Insults by the Left and the Right
often end up in a fight
Insults
Assaults
Reverberate
across the country
breaking down civility
Insults like a fungus
grow among us
poisoning society
with maximum anxiety
Insults are like fleas
hopping on hosts
and bringing a disease
Insults
are the results
when communication fails
and anger prevails
helicopters in the sky playing “That’ll be the day I die…”
1970
“Let it be” – words of wisdom from The Beatles that spoke to me
I lusted for an “American Woman”
Crossed the Song Bay Bridge under fire listening to
“Bridge over Troubled Waters”
wishing young men back home
would “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”
and know about a grunt’s blues
too many villages on fire
“Somethings Burning” by a ghostly choir
Smoky Saigon opium dens wistfully playing
“House of the Rising Sun”
1970
long range patrols in the night
“Travelin’ Band” playing in the USA
going into hostile territory every day
wondering what’s “Up around the Bend”
living in a hot humid climate
“In the Summertime” that seemed like it would never end
Taking “The Long and Winding Road,” in country
dreaming of “Lookin Out My Back Door” at home
trying not to “Spill the Wine” because I’ve seen
“Fire and Rain” and will never be the same again
***
red and green tracers crisscrossing in the night sky
brass shell casings dropping on the moist forest floor
while soldiers on both sides die
for conflicting ideologies
from opposite societies
fleshy pawns
in global games of war
dead “patriots”
who faced the horror
of being
under fire
***
there is only one truth
in reality
there’s no guarantee
on what you hear or read
is not a partisan screed
facts are often muddied
with lies
that galvanize
people’s bias
until
tidbits of truth
break through
people must make do
with the tried and true
**
we all live in a bubble
seeking verification
on cable TV
because we live in
an insecure society
there’s bubbles for the wealthy
and bubbles for the poor
there’s bubbles for races
and more
someday hopefully
there will not be
all these bubbles
with their troubles
in our country
golden lightning bolts streaking along ghetto walls like a snake in the Garden of Babylon intent on conveying anarchistic values to the viewers who gaze upon the colorful buildings in shock and awe...
graffiti in high C playing in the neighborhood
it’s art to the homeboys who make noise while spraying their gang names and playing games and it’s all understood
graffiti in high C playing in every city
the world is crazy
about an artist called Banksy
who secretly
paints murals of damnation in every nation
but the critics don’t get it
because they think it’s about money and fame, but graffiti’s real message is not so tame, it’s a reality check warning things will not always remain the same
205 words – free verse
life in the fast lane of concrete jungles weaving through cities and states seeking altered states and the key to paradise while cities burn from fires caused by climate change and a whole range of environmental disasters brought on by corporate behemoths that breath life into Wall Street’s secrets corridors of power looking down on the average citizen nearly powerless trying to fight Goliath with a cell phone tapped by the FBI and marketers vying for the masses money in cyberspace a dangerous place where saints and sinners trumpet their wares to the unwary visitors responding to special sales for limited times – but wait there’s more – in the pursuit of happiness religions and cults seek converts with promises of saving souls and access to elite Hollywood parties where the wealthy meet to greet one another and brag about big contracts and casting beds while women fight for equality and freedom from perverted movie execs soaked in their huge egos looking for the next star in an industry of dreams where viewers suspend reality to escape a world of lies that have formed like cobwebs in our society holding the average person victim with fake news and rhetoric straight from hell and premiering near you soon.
205 words – free verse
he captured the average American experience
with words woven with activism and skepticism
an insurgent in the literary world with no allegiance
to traditional poetry and using abstract expressionism
he confesses to being an anarchist at heart
encouraging poets to write about political and cultural
aspects of their country like laws and local art
Lawrence Ferlinghetti who turned 100 the other day
still burns brightly in the world of poetry
an icon with plenty left to say
about the world and our society
we have to be careful not to believe everything we see
on TV
the line between reality shows and reality
has become murky
a parade of partisan petty bourgeoisie
on TV
from entertainment to ideology
a warped view of what the world should be
based upon viewer popularity
on TV
where talk shows hosts spew witty repartee
and political pundits dramatically can’t agree
instantly becoming must-watch insanity
on TV
where we can be fooled by technology
into seeing something entirely phony
gleefully watching a bunch of baloney
I think that I’ll never see
anything more deceptive
than a TV
as we all know, opinions are like assholes
we all have one…
in a world of critics and skeptics
opinions are subject to fact-checks
based upon disbelief
or the PC police
few opinions stand the test of time
and the rest are borderline
people naturally opinionate
it’s in our DNA to debate
you’re either right or wrong
making it hard to get along
opinions have led to war
destroying lives and more
peace-loving people say
it doesn’t have to be this way
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