
had swept across the nation
he asked her if she was experienced
and if she ever heard Jimi Hendrix’s interpretation
of the Star-Spangled Banner?
she wanted to know who stopped the rain?
and he told her it was her imagination
bubbling up from her active brain
still, she could plainly see the rain
coming down
on the increasingly wet ground
and realized she wasn’t insane
-30-
Just Passing By
pedestrians in Every City Ohio
wouldn’t look down
at the still body on the ground
instead, they walked around
eyes forward but not seeing
not wanting to know
in ignorance fleeing
a harsh reality
uncomfortably bleeding
in their path
a victim of someone’s wrath
no
they blindly plunge ahead
with growing dread
unwilling witnesses
to a harsh reality
reminding them
of their mortality
-30-
Vanilla Shake and an Earthquake
Dear Reader. This is my Mea Culpa. I admit that my creative juices dried up back in August. I’ve been wandering in a wasteland of worry over the fate of democracy ever since. It’s finally time to let my muse run rampant again and to paint pictures with words strung together like a pearl neckless waiting to be worn.
The vanilla shake stood tall on the blue table
frozen in time like a promise of better things to come
simple in its splendor a modern-day fable
a temptation that can make anyone succumb
suddenly an earthquake rocked the room
and the vanilla shake shook
with impending doom
when it looked like the vanilla shake
would fall
and give way to the quake
that isn’t want happened at all
-30-
It Was the Worst of Times
It was the worst of times…
There were no longer two sides to a coin. Equality was history. The best of times disappeared in a fog of lies and folks talked about the inevitable end and a King they never elected who was walking the streets with no clothes on, but everyone pretended not to notice.
Clowns masqueraded as government officials and the Turkey Vulture was named the national bird after the White House was moved to Florida.
Scarlet streamers, flags and memes streaked through society scattered with communities stocked with sheep meekly walking to the slaughter in the name of tarnished patriotism and false piety.
Fallow fields, once places of education, crisscrossed across the country echoing days long gone when the earth was still round and people could tell what was real and what wasn’t.
Neon lights proclaiming the Coming of Mardock competed with signs promising salvation through Jesus Christ and his seven little trolls. Message billboards with an orange-faced man polluted every highway promoting the dear leader’s latest grift.
Environmental safeguards were jettisoned off of Niagara Falls like a herd of lunatic lemmings leaping to their deaths because they knew the planet was doomed.
Doomsday speakers on street corners attracted crowds that expected a good show while they wallowed in conspircies and dived into disinformation like moles on the make.
Reason was ruthlessly crushed by people living in bubbles and alternate universes where right was wrong and wrong was right and no one saw the light.
A cloud of despair hung in the air as people hurried to jobs they hated in order to make money that the government took back in the form of numerous taxes that went to greedy politicians who divided them according to a special pecking order.
There were no sanctuaries for people of color who lived in the ruins created by racists who dreamed of an all-white Christmas 365 days a year.
If you listen closely, sometimes you can hear a fragile voice calling out from the shadows… “Where has love gone?“
30-
Moody Moons
A Poet’s Guide
crescent moon
smiling in the night
half moon
grinning in delight
full moon
shining bright
blood moon
a scary sight
wolf moon
in flight
harvest moon
a happy night
strawberry moon
a rosy hued invite
-30-
Seeking Love in all the Wrong Places
Love is in the air
you can’t see it
but it’s there
you won’t find love
under the debris of hate
and racism today
so, shove
that trash aside
and make it go away
love someone
who makes your day
there’s no need
to go astray
and look in dark places
finding dismay
when love is waiting for you
in the light of day
-30-
Into the Badlands
There was no other way to go
to elude the enemy
pursuing him relentlessly
over the barren plateau
but into the badlands
with the lizards, snakes
and scorpions
on the black sands
of the desperate desert
where most animals struggle
to stay alive
with every effort
there came pain
like an unwanted visitor
to his perilous trek
through hostile terrain
seeking to be free
with every step
of the weary way
leading to liberty
30-
A Grunion Run
a grunion run
is only fun
when the sun
drops out of the sky
and the moon
shines on slivery fish
that catch your eye
wiggling on the beach
with their shiny scales
spawning frantically
before the searchers
come sloshing by
-30 –
The Creative Chronicles of Dave Stancliff 