OUT FRONT

_________

I am grateful for...

The arched roof above my head

The twin rafters with 

The twin lights, holding it in place

The four walls surrounding me

The two windows with

The two Venetian blinds, down & shut at all times

The red brick floor below my feet

The wooden shelves full of books & movies

The VHS by themselves & DVDs in clear totes

Th...

Read and leave comments (0)

SAMARITAN

__________

Anyone else

Would've left that Far Right

Reactionary sprawled on the concrete

To bleed out, suffer in his

Paroxysms of serious hurt, receive

Disaster of the steel-toed kind.

But not you.

The Good Samaritan

Reflex kicked in,

Wouldn't let you

Abandon someone in need of help.

Distinctions such as

"Friend" and "foe" did...

Read and leave comments (0)

DISEASE BREEDS DISEASE

_____________________

Strange new ailment

Giving pneumonia-like symptoms

Has a ripple effect

Spanning our globe.

Floating on the wind, harm to health,

Diaspora of microbes--

Point of outbreak:

Wuhan, China.

Within a month, fate's transmission

Country by country. Bad news travels fast.

Reported cases of Coronavirus

Breeds ...

Read and leave comments (0)

ABSENT FATHER

_____________

The father of

Seven children

Is absent from home.

Seven children are

Missing a playmate,

Missing a teacher,

Missing a provider.

He was lured

Away from his

Personal kingdom, beyond

The wildlife sanctuary.

A rifle,

A crossbow

Hastened his subtraction

From the dense 

Equation of life.

Now the royal

Read and leave comments (0)

ONLY THESE REMAIN

_________________

Only these remain

Anatomical remains.

Construction

Sites unearth

Disconnected 

Joints.

Only these remain

Skeletal remains.

Shellmounds disturbed--

Buried no more.

Bagged, tagged & stored

In a file cabinet drawer.

Only these remain

Ancestral remains.

Evidence that they

Existed here l...

Read and leave comments (0)

THIRST

______

Did you ever wonder how our planet's end may come?

By warming or by freezing? The warming arrives first.

As the Golden State continues to desiccate, people scramble for some

Water, any amount, to moisten their throats, remove their thirst.

____________________________________________________

W: 6.20.14

[ From the book Plans, Nomadic Press, 2022. ]

Read and leave comments (1)

PREFERENCE

_________

Statuesque.

Beautiful.

Exotic.

High-maintenence.

Men from all quarters would

Slay each other to the death to

Get close enough to

She of milk-like pallor, shadow

Painted lips, shadow

Painted nails, flowing hair and

Garments that compliment her supple shape,

Fine-boned corset that embraces her

Ribs tightly, all black

As evening w...

Read and leave comments (0)

MINNEAPOLIS WEEK

________________

Most Black men

In the U.S.A. have

An oppressor's leather boot

Applied to their necks.

George Floyd

Died untimely

With the knee of

Police repression on his.

George Floyd

Complained of

The knee's pressure restricting his oxygen.

He couldn't breathe--we couldn't breathe.

Derek Chauvin

Never respected the li...

Read and leave comments (0)

SERAPH WINGS

____________

She--English student-to-be

He--Art student

Accessorised well in cool black

Clothes as two roving assassins would

But they weren't assassins

They were just young, creative, self-expressive

Goths in love, bonded souls

With a beautiful future ahead of them

They both enjoyed the quietude before midnight

In a walk through Stubbylee Park--

Read and leave comments (0)

CONUNDRUM

As a twiggy little boy of 9,

I was so curious

About the bumblebees hovering

Over blood-red roses, flesh-pink roses,

Bushes filled with pale-yellow honeysuckles

That grew in my Grandmother's yard.

So curious, when I reached out to touch one,

That bumblebee stung me with its

Needlelike tail, leaving behind a mark,

Swollen red, painful,

On the caramel ...

Read and leave comments (0)

SCARLET TRIANGLE

Desperate bid

For re-election

Social media master plan:

Twist public perception

Of who the real

Public enemy is

The real dangerous mob

The real security risk

"And you shall know them

By this distinctive sign":

Scarlet triangle

Inverted design

Bright red as anger

Hardly concealed

Bright red as blood wrath

On these stree...

Read and leave comments (0)

WASHA-QUON-ASIN*

Many who had hiked through Canadian wilderness

[ A cenutry ago ] Took notice of a bird in flight

A rare one the Ojibwa called

Washa-quon-asin--He who flies by night

At once: a hunter, a guide, a trapper

A living made from the furs in his sight

A rare one the Ojibwa called

Washa-quon-asin--He who flies by night

Into his forest lair, he...

Read and leave comments (0)

 APOCALYPTIC SKY

Yesterday

Had proven science fact

Much stranger than fiction:

Vivid orange night

Replaced

Bright turquoise morning.

Sunlight was postponed.

Normalcy took a holiday.

My neighbour's

Barnyard animals,

Five chickens, two goats,

Didn't know what was going on

With their immediate surroundings.

Neither did that lone bird in flight.

Read and leave comments (0)