Conjunctive Pronouns

 

“Blame It On The Moon” by Nik Helbig

 

 

in a world of “because”
you don’t hear much of “me”
very rarely an “I”
but a whole lot of “they”
and a mouthful of “them”
it’s convenient ubiquitous sing-song
that’s patently bullshit
and even though everyone knows it
the words dance their crooked dance
making their here-and-gone footprints
all over the backside of truth
never seen by the squeamish
or like-to-be duped
yet it’s easy
so easy to call out the lie
any anyone
just has to open their mouth
and yell “Stop!”
all it takes is
some somebody somewhere
who cares to assert “I and me”
in a world of “because they and them”

 

 

(originally posted December 2013)

Society’s Pain

“Lost Child” by mjr

pain is
pandemic
among young
defectively
loved mere
annoyances
coolly dismissed
ignored brushed
aside so much
chaff in the
smug adult
self-possessed
winds of failed
models each
child left to
navigate
fate’s harsh
vicissitudes
only to land
in some
mordant
dark place
where pain
grows into
anger matures
into hatred
inflicting
a rippling
broader
ranged pain
on us all

love the child
tend his needs
spare her pain
save the world
or else
stand as
accountable
owning the
consequence
but if you
can’t or you
won’t concede
guilt then at
least have the
courage to weep
for the loss
of a child
gone astray
for the wound
it creates in
the skin of
humanity

Cautionary Tale

“Over the Cliff”
Steel Engraving by Barbara Griffin
From fineartamerica.com

a republic is damned hard on citizens
forced by their own definition
they can’t ignore politics
can’t shirk their role in self-government
can’t turn a blind eye to issues
a life not for those faint of heart
it commands they demand faithful
representation of public petition
it fires up justified anger and anguish
their boiling of blood in the face of
incompetence greed or venality
sweats them and strains them with labor
at earning their privilege of liberty

that is – unless…

they are too self-involved to be bothered
too happy to exercise moribund rights
to stupidity leaving it all up to
governing gangsters that class of despicable
musclebound mouthbreathers
empty-suit charlatans oily and opportunistic
who’d just as soon drive the whole rigmarole
over the cliff send it crashing down onto
the boneyards of ill-managed history

Ownership

“Focus and Determination”
Painting by Hasaan Kirkland
From sanjosedecalasanzdeduitama.edu.co

own your life
no one else
has your power
no victim or shill
ever got there
except by assent
to surrender

own your life
choose to use it
mark moments
no matter
small deeds
it’s the doing
looms large

own your life
or give forfeit
to forces
of mayhem
with no love
for you
or your kind

own your life
it’s the key
turns the lock
loosing shackles
on liberty
man in possession
of manhood

********************

“Liberty, according to my metaphysics, is an intellectual quality; an attribute that belongs not to fate nor chance. Neither possesses it, neither is capable of it. There is nothing moral or immoral in the idea of it. The definition of it is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.”

– John Adams

Questions

“Abandoned Teddy Bear”
Digital Art
From wallcoo.net

by what sudden caprice
might the robin
abandon its eggs

how do women abort
generations inchoate
their promise annulled

how do men walk away
from their children
in droves of indifference

what discharge of social
catastrophe weeps
from the calluses
horning our hearts

are we lost of creation
for spurning our nature
to nurture our young

is humanity cheapened
of purpose our presence
unworthy in family
of all living things

Citizen

“Freedom of Speech”
Illustration by Norman Rockwell

Plato told you of happiness
gods who look kindly on justice
rights and privileges
unjustly used carry nothing
of benefit unto to the soul
or the commerce of minds
institutional ethics are beautiful
means for the practice
of personal civics perfectible
plans for republics to come

but the state without virtue
perforce denies men
individual choices sufficient
to thrive when unethical
organs of governance trod
upon liberty happiness
suffocates modeling failure
ensuring great sorrow
falls over society
shrouding its future

in absence of kings with their
armies republics depend
for their ethics on frameworks
and functions designed by
their founders no more or less
garnished with power than
you one and all fellow citizens
what are the ethics you grant
to your governing architectonic
how willing are you to arrest
any veer from its principles