Category Archives: poem about voting

Our POTUS in a Time of Plague

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Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash, Used with permission.

Our POTUS in a Time of Plague

As scientists studied and scholars debated,
the course of our nation has been confiscated
by someone elected to counsel and guide us
who instead has chosen to confuse and chide us.

His grasp of the matter is less than meticulous,
therefore his statements are rather ridiculous.
His words contradictory, coming together
unfettered by wisdom, with nary a tether.

The palm-reader’s advice and crystal ball’s scry,
and what the astrologer sees in the sky
might deliver more guidance than this crazy guy
with one hand on his club, the other in the pie.

He surveys the landscape, concocting more lore
as he swings back his five iron, calling out “Fore!”
A reality star, but alas, little more—
at the next election, let’s show him the door!

hayden-dunsel-aQeLVaGZuiA-unsplashImage by Hayden Dunsel on Unsplash, used with permission.

 

 

Prompt words today are scry, meticulous, together, confiscate and landscape.

We Seem Meant to Argue

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Time for change?

We Seem Meant to Argue

We seem meant to argue, to disagree and fuss––
to call each other s.o.b.’s, to blather on and cuss.
Somehow the world needs movement––the hurricanes and tides.
In every situation, there must be clans or sides.
There is a natural movement toward the pack or cult or gang.
Each game needs an opponent, and every yin a yang.

It may be named a congregation, a party or a cause,
but still there will be discord. There always is, because
there is something within us that draws us towards division.
Every peace march draws its crowd screaming in derision.
Some force within the universe that knows the whole of it
has decreed that everything has its opposite.

So though we may crave unity and hope one day to coin
accord between the nations, and for hearts and minds to join,
the truth is that the universe is like a pendulum.
For every radical event, the opposite will come.
if we just wait long enough, it will be peace’s turn,
but in the meantime hate will pillage, conquer, rape and burn
.
We would have it otherwise, but hope won’t make it so.
We may unite in nations, but we’ll still go toe to toe:
nation versus nation, like street gangs in a rumble.
The most sincere peace accord eventually will crumble.
Mere wishing will not bring on peace, but we can make a start
simply by appealing to that attitude of heart

that chooses to forget and start that upward swing
that can pull the whole world with it as it takes to wing.
The answer to the hatred is to start out one-by-one
to try to make the choices to set discord on the run.
To choose the dark sides of ourself is an act of treason.
We must conquer our own petty hates and choose to live by reason.

Today’s prompt is “Argument.”

Carefree in My Labors

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IMG_1071jdb photo

Carefree in My Labors

I’m not so good at carefree, don’t know how to be gay.
When others loll out on the grass, I’m always cutting hay.
While other people spend the day on some fun and dumb thing,
something whispers in my ear I should be doing something!

When the alarm bell signals, my day’s labors start:
feeding dogs, then writing, sorting, filing, making art.
Even when at leisure, my mind is always working.
If I’m not doing something, I feel that I am shirking.

It’s one thing when you’re with someone and sharing repartee,
or watching interactions you encounter day-by-day.
It’s another to rethink all that has been done or said––
to mix them with the other things you have in your head.

If I put them all together, they make a lovely story––
sometimes love and romance and sometimes sad and gory.
And that is what I think about even in my bed.
I guess my retirement will be when I am dead.

 

Thttps://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/carefree/

ANTHEM

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Earlier today, I wrote an answer to Mark Aldrich who had sent me a video of Leonard Cohen singing “Democracy” as an answer to my yesterday’s essay entitled “The Three Stooges and Campaign Reform.” In today’s earlier post, I admitted I had more to say but had run out of time to say it, but that I’d be back.  Well, here I am.  I’m baa-ack!  Since Mark answered me with a song, I would like to reciprocate with lyrics by Leonard Cohen that I think offer a bit more hope that the lyrics of “Democracy.”

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“Anthem”

The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government —
signs for all to see.

I can’t run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
a thundercloud
and they’re going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring …

You can add up the parts
but you won’t have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
That’s how the light gets in.
That’s how the light gets in.

                                                                                         –Leonard Cohen

Cohen is admitting that nothing is perfect and never has been.  If it weren’t for the evil in the world, good would not exist; for the very existence of the world depends on the movement between yin and yang, anima and animus, light and dark, positive and negative, good and evil.  But there is a crack in everything.  Both the good and the evil are vulnerable to permeation by the other.  The very liberty bell is, in fact, cracked.

I think he is saying to take heart.  The I Ching states that the universe is a pendulum and that whenever one force gets to its summit, the laws of nature dictate that it begins to change into its opposite, swinging farther and farther over to its antithesis. The “widowhood” of a government marks the end of its power.  Is Cohen saying that it is necessary for a corrupt government to fall in order to restore the good of the people?  Perhaps. But all he commits to is the effect it has had on him, personally.

I can’t run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
a thundercloud
and they’re going to hear from me.

It certainly sounds like Cohen is talking about the hypocrisy of those who profess to be religious yet serve their own interest instead of the good of the people.  This thundercloud that is happening–is it merely his personal little cloud?  He says they are going to hear from him, and in this song, they certainly have.  But is he talking about a larger cloud?  One that will cause people to vote in the interest of the masses for once instead of the good of the vocal few who have convinced them that to vote to further the causes of the powerful and wealthy is in the best interest of ordinary citizens?

If liberty is cracked to the point where it is no longer functional, he calls upon people to still “Ring the bells that still can ring.”  In short, to do what we can.  No, our government is not perfect because nothing is perfect.  It is just not the way the world is set up.  We can take what power we do have, however, and vote.  This is a power that hasn’t been taken away from us.  If only, if only, the great majority of citizens would allow themselves to be enlightened–to let the light in–perhaps the change back towards democracy could start to happen.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-fun-platform/