You look and you look
For a place to call home
You sit in your house
Yet you still feel alone
You search in the shadows
You try in the rain
But all that you find
Is still darkness and pain
You start conversations
You look for new friends
Though the seasons will change
And relationships end
So you think you'll be happy
If you go to the sea
But you get there and think
Perhaps the hills are for me
No tides, no changes
Just grass and blue sky
But you get there and realize
There's no place to hide
So you think to the one place
You haven't yet looked
You pick up a pencil
And a blank little book
You write down your story knowing
Words won't pretend
Words never change
Never leave, never end
So you write and you write
And out comes your soul
And within yourself
You find you've always been home.

I sit down and freeze my pen,
I tear the unfinished poem apart.
I take a breath and open the shades,
I run outside to finish the poem.

Poverty engulfed
  
             A wick burns

**Homelessness

the words of treason he shouted is what
put the stock of a rifle to my shoulder
take aim now that the patriots are traitors
never thought it would ever come to this in my lifetime
there's a man on the road with a rebel flag
yelling that his treason is patriotic
he is gonna take my life for some russian profit in his pocket
he is gonna take my America for somebody else's taxes

Remember growing up the thought that my generation trusted
this land be free
"this land is your land, this land is my land"*
never said nothing bout had to be black or white
never said had to be praying to another man's God
they have come knocking upon my door
tell me my words are not the lies they are selling
and I better get in line or they gonna take me away
get right in my head evil men are the gods Americka dreams of
that our children will live in darkness and hunger
for some russians profit in your pocket

just an hour from Reno stopped by the roadside
watched the sun set on the edge of the desert
and hoped my America would still be here when i awoke
this never should have happened
never saw it comin
never thought America could fall
let alone to have a president be the
one who fires the first shot
I see a rebel on the road
words of treason spilling from his bible
a used car salesman spinning a tall tale
and the fools who cheered him on
wipe that stupid grin off his face if I could
I see a rebel on the road
yelling his treason is patriotic
come to take away my America
come to take my life for some rich thief's taxes

Remember growing up the thought that my generation trusted
remember what my country was built on honor integrity truth
now that's all been sold for pennies on the dollar
so some rich slob can feed off what used to be
a place that the world envied
a place people dreamed of
now the patriots are traitors
now Amerika burns
now Americans die
for some russians profit in your pocket

You were my Queen of Hearts
A top card to draw
My Queen of Diamonds
In the ruff
The best I ever saw
Turned out
You were just a lump of coal
And just as cold
The Ace of Spades
With a very blackened soul
You made a Joker out of me

For all you've done and said,
The care and understanding,
All the unsaid and undone
Makes my response sound trite.
I could paste wings on your photos,
Create an award in your name,
Establish a child sweatshop,
Radicalize the altar boys,
Trade up to a ******'s rifle,
Join a Cartel,
Put granulated sugar in your tea,
Vote Conservative,
And even then,
After the fire,
I'd be at a loss for words.