The leaves first healthy and green
Reaching up to eternity
Then turning red, then gold and rust
And falling, translucent in their glory
Only their veins showing, organic lace;
The tree's honest history.
Only their slightly different shape
Remains a mystery,
Remembered by those who might've seen
As if in a fog, mistily
With just the few days of it's life
Lived blissfully.

These are the children, the ephemera
Of our trees
Giving, sharing, growing, expanding
Repeating generously
To populate our world with breath
Suffering death constantly
Being reborn silently to us;
Sentinels of majesty.

These are benefactors of life
For all of you and me
Casting themselves up from dirt
To our reality
Whether we believe it or know it.
They give voicelessly,
And that is what it means to be a tree
If you are leaves set free.

She was a little stick of a thing
More of a twig than a branch.
She had freckles instead of makeup
But man could that girl dance!
She wore a sack of a dress
With simple holes for her arms
But I was immediately captured
By her open-hearted charm.

It was an accidental meeting
And a charming mental greeting
Two strangers seeking seating
That did not end up as fleeting.

I didn’t own a crystal ball
So I could certainly not see
What this little bit of a girl
Would come to mean to me.
She had beautiful eyes
The color of aged whiskey
That could make a guy
Want to do something risky.

A lovely accidental meeting
And a charming mental greeting
Two strangers seeking seating
That did not end up as fleeting.

So I took her with me dancing
As a harmless thing to do
For two people who are strangers
To whom everything is new.
I expected it to be awkward
Could this beauty even dance?
How was I to know that this
Would be the start of romance?

A simple accidental meeting
And a charming mental greeting
Two strangers seeking seating
That did not end up as fleeting.

Wedding bells
The heart swells
A couple of people teary
Nobody here is leery
When it is two guys
Marrying after so many years.
Not an occasion for tears
They walk hand in hand
Toward a more grand
Joining together
Wedding each other
Now that some in society
See it is propriety;
Now that love is love
And over half the people
Know that couples
Are those who marry
And cease to carry
Their old angry baggage
Like stinking luggage
Into a loving occasion.

There is no reason.
Everyone here knows
That is how love goes.
It is between two hearts
No cart before the horse.
It’s a matter of course.
And, of course, family and friends
Not just kith, but kin
Are happy and celebrating
For the long awaited mating
Of two that fought the tides
And made it here where abides
That rosy day of knowing each other
Part of a couple officially;
Equally exciting and peacefully
Into a new morning of a new day.
What better way is there to say
I love you, a phrase not new
But this time said for two?
And certifiably, legally too.

John is what hookers call
Their customers in this land.
They make him feel like a king
And tell him he is grand.
They fuss over him like royalty
As long as he pays the bills.
His habits can make stomachs turn.
He’d be dead, if looks could ****.

King John, the biggest ******
To have ever worn the crown
If he were an office building
He would quickly be torn down.
Nobody ever thinks of him
In any pleasant kind of way.
If he has a need he needs filled
No freebies, he has to pay.

If there is some slimy way
To speak a simple sentence
He will choose it, and insult
With no thought of repentance.
He owes his wealth to ***** tricks
And that is just what he is.
An absolute and total waste
Of his awful father’s ****.

King John sits on his throne
Gathers soulless souls around.
He laughs at those who take his bribes;
A particularly ugly sound.
He has no conscience, so doesn’t see
How quickly his presence can pall.
He is the king of a kind of hell;
No kind of royalty at all.

We raised ours hand with others
And shared the grand hurrah.
We marched with them if we could
Amazed at what we saw.
Sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers
Half a million in the demonstration
A solemn gathering of protest
In the capitol of a grieving nation.

We came together, raised our voice
In major cities, and small towns.
This time we would not allow
The corporations to shout us down.
We carried signs that told the truth
In a fewest words we could write
That enough was enough and this was
A battle we had just begun to fight.

We shouted our children deserved
Not to die in their childhood school
And demanded that the government
Changed their wrongheaded rules.
We let them know across the land
The many of us were voting soon
And we would throw them out if they
Didn’t dance to a different tune.

We told them it was time they knew
That we saw through their faults
And that this country needed to
Outlaw weapons of mass assault.
We let them know we were through
With what they called leadership
That we would gladly send them home,
A much needed one-way trip.

My god told me
To **** those who are different.
My god told me
That genocide is efficient.
"Go into their land
And **** every living creature."
I saw it on TV just last week
In a Technicolor double feature.

My god told me
Gay people are abomination
My god told me
To hold back children’s rations.
Rip babies out of parent’s arms
Because they are terrorists
Pay no attention to the heartache
That’s just how my god’s law is.

My god told me
It matters about the color of skin
People can be born inhuman
Depending on the country you’re in.
It’s not as bad to be a dark person
If you stay in dark people lands,
But here in the good old USA they
Only deserve to be migrant hands.

My god told me
What’s sin for other people to do
Is not a sin for me to commit
The criminal things done by you.
My god told me
It’s just fine to cheat on my wife.
As long as I go to church weekly,
I will have a wonderful, godly life.

My god told me
Other people have to wrong idea
About who is god and who is not
And who will burn with the devil
In some place below, where it’s hot.
My god told me
To worship no god but him, it’s true.
Well, I worship Jesus, his misnamed son
So, I’m going to heaven, aren’t you?

We’re the rebels they call rabble
They want us all to be quiet
They bluster and they babble
Then they publicly deny it.

Representatives, an easy question:
Who do you represent, which faction?
You seem to have a lot of nerve
To insist that you protect and serve!
You want our money to campaign
Then leave us standing in the rain.
You grant yourselves a frequent raise
And pat your own backs with praise.

We could ask who you think you’ll fool
But, this is a nation of brain-dead tools.
At least half the country does not vote
Which leaves our case with a sour note.
But that leaves half who do believe!
It’s for the Constitution we grieve.
Your oath of office had you swear
To work for us, represent and care.

We’re the rebels they call rabble
They want us all to be quiet
They bluster and they babble
Then they publicly deny it.

So, it remains to us to care and feel;
To be the infamous squeaky wheel
And call to the public’s lazy attention
Crimes you commit and fail to mention.
We point it out when you lie and steal
That the promises you made aren’t real.
We remind our brothers, the working slob,
That all you do in office is keep your job.

Getting into office, your number one priority
For that you must ignore all the minorities
Only mentioning them in campaign speeches.
Then continue on being high-paid leeches.
Nobody in your party will call you out
Just collect your money from the touts
And when you retire just leave the rubble
And demand the populace call you “Honorable”.

We’re the rebels they call rabble
They want us all to be quiet
They bluster and they babble
Then they publicly deny it.

You don’t matter at all,
You hardworking citizen,
You who toil at drudgery
To feed all your children.
When we need you to vote
We pay attention to you
But the rest of the time
We look right through you.

You don’t matter at all.
Only the rich are essential
The rest of you are not;
You’re interchangeable.
You’re just marks on a page;
On the bottom of a ledger
And it’s best if you just
Work silently altogether.

The one percent matters
But if you are not rich yet
That means you are too stupid
To reach out and get.
The rich are a better class
And a truly valuable human.
All you non-rich are good for
Is to support us by consuming.

You don’t matter at all
Since you only vote for POTUS.
The rest of the time you all
Let us rob and you don’t outvote us.
We write laws that give more
And soon all of wealth to us
And then we point at someone else
For you to fail to back and cuss.

You don’t matter at all,
Or haven’t you even noticed.
You didn’t see that we urge
You to dwell in a field of lotus
Called football beer and Fox,
The news that is not really news;
Just something to misdirect.
It helps us shape your views.

You don’t matter at all.
You prove it every single day
By being so ignorant and lazy
We give this country away
We sell off your birthright
To the rich of other lands
And you all just run your mouth
And sit there on your hands.

Loosey goosey, Gary Busey
Makes more sense than you!
What do you see, big kaboosie?
What would Vladdy Putin do?

Fussy wussy, presidential woosy
Tell a whole buncha more lies.
Flappy *****, big **** slappy
The best your money buys.

Choppy woppy, never stoppy
Even when caught on tape.
Shouty, pouty, tough it outy
Completely out of shape.

Fleecer, squeezer, ugely obese
Shadow of your youth
Ripoff, tipoff, always lipoff.
Incapable of truth.

Heapy cheapy, never sleepy
Won’t pay your own bills.
Brainless pain, runaway train,
All your ideas can ****.

Neego, peego, bloated ego
The little kids you scare,
Shard, pard, big tub of lard,
As attractive as your hair.

So many roads I have walked
That I sometimes forget the path.
I’ve been around for decades now.
I’m rather old, so do the math.
So many names and so many faces
I knew and loved have come and gone.
I learned long ago, to let them go
To cherish our time and then move on.

Yesterday’s in-jokes like hairdos
Have changed and been forgotten.
I am not the same kid today I was
Back when my hair looked like cotton.
I don’t run as fast as I once did;
I am not much into random chasing.
Much of the drive I had long ago
Is ever so slowly self-erasing.

I do recall leaping off my couch
To take the day by the throat.
These days, I rise rather noisily
Sounding like an aging old goat.
I have to carefully watch my diet
Because things no longer function
The way they used to back then,
At a former, youthful junction.

But oh the memories I do recall
Of lovely people and adventures.
Back when I was free of arthritis
And unplagued by any dentures.
I still try to be that person now,
But I am dancing much more seldom.
Instead of being on my roller skates
I am on eBay trying to sell them.

Dial-A-Party USA!
What more do I need to say?
One person shows at your place alone
And after they use your telephone
It happens quicker than you can say.
“Dial-A-Party USA!”

You get a household full
Of old and new friends
Who stick around with you
Until the party ends.
Night and day, the happy throng
Will sing and dance and shout.
Until you’ve had enough of all that
And stand up and throw them out.

Dial-A-Party USA!
It can happen any day.
All it takes is for you to be home
So, if you don’t want this, GO ROAM!
Go see a movie, and stay away
From Dial-A-Party USA!

But if you think it’s great fun
To welcome and feed everyone;
All they drink and eat and smoke
They’ll tell everybody you’re great fun.
They’re extremely dependable, but
If you have any desire to miss it
And enjoy a peaceful time at home
Keep that plan a deep dark secret!

Dial-A-Party USA!
What more do I need to say?
One person shows at your place alone
And after they use your telephone
It happens quicker than you can say.
“Dial-A-Party USA!”

Cars so close together
You can count their middle fingers,
Horns honking everywhere
Traffic is like an urban bomb scare.
People just don't know how to drive.
It's a wonder how they can survive.  

Tooting and beeping,
The human brain is sleeping,
It looks like, by and large
Lizard brains are in charge.
There are no cops around;
They’re in another part of town
Policing those who feel they need
To smoke that evil devil ****.

Meanwhile traffic does it's thing,
Increasing daily suffering.
It's part of what it means to be
Alive in today's society,
Driving hell bent like it matters
Leaving peace of mind in tatters.
Rush hour traffic is what is wrought
Like a bad cold the earth has caught.

You can’t avoid it altogether.
It’s like Twain said of weather.
You can talk about it every day
And do nothing about it either way.
So maybe not have everyone at once
Hitting the road like a silly dunce.
Couldn’t the employers take a clue;
Change their schedule an hour or two?

Maybe some would think it great
To start their journey hours late?
Some could go now and some then
And wait hours, then begin again,
The next batch could be on their way
And start out having a good mood day.
Or maybe we could all stay home
And leave the rest of the world alone

We’ll steal their pensions and their land
Won’t that be amazing and grand?
And there’s not a stinking thing they can do.
We’ll blame it all on the opposition
Then take an outraged position.
They’ll elect our congress and governors too.

USA, USA
How many brown people
Did you **** today?
GOP, GOP
Which of your promises
Did you break today?

We’ll concoct a bunch of lies
And convince all the unwise
That everything we say is the truth.
We’ll fool the older Republicans
And win some undecided fans
Everything but the clever and the youth.

In no time at all, we’ll succeed
And underscored with greed
We’ll take this gullible country back.
The Democrats will help us to
Do everything we plan to do
Because the dummies chose to elect a black.

USA, USA
How many brown people
Did you **** today?
GOP, GOP
Which of your promises
Did you break today?

Our war against intelligence
Is really making a difference
In getting voters to not smell a rat.
The richest civilians are helping
With the lobbyists they’re buying
And we gratefully tip our MAGA hat.

They are letting us make laws
That defy any philanthropic cause
Except when we get our hefty share.
We deny them their health and aid
And needn’t be the least bit afraid
Republicans will ever become aware.

USA, USA
How many brown people
Did you **** today?
GOP, GOP
Which of your promises
Did you break today?

I saw a man fishing today
Trying to catch is daily meal.
He pulled up a triggerfish
But I was the one to squeal!
“How wonderful!” I said to him
“You like have?” I heard him ask.
I said, “No, I am not the kind
Trained to the fish cleaning task.

“But what about your family?”
I asked him as he toiled.
“I gonna catch another one!
Nothin’ gonna be spoiled.
I go fish every single day
Right here from the sea.
Kauai treats us very nice
She always good to me.”

He said he would clean it
And then he did just that,
Right **** then and there,
While I just watched and sat.
And I took that fish home
To share with my family.
It was a real Hawaiian miracle,
Or seemed that way to me.

It amazes me at this stage,
After living in such big cities,
That I felt little aloha there,
And that is a major pity.
For here in these islands
The concept of love and sharing
Replaced what I saw mainland side,
Hostility and suspicious staring.

People seem happier here
Now I’ve been here fifteen years.
Maybe it’s the lovely weather
Or maybe my lack of fear
That someone will make me
Move away from paradise.
Nobody better try it because
I won’t think that’s very nice.

He was a bull goose ******
And he always was to begin with
So how did you get in the groove
To think he would improve
As if electing him to office would
Turn him magically good?
No matter how much we booed
This country is now *******.

And the sad thing is that many
Had to stay home for this *****
To get to win the whole race
Instead of being put in his place.
So, now are facing the possibility
Despite all reasonable credibility
Our fine and beloved old nation
Is facing humiliating obliteration.

Those of us who have survived
How our country got so swived
That it has taken nearly a decade
To clean up the mess Dubya made
Know this sense of fear and outrage
We felt in that scary bygone age.
We know terror is back once again
To drown us in that same fen.

It is spooky and amazing
The swath the GOP is blazing
With their hatred of common folks,
Their slurs and ****** jokes
All aimed to ****** freedom
By spouting lies they call wisdom
While millions of fools believe crap
All unaware their rhetoric is pap.

I’m still waiting for my Christmas present
The one you promised for so long.
Don’t keep me waiting like a poor peasant.
That would be rude and oh so wrong.
I’ve got my mind decorated for the season.
The mantel hung up with stockings
Please don’t make me wait for any reason.
Holding out on me would be shocking.

Holiday hotline
I’m making the call.
Ready for Christmas
The best time of all.
Holiday hotline
Too excited to dial.
I’ll wait a bit longer
But just for a while.

I don’t really need some kind of wish list.
There only one thing that I want.
You’ve got my heartstrings in your **** fist.
I’m fainting just to watch as you flaunt.
I’d write to Santa if it would do any good
But I am pretty sure he already knows.
Honey please, my heart’s not made of wood,
As you wave what I want near my nose.

Holiday hotline
I’m making the call.
Ready for Christmas
The best time of all.
Holiday hotline
Too excited to dial.
I’ll wait a bit longer
But just for a while.

I’m just like a little kid on Christmas eve.
I pretty sure I couldn’t really sleep.
You’ve got some great tricks up your sleeve.
I bet it wouldn’t help me to count sheep.
I want to start in unwrapping my present
I have little doubt I’ll like what’s inside.
The anticipation has been very pleasant.
Now is the finale to a **** yuletide.

Holiday hotline
I’m making the call.
Ready for Christmas
The best time of all.
Holiday hotline
Too excited to dial.
I’ll wait a bit longer
But just for a while.

There are words you say
And they are like magic.
And words that hurt,
The outcome is tragic.
There are words that soothe
And words that calm
And words that hurt worse
Than the slap of a palm.

You wouldn’t think that
Words make you feel better.
After all, they’re just sounds
Just a bunch of letters
Strung together in a way
That convey a simple thought.
Not a woven net in which
Something can get caught.

Yet they can do that, too.
They can be used to lie
And get caught in doing so
In an ugly by and by
Or they can accomplish things
And build up a rapport.
It all depends so much on
What words are used for.

The thing to be aware of
Is verbal sleight-of-hand
Where artists in deception
Make you think you understand
When they really are lying
And making you agree
That what they are doing
Is not the purest larceny.

So, look at words as envoys
Of what other people say;
Watch to see if they mean it
The next day as today.
Gather to you good people
On whose words you can depend
And the dangers of wordplay
Will soon come to a fitting end.

Let the music reach you,
Let the rhythm teach you
Make it sweet at the start
Like the beat of your heart.
Inside each soul is a song
Listen and follow it along.
Let the music reach you,
Let the rhythm teach you.

It’s more than just a lyric
It’s a story of your spirit
At times you really need to
Just let the music lead you.
It’s part of what it makes us
If we let the music take us.
We can talk with our feet
If we just follow the beat.

It’s yourself you have to please
Who cares of someone sees?
Maybe be brave and shout
And let your inner soul out.
Nobody should begrudge you
Nor really should they judge you.
It’s yourself you have to please
So, bend your back and knees

So, come on take a chance
Cone on, let your body dance.
Shake your **** and wiggle
And bust out in a giggle.
Make words to your own song
Maybe others will sing along.
Show them and yourself how,
And why not do it now?

I know I am a bad kid,
Things I did were awful
So I deserve every slap,
Every punch, every insult
Like “little *******” and
Sonofabitch. Everything.
Call me what I am as I
Have been appallingly bad
As a child, as an offspring,
An embarrassment to you.

Show me that ugly face
Of disappointment and hate
Because I was never a great
Reflection of your love,
Of your concern, your care.
After all, you feed me
You give me clothes and bed
And let me go to school.
I am a worthless fool.

I don’t deserve more,
And now, every smile hurts;
Not just desserts for crimes
Ones I committed all the time
Every day I now understand
Why your hand hit my jaw,
Slapped my face so often
I’m a disgrace, a shame
I don’t deserve your name
Or for you to look at me.

After all, look at me.
I’m horribly fat, look!
Those disgusting bulges
in my lower backside.
I disgust myself, completely
I look at myself and heave.
I wish I could leave and go,
Find someplace else
Where I can’t see myself.
So nobody else has to.

I can’t take back the wet beds
The expense you always said
Was too much, the touch
I craved back when I was young
The breath in even my lungs
Offending because I am bad.
I am a sad example of kids
And should be hid somewhere
So you never have to spare
Another moment on a bad kid.

Please listen.
Everybody makes mistakes.
Please don’t make me one of them.
It’s just one of life’s bad breaks.
Replay what I have told you again,
And listen, please listen.
Look into what I have said,
Let it play inside your head.

Please listen.
Listen to what I am saying
Instead of what you’re thinking.
Make me the song you are playing.
Then, listen, please listen.
Not what you think you heard.
Do listen closely to my words.

It is so very important
That you hear the content
It’s from my innermost heart,
It's what I think and pray
From my soul at the very start
And it will never ever go away.

So, listen.
It’s easy to stay half aware
Of what others have to share
And not quite care to hear
What their heart is crying out
The hopes they hold dear
That you could care about.

It is so very important
That you hear the content
It’s from my innermost heart,
It's what I think and pray
From my soul at the very start
And it will never ever go away.

Of course you know you are
One year older on this day.
But really, when you were younger
It was actually just one day away.
That’s why you don’t really feel
That you have gotten any older
And do not need anybody near
So you can cry on their shoulder.

Happy birthday, one day older
Happy birthday, one year too.
Cut the cake and share it baby.
Celebrate a year that is new.

You have no more hairs there
Upon your aging old head.
Everyone may be singing at you
But you are just one day ahead
Of who you were yesterday morn
When you woke up out of bed
And started on your daily journey
Following where fortune led.

Happy birthday, one day older
Happy birthday, one year too.
Cut the cake and share it baby.
Celebrate a year that is new.

But play along with tradition
And smile at the song and jokes.
Make a wish about tomorrow
As you blow out the candle smoke.
Though you’re only one day wiser
Things are more than they appear
Because the last time you did this
Was one amazing bygone year.

Happy birthday, one day older
Happy birthday, one year too.
Cut the cake and share it baby.
Celebrate a year that is new.

Let people be free.
Let the people see.
Don’t hide any more,
Behind closed doors.
Come out into the sun
There is work to be done
And for better or worse
The people come first.

Our current incentives
To our representatives
Should not be the cash
From planning a crash.
They have solid connections
Of bribes and our elections.
It is simply not even funny;
The rich get all the money.

Let people be free.
Let the people see.
Don’t hide any more,
Behind closed doors.
Come out into the sun
There is work to be done
And for better or worse
The people come first.

We need so very badly
To  not look on life sadly
And feel there is no way out.
We need to stand and shout.
We need to call criminals
Nothing so subliminal
As conservatives when they
Are crooks in proud display.

Give us back the peace and the people you killed.
Give back the young military who sadly believed
That they were fighting for freedom and liberty.
Give back their lives, not the medals they received.

Give us back the taxes that you took from us all.
You didn’t deserve it, nor did you work for it.
You squandered our money and our time
And you all laughed at us while you did it.

Give us back the pensions that you stole from us all.
You lied to us about it as you went about it!
You sneaked and you cheated and whined,
And though you failed, tried to keep it secret

Give us back the money that you swindled away
You hid in a room when you did it, for sure
But you knew it when you did it, for sure
Now few of us have enough to insure.

Give us back the integrity you sold for gold.
You did it to enrich you and your friends
You all brayed loudly about America First!
It’s time this collusive thievery should end.

Give us back the honesty you stole from us all
It was never meant to go into your pocket
So you could strut and brag about yourselves
And wear your criminality like a golden locket.

Give us back the forests you mowed down and sold.
They didn’t grow just for your bank book balance.
They won’t grow back in a hundred years.
It is not patriotism, it’s greed and malice.

Big Donald Stuckup
Always such a **** up
When it comes to limelight
He’s totally a **** up.
Big Donald Stuckup
Wants everything his way.
Claims he’s a slim youth
He can’t tell the truth.

Big Donald Stuckup
As honest as his hair
Likes other people’s money
Doesn’t like to share.
Big Donald Stuckup
Can’t keep his mouth shut.
Goes on Twitter frequently
Babbles incoherently.

Big Donald Stuckup
He doesn’t understand
If you think lying is fun
Soon you’ll run off everyone.
Big Donald Stuckup
Has no class at all.
He thinks his golden *****
Make him look less shoddy.

Today, I was scolded
Was told that I was a boor;
That I had, inadvertently
Rendered some holy cattle
Of theirs a death rattle
A battle I won, without knowing
I had even fought, thought
I was just being amusing,
Somehow confusing my path
Down through the tulips
As a meander down the apse
Of some secret church.
Unfair! I was unaware.
And even now, I fear I care
Far less than they do
About their holy cows.
I didn’t then, I don’t now.

But, I have accepted, long ago
That, with social networking
I simply has to be so
That people will be offended;
Starting open-ended rancor,
Scoring slash after ****** slash
Across my Mr. Perfection sash
Granted me by nobody but me,
And that they will put a smudge
By bearing a grudge
About what I see
As a trifling inconsequentiality.
But is their cathedral,
Their Mecca to bow to
And thus I will be the target
Of slings and arrows.

Shall I be sure to only speak
If I speak plenty of inanities
Muttering banalities about love
And the weather and books
Shall I fear the looks, the scorn
Born of misunderstandings
Taken as mishandling
The hearts of the tender
And render myself informationless,
Opinion free, without personality
Speaking when spoken to eternally
So I don’t trip over hidden wires,
Don’t **** on burning fires
Of pet peeves, rip off the sleeves
Of hair shirts, do idols dirt?
Is that the way it should go?
I don’t think so.
But, what do I know?
I am the scurrilous, stumbling fool
Who ****** in someone’s pool
And told them it was raining.

The time has now arrived
To put your name in.
Even though some people hate
The day you came in.
You might be qualified or
Just an imitation
I really doesn’t end up so
Important to the nation.

That is the dance
If it seems crude
It’s not of love
But someone always get *******.

What matters is the way you smile
With cameras flashing.
Not whether candidates against you
Have their teeth a’gnashing.
You’ll all engage in nasty gaming
Full of lots of unattractive bashing.
And the result will surely be as always
The truth will suffer quite a trashing.

That is the dance
If it seems rude
You pray it’s not
You that ends up getting *******.

You hope nobody sees the data,
That linger in your background.
Or the future embarrassing stories
The press can ever track down.
You do your best to hide the worst
Of your former glitches.
The gorgeous dolls you saw sometimes
Without their britches.

That is the dance
If you don’t lose,
Everyone else
Will sing the blues. Not you.

Maybe no one will bring to question where
You got the campaign funds to run.
It often comes up as an important issue
And quite often this part is no fun.
Then you end up dancing so much faster
Than back when this tango was begun.
You hope your charm, your wit and money
And your powerful connections
Because you know none of that will matter
One day after the election.

I want to say things
About me and about you
That are beautiful words
But they really aren’t true.
The person I fell for
Was really a total stranger
And I let myself go too far
Into a love full of danger.

I was falling for looks
And the classy way you dress
And didn’t understand
That underneath was a mess.
Your charm was all surface
And your plans were unmade.
You were like the grasshopper
Lazing around in the shade.

Everything you wanted
Was on a short term basis.
You saw someone cute
And you were off to the races.
And I was the cute one
For just that little while.
Falling for the pretty words.
Swept off my feet by a smile.

Then suddenly we were
A couple for many years,
Through disappointments
And way too many tears.
Oh, I don’t blame you.
I was not being truthful.
I was going on the needs
Of the naïve and the youthful.

I think we were afraid to
Just let things fall apart.
Afraid we might be guilty
Of breaking the other’s heart.
But doing that we missed
The life we might have had
If we weren’t so afraid
To make each other mad.

I sit here on the side
Of my own long road
Listening to the memories
Of crickets and toads
As I remember back
To years of childhood
Spent feeling lucky
To be in the wildwood.

No car horns honking
No neighbors screaming.
No jarring realities to
Waken me from dreaming.
The breezes and the stars
The city kid changing gears
Creating a landscape that has
Resided in me through the years.

Ice cream socials and songs
Sung in the church nearby
Bringing tears to my eyes
But I did not know why.
Why did these simple folks
So very glad to be alive
Smile through the foment
Then go right on to thrive?

They had no television,
Some had radios to hear
They relied on Farmer’s Almanac
To help them through the year.
They made their way themselves,
Knew when to plant and to reap.
When to harvest and store food;
Early to rise and early to sleep

They had a car and a tractor
But seldom had to leave home.
They bought this farm
When they lost the urge to roam.
We didn’t go to movies then,
But weddings and funerals
Brought friends together;
Cousins aunts and uncles.

At summers end I went back
To the city I knew so well
And got used to being there
After a rather touchy spell.
The water tasted differently
And Grandma was a great cook.
So, a whole lifetime later
Those days deserve another look.

With more dreams than dreamers;
Too many hopes that could not be,
Too many ways the evil schemers
Could erase the future we might see.
There were millions stealing hope
From all the people everywhere.
There were even more of the people
Who sat silently and did not care.


That is the way the holocaust came
Not from starving people without hope.
The people were the richest ever
Not a multitude on a slippery *****.
We all had our toys and pleasures;
Some less and the chosen had more.
Technologically we were moving
Into a future we could explore.

There was no reason for us to fail,
To turn on each other screaming hate.
We almost had a perfect nation.
We cry and hope it is not too late.
We had begun to fix the problems
And corporations became afraid.
They would lose control of us all
And all the progress we had made.

So, they bought a gang of thugs,
Paid them well to win their seats.
They knew they could change the laws.
The rest of us would know defeat,
Because they counted on the lazy
And the uninformed to buy their lies.
That’s the way the ending happens.
The greedy ****** off the wise.

The evil leaders speak in circles
And say the bad things are good.
The good things are disparaged
They would jail us if they could.
The cloak it all in Bible guises
Claiming they are fixing things.
Some of us can see the truth here;
They try to make a throne for a king.

When you go back
Maybe it is to even the score
But it scares us.
Being hit one time should
Tell you that you are
Just going back for more.
The past has promised
Nothing will probably
Ever change.

You don’t seem to know
How it hurts those
Who love you so.
You can’t seem to fit it
Into your head
That we fear the next call
Will be to tell us
That you are dead.

He beats you and then
When he is not
He’ll saying ugly things.
That’s the kind of
White knight you have got.
You call him wonderful
When he’s not a snot.
We keep telling you
Wake up, wretched girl
He is certainly not.

Sometimes you tell us
You want to give him a chance
To explain things to you
But he can only give
Some more lies because
That’s what liars do.

And you tell lies as well
Or why else go back
To that personal hell?
You go back because
To be alone scares you
Almost as well
As being berated and
Beaten like a bell.

But we don’t want this!
To know you are hurting
And bruised by
A man you should be deserting
For a life where people
Can be trusted with love
And not to shove a fist
Into a battering glove.

Don’t go back, beloved.
If you do you tie our hands.
Some of us understand
But that doesn’t mean
That we agree with your choice.
Listen to the voice
Of reason when we say
Don’t go back for more today.
Or ever again.

We met standing in line at a store
To pay for our groceries and such.
I happened we both reached
At the same time and touched.
We set to talking about things
Like Jung and synchronicity.
We easily continued our talking
About quirks and idiosyncrasies.

He asked questions about me
And seemed suitably charmed.
I answered them thoughtlessly.
I was precisely that disarmed.
He never took his eyes off me
Staring into my eyes, polite.
It felt not only delightful and warm,
It felt perfectly, comfortably right.

I found myself catching my breath;
Was he possibly flirting with me?
I knew just how this usually went
And how disappointing it could be.
I cautioned myself not to jump;
Conclusions can be dangerously high.
What if he is just a nice fellow;
A polite and wildly handsome guy.

So, I continued in the same vein.
I asked questions of his life.
I wanted him to get it over with
And tell me all about his wife.
But he responded with wonderful stuff
About his hobby rappelling rocks.
Then he did something unexpected
That shocked me down to my socks.

He reached over, put his hand on mine
And asked me if I were promised;
Did I have some other guy in my life.
Suddenly, no longer Doubting Thomas
I told him I was single and free as a bird
He squeezed my hand and smiled
He turned my hand over and asked me
If we could go for a ride for a while.

I will cease this tiny story right here
Because the rest of the tale was hot
And while I had the fun of those days
You either had your own or not.
But let it suffice to say to you here
He make this guy deliriously glad
For the love, the heat and the memories
Like I had never before had.

I miss those wonder-filled days
When watching clouds was fun,
As well as watching movies
And more than only just one.
Two movies, a serial and a cartoon
Was the Saturday morning fare
With greasy popcorn and sodas
If we could find fifty scents somewhere.

My brothers and I loved picking
Through those illegal dump sites
That lawless neighbors often used,
Near us, in the middle of the night.
Once I found a Buddha statuette
And didn’t know who the guy was.
In Christian America of the fifties
Knowing such things had no cause.

Brother Jim found a tricycle there
Almost completely okay to ride
And Dan found a kind of wood box
With a handful of coins inside.
He got to pay for the movies for us
But Sam didn’t find much at all.
He did manage to slip at the time
And take a pretty hilarious fall.

Maybe it was easier then, those days
For kids to stay so entertained.
The only thing that might spoil our fun
Was if nature chose to make it rain.
Many times our fun was exploring
And rain could make it a weary slog.
It caused some unpleasant journeys
Through some unattractive bogs.

We built go-carts out of some junk
We gathered on our treasure hunts,
But usually they were contraptions
My mother definitely did not want.
Mom was like that, careful with us.
Worry-wart that she was back then
It didn’t stop or really slow down
Us four adventure-minded children.

How can you
Let him do this to you?
So many lies
You fail to see through!
You insist on being
An incredibly stupid pigeon!
You don’t make sense,
Not the tiniest smidgeon.

You ******* when Clinton
Got a simple office beejay
But now you let Chump
Grab crotches along the way.
You turn a blind eye
When he steals from us daily,
And let him ruin the US
And continue pillaging gaily.

How can you
Let him do this to you?
So many lies
You fail to see through!

You claim he’s Christian
Though he acts like a true pagan;
You accept his KKK crap
And reject Hawking and Sagan.
You let him do things
That remove other politicians
When he should be
The point of many petitions.

You insist on being
An incredibly stupid pigeon!
You don’t make sense,
Not the tiniest smidgeon.

You parrot his words,
But his talk is completely bogus.
You holler and howl
And you think you’re fooling us.
But he is a charlatan
And often says what he means,
Then tells lies you like
And shoves them in between.

How can you
Let him do this to you?
So many lies
You fail to see through!

We battled for our freedom
What a shame to lose it now.
We need to fight again.
Make some swords out of our ploughs.
The enemy is within us
Look around, you’ll see them now.
Don’t let the crazies win!

Glory doesn’t come so easy.
Politicians can be ******.
*****, Grumpy Doc and Sneezy
Are brighter than our Congress.

Equal rights and freedom
Were the watchwords at the time
The founding fathers met
And made the opposite a crime.
Then rich men came along
And showed us how to act like slime.
Don’t let those criminals win!

Glory doesn’t come so easy.
Politicians like things ******.
Washington is getting wheezy
When corporations cheat!

They take away your rights
And make sure your vote will never count.
And say they are agreeing
With a bunch of no-accounts.
They’ll wait ‘til you’re not looking
And then legally they’ll pounce.
We’re **** near on the brink!

Glory be to God almighty.
There’s no time for being flighty.
They’ll leave us nothing but our nighties!
It’s closer than you think!

Auntie Ellen was already crazy
The day her brother moved her in.
She was not my relation but
Everyone addressed her like kin.
She was Auntie to everyone
And she got rather hollersome
If you didn’t call her that way;
She’d shout until kingdom come.

Rumor had it she met a fellow
When she did factory work.
He led her on and dumped her.
He was that kind of a ****.
Something snapped inside her
And she was never the same.
About that time, she started in
Telling people her choice of name.

She lived down the block, alone
And you could hear the music playing.
She’d wave when I passed her home;
I couldn’t hear what she was saying.
One time I started to walk closer
So I could hear the words she said
But she got very angry all at once
And chucked a dirt clod at my head.

We all felt sorry for Auntie Ellen
And didn’t think she was a threat.
The occasional dirt clod was not
Something any of us would sweat.
Her brother came around at times
To see how Auntie Ellen was faring.
I don’t think anyone ever understood
Her words to know if she was swearing.

She was sort of our neighborhood’s
Crazy person we kept in the attic.
She looked strange and sounded worse
And her behavior was quite erratic.
But she never harmed anyone here
And her dirt chucking always missed.
So, we just remembered her as
Auntie Ellen who was usually ******.

I am older
You are younger
You are brown
And I am white.
I eat well while
Your folks hunger.
You work hard
So that isn’t right.

You are religious,
I am surely not.
This almost the only
Difference we’ve got.
You eat veggies
And I eat meat.
You can kiss your
Lover in the street.

You like watching football
I like swimming laps.
That doesn’t mean
Football games are crap.
You like pickup trucks
I prefer a speedy coupe.
I like a four course meal
You like salad and soup.

You like hip hop songs
I prefer classic rock.
You think my music went
Out with argyle socks.
You like horror flicks
I prefer great comedies.
There’s nothing wrong with us
We don’t need any remedies.

We are simply different
In what we know and choose.
Being who and what we are
Should not bring on the blues.
Humanity is growing up
And seeing differences exist.
You are you and I am I.
Who has the right to insist?

I tell you, he was elsewhere
While you were somewhere
And I was nowhere at all.
He didn’t stop to call you;
Your hysteria was all you,
And I wasn’t involved at all.

I was standing next to you
When he didn’t text you.
And you sorta lost your mind.
I didn’t neener neener you,
Though I really wanted to;
That would not have been kind.

Knock, knock,
Hello, hello!
Is there anybody in there?
Do you hear or do you care?
Knock, knock,
Hello, hello!
Get on and ride along with us.
Quit making such a silly fuss.

You have missed a cog or two
On your bicycle built for two
That he didn’t want to ride.
I hinted and I joked about it
We even smoked about it
But you couldn’t let it all slide.

So, now you are just tragic
The victim of black magic
And your sadness is legendary.
But, I’m here to remind you
He didn’t even know you.
The entire thing was imaginary.

Knock, knock,
Hello, hello!
Is there anybody in there?
Do you hear or do you care?
Knock, knock,
Hello, hello!
Get on and ride along with us.
Quit making such a silly fuss.

If you are advocating
The eliminating of humans
Assuming they are less
Than the mess you are, then
You are, by far, among the worst,
The first level of devils living
And I am giving you the name
And the blame for the horror
And am all the sorer that you
Insist I must take it silently
While you slice them, bleeding,
Leading them into the jail
Wailing, calling them names
Then maiming, beating and killing
Even when willing, and agree
To cooperate in your travesty.
In your majesty, you feel you
Are the one true and decent
And as they are your victims
Inherit all the ills that go with them;
Your prisoners that you call *******
And beat their insoles and bare feet,
Drag them off the streets for being poor,
Call the women ****** and trash,
Smash them around and then you
Say they fell down, and your boss agrees
When the prisoner’s knees are broken.
Just another token of how awful
And how stinking terrible they are
Those without cars, or jobs, or houses.
Just human louses in stained blouses
And raggedy clothes. Break their nose.
Nobody cares about them.
You are real men, they are not.
They get what they deserve.
“To protect and serve.”

She wanted to have a lover
That society wouldn't allow
She wanted to be married
But maybe not just now.
She wanted to have a baby
But she didn’t know how.
She wanted to be a wife
But she felt she was a cow.

Star crossed lover
All in one twisted person.
Stuck being a mother
Unequipped to be a good one.
Primitive cave dweller
Abandoned in modern time.
What she felt life did to her
Was an unfair personal crime.

Each time one would see her
Steam was building up inside;
A Vesuvius about to blow
Fire never banked, never died.
Walk on eggshells, careful words
Often not know what went wrong;
Something so carelessly said
As the disastrous day went along.

Maybe the child just said no
Or failed at some assigned chore.
Maybe the kid broke something
Or perhaps just slammed a door.
Then the punishment starts in
With screaming and foul names
Leaving welts and bruises in
Her standard sadistic game.

It would be so much better
If this was all an exaggeration.
But no, this is the ugly truth
So please take a suggestion.
Before we force another
Generation just like the rest,
Let’s make intended parents
Take a psychological test.

I’ve reached that age where I dodder
And when I forget becomes fodder
For impatience and often abuse.
I apologize but it’s seldom any use.
I have learned to smile and tip my hat
As I am now the oldster I once laughed at.
My face tells a story with every wrinkle
And it now takes me longer to ******.
I have to get up two or three times a night
Which means my kidneys aren’t working right.

Getting up from a chair is a three part thing
And I can’t do it without some moaning.
I’m very glad for a thing called remote control
Because it’s a saving grace for growing old.
I moved the coffee maker closer to my chair
So I don’t have to walk so far over there.
I’m thinking of swapping my end table in a smidge
To replace it with a my own personal mini-fridge.
That will save me even more trips over and back
By loading it with sodas and some clever snacks.

Now just in case some might think I’m *******,
I’m not, it’s just that my habits are now switching.
It another phase of living life, is all it means
Like switching to Sansabelt slacks instead of jeans.
I had plenty of fun when I was young and foolish
So, there is no sense of anyone getting ghoulish.
I’m full to the brim with carefully gathered memories
And a scant few of them could be called miseries.
Mostly I have been pretty much a happy kid
And now enjoy the wisdom from all I did.

You are angry that I didn’t tell you
That I told everybody else I knew
You said such horrible things about gays
So we have to go our separate ways.
You will go back to your church teas
And, I will go out with whomever I please.

I may end up working the streets
Or living with some stranger I meet
Because living your rules is as hard
As you’re not accepting the will of god;
Because this is who he made me.
So who has the right to degrade me?

While you gripe about me hiding from you
Examine all the hateful things you do
And the awful things you say every day
About my friends, and me who are gay.
Did you never consider from day one
That you might be talking about your son?

Olly, olly, oxen fail.
Top Republicans go to jail.
Olly, olly, oxen chump
All those crooks elected Trump

Oh, GOP, why’d you do it?
And make all of us suffer through it?
It makes it worse to see it all
And know you were all crooks and knew it.
Why couldn’t you just take
Your bribes and shut the hell up?
Why did you have to
Demand to overfill your larcenous cup?

Olly, olly, you and your gang
Some of you really do deserve to hang.
At least you’ll get to know at last
Your reign of terror has finally passed.

Disgusting Olly and the rest
Most of us know who your boss is
But half this sick regime
Has yet to realize what the cost is.
For the world to see the toll
Levied on our nation by the GOP beast
And count the casualties,
It’s going to be decades, at least.

Olly, olly, oxen, fad.
This whole affair has been so bad
It’ll be a great day
When this awful president
And his cronies get locked away.

Olly, olly, oxen fail.
Top Republicans go to jail.
Olly, olly, oxen chump
All those crooks elected Trump

Do you love me?
Yes, he lied,
And thus left
The door opened wide,
That soon left
Only lonely me inside.
Oh, I wanted him to stay
But regardless how I tried
He pushed me aside
And rushed outside
Free of my needs
As if out of the weeds
And into tomorrow,
Not a moment of sorrow
For my hopes or tears.
That had not worked for years.
He was completely free,
But not so with me.
I was left with what I feared most,
A love affair with an uncaring ghost.

Yes, begging is seedy
And I knew being needy
Was as making me unattractive
But my fear was active
And my lack of self-esteem
Made my tears seem to be
Righteous temptation,
Not abomination.
At least to me,
As far as I could see.
Not then.
Is wisdom ever given to men
When they need it most,
Like when in love with a ghost
Of my own desperate creating?
It’s probably not worth debating.

We heard there are poor people with money
And as Republicans, we don’t find that funny.
At first we thought it was a horrible joke
They’re supposed to be broke.
A kind of liberal poke.

We’re the elite, the complete package.
The blue ribbon, the absolute cream.
Don’t say we’re not or we’ll scream.
We know we’re right
Because we’re white.

So, dance the Republican Mambo
We’re the real Americans by Jingo!
Just like Billy Rose’s Jumbo
We dominate the dance floor
But that is what we live for.
We mow down opposition like Rambo.
Don’t question us again
Just send your money in
Get paper and pen quickly
And send money to the RNC!

Yes, we let a few of the other kind in
But only when we have to now and then.
They are exceptions of note
Designed to get the vote.
They’re each a Judas goat,
And they speak by rote.

Darwin said it well, even though he’s a fake
Survival of the fittest means we can take
Everything and everyone we may see
And knock them to their knees;
Grind them up mercilessly!
We get everything we see.

So, dance the Republican Mambo
We’re the real Americans by Jingo!
Just like Billy Rose’s Jumbo
We dominate the dance floor
But that is what we live for.
We mow down opposition like Rambo.
Don’t question us again
Just send your money in
Get paper and pen quickly
And send money to the RNC!

Have you ever wanted to meet
Christopher Columbus just before he sailed?
Would you like to have chatted
With Oscar Wilde while he was in jail?
Or maybe you could discuss with
William Shakespeare about young hamlet?
Discuss modern religion with Buddha
Precisely to see if he could even handle it?

Maybe see Cleopatra herself
To check if she was as pretty as they said.
Go back and see old Saint Paul
To see if there was a halo around his head.
And Thomas Edison, was he a ****
Or the amazing genius we all say he was.
Was he or was he not guilty of
Blithely trying  to steal Tesla's good work?

Wouldn't it be great to see
Josephine Baker dancing for all she was worth?
Take a trip back in time and see
What really happened at Jesus's birth.
If anything really happened
Or if the disciples just made it all up.
And what about the holy Grail?
Was there or was there not that famous cup?

Am I am the only one who wonders
What all the legendary stuff was really about?
Did Mahatma Gandhi the man
Ever feel the need to scream and shout?
Did the USA founding fathers
Really care about the common populace?
Did Carlos Castaneda have
Any useful message for the rest of us?

I wonder. I truly wonder
If telephones had been invented then
Would any of them have answered
If I could have managed to make the call?

It happened in a hurry
At a joyous wedding party.
I didn’t know who he was
Just that he was hearty
And tall and very hot.
I was jealous of her
And the hot man she’d got.

The bride was not a friend,
But the friend of a friend.
I was the plus one that day
And I thought that was the end.
I’d watch the ceremony and
I’d go and smile and mingle.
It always makes me antsy
To do weddings when I’m single.

But, I sit and chat and smile
Wish them both the very best.
I do this quietly and quickly
Not being close like the rest.
So, when I went to the restroom
And the groom grabbed me
And laid a deep long kiss
I returned the favor gladly.

I usually don’t ***** with married
But this was a great big surprise
To get kissed by a tall hunk
With hot burning lust in his eyes.
I have no idea what was up
With the bride's new Mister
But I can testify for absolute sure
He was one hella righteous kisser!

You don’t need gift wrap
Tape or any fancy bows
It’s sometimes intangible
That’s just how it goes.
You can’t put in under the tree
Or hide it up in the closet
But the person you give it to
Will surely know they got it.

A gift can be hello and love
And sometimes goodbye
It can mean we’ll meet again
It speaks of the reasons why.
A gift is a token of one soul
To another, closing gaps.
A gift is a message of care
And maybe of hope, perhaps.

Some gifts can be lined up
On shelves for all to see
And others are invisible
But taken just as seriously
As a jewel you can hold on to
And feel it there in your hand.
Sometimes it’s a treasure
Only you can understand.

I want leaders who know how to lead.
I want people I can trust to be legal.
I want people who don’t sell off forests
And pull the feathers of the American eagle.
I want to hear from Presidents and those
Representatives who are not criminals.
I don’t want to see people get elected
With moral codes that are not despicable.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to feel
That our country still looks out for us
Instead of making us want to cry all day
And shout aloud and wail and cuss?

I want to know that I can go to sleep
And wake in the morning in a free nation
Where no laws have been changed that may
Legalize inequality, theft and alienation.
I want to see crooks, no matter how high
Go to prison and stay there for years
And not let them out, no matter why.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to feel
That our country still looks out for us
Instead of making us want to cry all day
And shout aloud and wail and cuss?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if elected folks
Would be held responsible for lies they tell?
Wouldn’t you like to know for sure that
Even famous crooks and killers would go to hell
And spin on some deep level with the devil
With no chance to ever talk heir way out?
Yes, I’d love to see them fined and jailed,
But going to hell? That’s what I’m talking about!

A little boy sitting
On the side of the road crying.
His heart is carrying
An extremely heavy load, dying.
He thinks nobody cares.
He once had family somewhere
Now nobody knows where he is.
They’re off drinking a sloe-gin fizz.
After years of having to raise him
Their parental drive is growing dim.

Selfish cruel parents,
They have more children
Than they ever had any morals;
Feel they can rest on their laurels
And let the boy grow.
They don’t know why they had him.
Their decision was probably random
And now they regret it.
Easy to forget it and move on.
It’s like the boy is gone.
And so he is moving on. Gone.

Little boy crying
On the side of the road, weeping.
He should be at home sleeping
Taking a protected nap
Maybe in his parent’s lap, but no.
He felt it was time to go.
Go looking for somebody to love hm.
To put nobody else above him.
Not even the parents themselves.
He wants somebody else.
I would too.
Wouldn’t  you?

We have the wherewithal
To feed every boy and girl.
We also have the resources
To blow up half the world.

We have the extra cash
To let Congressmen roam
And also full resources
To give everybody a home.

We have plenty of money
To pay countries to like us.
Why can’t we make life
For our own people joyous?

We seem to be able to
Make death machines for all,
Why can’t we create for us
Medicine whose cost is small?

We can afford to give subsides
To the corporate welfare queens
So, why can’t we figure out how
To make functioning voting machines?

We buy stupid tripe every day in print
Why can’t we give up that crap for lent?
We hurl insults at non-Christians brothers.
It’s not possible this is what Jesus meant.

We have the wherewithal
To feed every boy and girl.
We also have the resources
To blow up half the world.