New Buildings That Fall Down

Concentration fractures
my distractions
a driving wind
blowing away
a doodle drawn in dust
to reveal underneath
a brief glimpse
of a luck-stroked masterwork
that once seen
like a hammered cookie sheet
of peanut brittle cracks
pieces distributed, devoured
digested, defecated
turned to dung
another distraction
I concentrate to expunge
in a dream
to hope
to see
once more

Deprived

In isolation,
to you, they whisper
behind the wheel
on distant lonely roads
companionship, company
a friend
who’s got your ear
and got your back
at your fingertips
there on the AM dial
telling it to you
like it is
how no one else will
all those others
they lie, they lie to you
to get from you
what they want
but you
and the voice of the air
you are smarter
than them
together, united, you are strong
secure in absolute truth
who should you hate
wait
the radio will tell you who
who should you trust
wait, the radio… it knows
it’s there for you
when your wife is not
when your friends have moved on
and your children distant
no one understands you
you had hopes
you had dreams
and what happened to those
let the radio tell you who
them
that wife
those friends
them kids
but it’ll all soon get better
keep listening to the radio
keep listening to your friend
your extra special pal
for when you’re isolated and alone
a captive audience of one
told what is
let it define your world
let it tell you
the way things ought to be
let it think the thoughts
you never dared to think
let it do these things for you
the way nobody else ever did

Family Life and Death

A family is something
that slowly dies around you
each piece removed
a diminishment of your world
your life
like it or them or not
thousands of years behind you
and possibly, potentially
for thousands after
the fuse burns
straight through you
in its wake
of sparking and hissing
ashes
and more of that to come
as it burns down
toward an irrevocable conclusion
sis-boom-bah

Coal Choke

There is coal smoke inside me
blackening all brilliance
dimming the light
clouding my way
choking my song
it is dark in there
hard to be human in the haze
to see what is right
how to behave
appear normal

When someone dies
rather than grieve the grave
or celebrate the life
I only think
quite flatly
how they’ll never have to
change a toilet roll again
or stir in the oil
atop their peanut butter
or check for rain
on their cell phone app

Death should earn from me
a deeper response
and for propriety
I will pretend
make the appropriate gestures
emit the expected noises
but that is more smoke
fanning out
from my broken mouth
like the mourner’s veil
I must wear
to hide my dead expression

Islamophobia

by the actions of one
a group may be in its entirety
condemned
in the repetition
of adjacent words
“Islamic” and “Terrorism,” for example
one can be made synonymous
with the other
until “Islam” or “Muslim”
means “Terrorism” and “Terrorism”
means “Islam” or “Muslim”
to such an extant
that non-Muslims
Christians, for example
cannot be conceived to be
terrorist
it is not fair
but for many
this is the way of the world
and to continue this example
a violent act is committed
the perpetrator justifies his violence
in the name of Muhammad,
Allah, Islam
and next thing
a mosque a thousand miles away
is fire bombed
a gas station attendant
wearing a dastar
is brutally beaten
because his assailant
mistook him for a Muslim
this poor carriage of justice
by vigilante hands
is widely condemned
yet it continues, unfairly
punishing the innocent
out of their assumed guilt
a collective guilt
carried by all
for the actions of a few
let’s hope
if the space aliens do ever arrive
and, god forbid,
a frightened little man
shotgun blasts one
of the bug-eyed bastards
that they
are better than us
at assigning blame
and recognizing fault
for if they are not
if they are as prejudiced
and reactionary as some of us
if one human is for all
much the same as any other
then we will be well
and truly screwed
but at least
we’ll understand the monsters
who destroyed us

A Heartfelt Wish for All Republicans to Please Leave Earth

I wish this reality could be split
two United States in parallel
separated permanently
one in which strict
environmental regulations
are put in place
ending the use of fossil fuels
where deep cuts are made
to the defense budget
and steep increases made
in green technologies, healthcare
welfare and education
workers’ rights will trump corporate rights
unions will be maintained to protect against abuses
and minimum wages
will keep pace with profits and cost of living
a USA where the 2nd Amendment
is abolished and
the arms manufacturers’ lobbyists
barred from D.C.
imprisoned for so much as
speaking to a House member
in this America
the Department of Homeland Security
focuses on the homeland
and takes measures
to perform background checks
and psych evaluations
on gun owners who now
by owning a gun
do community service
for their PRIVILEGE of gun ownership
40 hours for the first firearm per year
20 additional per annum
for each firearm thereafter
a woman’s right to abortion services
unquestionable, undebatable, unchallengeable
churches, synagogues, mosques – pay property tax
and the wealthy pay their share
or get the fuck out – ostracism for ingrates
who benefit from living in America
and the use of its fine amenities
but refuse to pay their rent…
Oh, yes… this is one United States
the one I will go to in the split
where equality is the law of the land
and the other
the other is for the Republicans,
the Libertarians
any, all and various sundried conservatives and objectivists
their USA
no gun laws – 2nd Amendment absolute
IRS – gone
Department of Education – gone
Unionized labor – gone
no minimum wage
no environmental protections
a landscape of smog, blight, anger
and rampant militarization
police terrified of its citizenry
citizenry in murderous fear of its police
fully automatic machine guns in the hands
of anyone with the money to buy one
mandatory loyalty pledges to cross and flag
banishment of Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Atheists,
Feminists, Socialists, homosexuals
neighbors reporting on neighbors…
that’s a brief portrait of the other America in the split
now, you fucking asshole
choose which one you want to live in

Keep Stuffing Your Fat Faces, Ya Cheap Bigoted Bastards

Whatever the cost if illegal immigration
upon the tax-payer
it is more than made up for
by the cut-price food
made possible through the labor
of these people
too often demonized
as disease carrying vermin
as murderers, as rapists
by the very same people
who squeal selfishly
over taxes
while literally feeding
off the cheap fruits
produced off these lamented aspects
of the system they decry

Burning Descent

Seated out front
the same siren again
blares off on me
the sudden alarm of recent events
jarring me out of focus
here in the open
unshielded, defenseless
barely even a curb
between me
and forty-five mile per hour death

I move from café to café
keeping it unpredictable
working on the anti-pattern
while knowing the odds
of any day are as horrible
as another
anyone might choose poorly the hour
for a cuppa
when the epilectic behind the wheel
suddenly seizes, spasms, stomps down
the accelerator
arms jerk
the car careens into the corner shop
shards of glass blow inward in a rain
bricks dislodge
as the big front end penetrates
driving deep through tables and chairs
coffee sippers, book readers, laptop jockeys
blood and broken bones and post-traumatic stress
the violence of war in peace
is ever present
such as the Ford pick-up truck
its driver spinning circles in the intersection
drunken donuts
that grow increasingly wild
too much glaze on the curve
too many sprinkles of Dutch courage
and away it breaks
door flings open
passenger tumbles out
the great white brick hurls through
yet another café
battering security door
shattering windows
but it’s not enough
it reverses but can’t pull free
drives forward and back
in and out
ripping metal
crunching glass
like a beast after its burrowed prey
finally, it ends
the truck freed
to screech away in a storm of debris
exhaust and outraged cries of witnesses
those places, I reason now
are the safe places
both have been inoculated
by thousand pound needles of steel
but not I
and I know
its coming for me
as inevitable and inexorable
as the next rock from space