Every time he opened his mouth,
it was either to kiss or to lie.
Eventually, I got sick of both.

They are bombing children
as their own
are hummed lullabies.
They are bombing children
as their own
are tucked into bed tonight.
They are bombing children
as their own are rocked to sleep.
They are bombing children
with rockets burying them
in rubble deep.

Raindrops forget to
drop
a drop
dropping slowly
the rain forgets to stop
stop
plop
a plop of blood in the ocean of firestorm
now death opened
like an unturned boat in the
middle of the world
to receive the last plummet of hope,
last blessing
in a humane drop from above
above
the above has
no rain for the next season
the winds are afraid to return.

In a High School classroom
I read a poem many years ago
about a man who stood before another man
vaguely pleading under his breath
for the other man held a knife
and appeared willing to carry out this act
there was little fight left in him
even before this stranger arrived
for his life had become a succession
of empty days
and long nights dreading the Sun
he had become a victim of his own bitterness
a sad, depleted soul
and he almost welcomed an end

'the blood of fleeing life
and the tears of anguish fell in drops
to the time-worn floor of the dismal room'

such a pitiful fate
even more pitiful is the fact that there was no stranger

'a blinking hotel sign revealed a dead man
lying beneath a mirror smeared with blood
and dried to the image of a stretched palm
many hours later'

Seventeen people lost their lives
At a high school on Valentine's Day
In the city of Parkland, Florida.
Students and teachers, by the way.

Yesterday at Pompano Beach
The last victim was laid to rest
Of the seventeen killed at the school.
Oh, how far we've progressed!

For meanwhile, a so-called preacher
In Pennsylvania made a plea,
Asking couples to bring to church
Their AR-15s to be blessed, you see.

Whenever there's an incident,
From out of the woodwork lunatics spring.
So now at church they're blessing guns?
Crackpots will bless anything!

Insensitivity knows no limits
When humankind's ignorance rages.
Is this the twenty-first century,
Or are we living in the Dark Ages?

-by Bob B (2-26-18)

We the faceless and forgotten
Ignored by the powers that be
We lie dying out on the streets
In places no one wants to see

We have no homes left to go to
Sleeping in the doorways of shops
Under cardboard and newspapers
Until we’re moved on by the cops

Politicians don’t want to hear
Or give us the help that we need
They say we’re idle and work shy
There are more deserving to feed

The whole world will walk on by us
Some footsteps are hurried some slow
All though have one thing in common
Unlike us they have somewhere to go

We weren’t always as we are now
Alone desperate and in pain
You don’t want to know what happened
You leave us out here in the rain

The girl with a mental disorder
The lad who’s addicted to ****
The man who cannot stop drinking
Rejected and waiting for death

We once dreamed as maybe you do
Of having a safe secure life
Until cruel fate took control
And instead brought us grief and strife

We are the silent and oppressed
They have stolen away our voices
We have no way to ask for help
We’ve been left without any choices

when your children
get killed by a lunatic
with a semiautomatic
in their school

and your president
flies in to meet the bereaved families
but in his fake condolence speech
does not mention even once
the words „gun control“

then it becomes very clear
whom you should vote for
in the next elections

Took this down, but I'm putting it back up after reading a letter by another teacher, deeply questioning his own courage and what has gone wrong In America.
___

Anger, sorrow....
They sometimes converge
in children
The wind explodes them in our hands
and
I hate the world that kills 17 kids
with American Senseless  

Peace--
Impossible possession
The angle of declination
Breath of a moment
  
A violet thread pulled from the hem of day.