Fall

Smarmy finance bros have zero backs.
Sneering, jeering; a hyena pack.

Irrelevant, vanilla men.
What are ancient relics? Congressmen.

Narrow minds obsessed with color?
Racist men…could it be another?

Petty princesses tattle-tellin’.
Pop-culture called these women Karen.

Lying, senile & evil villain?
President self-enriched by billions.

Aspire to change progression’s motor?
In one big tent: November’s Voter.

Slight

Lust for wealth’s luminosity…
Both lights & fuels atrocity.

Brightness flushes with energy.
Rousing all from their lethargy.

A cry pops tension; battle call.
Come, all get none & one gets all.

Rattling clattering soldier’s drum.
Bugle reveille; charge to chum.

Berserkers claiming first blood drawn.
Hot gushing crimson rubicon.

Warring devolves into melee.
Tight knitted knotted flesh display.

These writhing masses thinning quick.
Mortal men lost to sharpened sticks.

Bodies, wood, blades, fire & rifles.
Death dealt for a rearview’s trifle.

Missing

You didn’t call. You didn’t write.
Things got intense & you took flight.

How good a friend could you have been?
A decade plus & no check-in?

You never again saw my face.
No darkened doors at either place.

Then, reprieved, a long recover.
Baby steps; no friends or lovers.

I shouldn’t have closed my black book.
But revival, all my strength, took.

Not an excuse; just a reason.
I lost y’all by outright treason.

What else could I call giving in?
I blame my pride’s forsaking sin.

Each fresh hell made me more burden.
Sad soup I’d not have you stirred in.

I carry fault; I know that’s true.
But…I was dying; what’s your excuse?

Pallbearing

Our life’s iconic firmament grows dim.
Catherine O’Hara, Dolly; Curry, Tim.

Their laughter, their song, our validation.
These celebrated souls of three nations.

The looks, the quips…& the envelopes pushed.
Our mirrors, our growth…our challenges smushed.

They did & did not belong to us all.
Dim lit in their wake…a character pall.

Death’s unavoidable; claims everyone.
Glad l could witness their time in the sun.

Nomination

Let’s go Hollywood…Do your jobs.
Hold a mirror to us & gods.

Put us on blast like the royals.
Force us look at our foibles.

Be the funhouse mirrors we need.
Be our proof manifest in deed.

Make us cringe at the truth of us.
Hit us with reality’s bus.

Burn the scales right off dreaming eyes.
Show us real thru celluloid lies.

You make us laugh, cry & alive.
You make us ask W5.

So, think me caller on the line…
Humble request you show some spine.

Distinction

Villainous now? Affluence of old?
Embalmed in oil & plated in gold.

Panic in enclaves & behind gates.
The nervous twitching of interest rates.

Volatile market; uneased allies.
Our poorest paying highest tax tithes.

Our most secure have worries financed.
Our humblest weather all happenstance.

We do our best on the edge…no net.
Where, each life choice is a risky bet.

Flavor

Fuck! How’d we get here: my laundry; you sniff?
It started, & still is, cathartic riff.

No plan, no outline…I jack myself in.
Plugging my brain in Creation’s swift whim.

Her faucet is always turned on for me.
Runs & runs cold; until I turn on heat.

So, gratitude’s my resting attitude.
It swells at the end of these interludes.

For, this ain’t hard with mechanics built in.
Sweat comes with bravery; naming each sin.

Still, I can’t dive deeper day after day.
Serious peppers a fixed state of play.

Pattern Recognition

Spitting nails ‘cause I’ve found my groove.
Zip’s what I no longer need prove.

Annoyed by doubled down commit.
Affronted by incessant wit.

Jealous, leering, eyes scraping by.
Bitterly cold in mid-July.

Averting darting unheld gaze.
Afraid to learn what silence says.

Digging in heels like a teen girl.
Defy the reason of the world.

Childish lapses in judgement grave.
Entitled to what others save.

These are not a realist’s traits.
These traits are greed…& keeping gates.

Halftime

My back hurts when I’m filled with rage.
So much resistance left to wage.

We’re only halfway thru this fuck.
Can’t give up; or we’re out of luck.

Hoping for oxygen, this fall.
Hoping this hate will hit a wall.

Existential pain ratcheted.
Guardrails bent, rent & hatcheted.

I’ve seen pushback around the edge.
Self-servers beginning to hedge.

So, time & pressure effect change.
All while the base grows more estranged.

A loser lone tick burrowed in…
Will need smoking out by good men.

The lion’s share will breathe & fete.
For, what you vote for’s what you get.

Toothskin

Some days it feels like herding cats…
& Me, their tasty hunted rat.

Skittish eyes dart over shoulders.
Scrambling to avoid beholders.

Home’s a hole with a bustling den.
Warm mice warren: no cats nor men.

Still, feline hunters on display.
Might as well be a mile away.

How to my home can I now go?
This gauntlet holds sure death, I know.

Stick to shadows & stay alert.
Please, make my ears & eyelids pert.

Careful & steady forward, fine.
One faulty move & cats will dine.

Claws miss a tail swallowed by wall.
Crucible survived after all.