THEY claim that their laws
protect the rights and lives
of women and children

that’s why they criminalize
women's rights over their bodies
children's rights for knowledge
     of their history, basic sexuality, etc.
     and a safe school environment
banning books on global warming
     and *** education from libraries

over 200 mass shootings with 264 deaths
in the first five months of this year
strongly suggest that information and
the right over your body
are not what’s killing people

yet THEY are unable to react
with tighter gun laws

     praying for the victims and their families
     does not prevent the next shooting

dangerous signs
of political and ethical impotence

in great distress
    I must confess
that I consider it a dreary mess
Dear Joe must elevate himself again
beyond his aging frame
just to distract us from the shame
his party can't come up with a new name
for the elections

we know that old men
often are considered wise
yet would it not be better to allow
some younger candidates to rise?

the leading democratic superpower
is unable to present more
       qualified
candidates than two octogenarians?

I worry

130 mass shootings
    in the first three months
      of. 2023

lately on the average
50 people are shot dead
    every day
in the land of the free and the brave

since 2020
gunshot wounds
have become the primary cause
of death among children and teenagers

why people
would want to live in a land like that
I do not know

ever and again
politicians apparently forget
that the dangers
of living on our planet
are real

and that it is their responsibility
to make sure  
that they hand out contracts
only to companies
that build safe houses
that do not bury their inhabitants
under their rubble

when the earth quakes

some people have with dominance
possession  power and control
looks like a rather desperate reaction
to the widely known
     but mostly unacknowledged fact
that we are unable to control our lives
and live them as we have imagined

I am really getting tired
about all the NGO calls
for donations & support
after natural catastrophes
etc.

why
are the local/regional/national authorities
who administer taxpayer money
unable to handle the situation?!?!

where is the wisdom
of my earlier worlds
giving me the illusion
I knew what I was saying

the years since then
have taught me insights
       unexpected  inconvenient
the wisdom of old age  maybe

yet I don't find again
the certainty of youth
forever lost
in the complexities of living