They are always saying, 

“the national debt is unsustainable” 

yet day after day, month after month, year after year 

the unsustainable remains sustainable.

* * * 

One party’s dysfunction 

might be both party’s problem 

but that doesn’t mean
both party's are dysfunctional

despite what the news media reports. 

Shallowed be thy will

Anyone who believes 

getting rich is the American dream 

is lost in a rich man’s 

propaganda and scheme 

and like sheep to the slaughter 

they are easily led.


* * *


Inequality
in a country that preaches equality
is an obscenity
and shatters every dream eventually

leaving nothing but platitudes
and a cliche' mentality.


* * *


When we couldn't find happiness
we chose excited instead
and in our excitement
we threw joy to the curb.

‘IT’S FOR YOUR PROTECTION’  

every dictator say’s 

when he puts armed guards everywhere
and he will even say
you asked him to do it.


* * *


 NRA Dreamscapes

It’s scary what we’re becoming.
It’s like everything is coming into focus
and the neighbors we once loved and trusted
are now all armed and dangerous.


* * * * *


Gifts to Go

Give me a DVD and I’ll be gone for a couple hours.
Give me a computer game
and I’ll be gone for a few days.
Give me a smart phone with a bunch of apps
and I’ll be gone wherever I go
and oh yeah,
thanks
it was nice knowing you.

A Thorn in the Side of Progress 

In the ancient world 

the rich got richer and the poor got poorer 

but that was to be expected 

because they were so primitive.  

In the dark and enlightened ages 

the rich got richer and the poor got poorer 

and a whole lot sicker. 

Then new worlds 

were discovered and conquered 

and the rich got richer 

and the poor not only got poorer 

but were also stamped out or enslaved. 

Now in our modern world 

we shoot for the stars 

and carry advanced gadgets and ideas

and the richer still get richer 

and the poor still get poorer and poorer.

In tomorrow’s world 

all that will hold us back will be 

the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

Cheat

One thinks compromise 

and then tells us so. 

The other thinks submit 

hoping it won’t show

but we hear the tone 

and see the pride 

and watch him refuse, 

strut and stride  

with upturned nose 

nothing’s good enough. 

With a nothing hand 

he tries to bluff 

and when that one fails 

an ace from the cuff,,, 

They all cheat.  They say they won’t touch a certain program, then get elected and when a deal is revealed that same program is included and if I had it to do over again I would of flushed that ballot and I really don’t understand why they all think a tax increase is the end of the world unless of course it happens on Friday.

Oxymoron

The tin man might of lost 

but that’s okay 

cuz the iron man still rules 

in most every way 

and it makes no difference 

what the people say.

So to all you wise old fools 

who still have a grip, 

 you are now living within

a democratic dictatorship



* * *


In a world given to games and distractions
 reality is highly competitive
and like the beast with a very ugly head
it always rises to take the day.

Changing you is no problem 

cuz you feel  

but changing them who embrace 

the stone and steel, 

well, 

that will never happen 

and I see dark clouds ahead 

and I want to slow down, turn around 

but this vehicle has a mind of it’s own 

and a voice that whispers, 

"you ain’t seen nothing yet"

* * * . 

and the fools gather 

chit chatting in angst the whole day away, 

‘what to do, what to do’ 

when there’s nothing they can do 

but wait 

for surely the beast 

in all it’s glory unrestrained

will come again,

As long as we love to watch 

the gore, the blood, the severed heads 

and bodies cut in two 

we will always have kids massacred 

in elementary school 

so why do we waste time blaming 

everything but the cause?

I just finished reading ‘No Country for Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy and finally understand the meaning of the title which was totally lost to me after watching the movie. 

Then I got to thinking how much that’s like living in America and how we have all lost the ability to figure out the meaning of the title because so much meaning  is being cut from the script and replaced with a more marketable item, violence.

I, like the old cop in the book remember another America.  A better America.

America, 

land of the weird, 

the lame and the totally insane 

blowing away each other 

on every fruited plain 

from sea to shining sea. 

All brought to us live 

with aerial shots,
eye witness interviews 

and commentators 

to guide us all through.

Caving in

If you let a dog bite you once 

there’s a pretty good chance 

he will bite you again 

and the same could be said 

for one friend let down, 

there’s a pretty good chance
 all friends will be let down 

and there comes a point where 

compromise becomes servitude

and I wonder if he knows that.



Sometimes a powerful voice can conceal a cowardly heart.

Breaking (making) News 

Within a hour the news media bought up, 

lock, stock and barrel, franchise style, 

the entire tragedy 

and now we’ll see for weeks on end 

talking heads who know everything about everything 

nobody wants to know anything about 

and endless loops of the same old scenes, 

the same old interviews about how they felt 

and a few computer enhanced re-creations 

thrown in for good measure 

and they will call it breaking news long after it broke 

and we the masses sit on the edges of our seats 

asking the same old questions, scratching our asses 

and waiting for more

but at least it distracts 

from all this other manufactured bulls#*t.


* * *

From the Top Down

Advertisements is the aim,
the goal, the ultimate objective
and entertainment programming
is just the vehicle

and like everything else
in our hi-tech world
the vehicle gets smaller
and smaller.

Eventually
all that will be left
is advertisements hitching rides
on other advertisements.

You can vote.

You can even believe 

one fool over the other 

but when all is said 

and done 

the corporate cabal 

steers the course 

cuz it knows 

we are an ‘after the fact’ 

species, 

and the cliffs we fear 

we view from below, 

mid-fall. 

I wonder what happened to all those people 

who rallied behind the status quo 

and filled the streets and royal hall 

to cheer the fall of the chosen one bent, 

beaten and nailed to a cross.

I wonder what happened after the cheers, 

chest bumps and a million high fives.  

Did they just go home, back to their life’s, 

jobs and loving families in anticipation 

of the next Roman crucifixion 

or did they put their sad face on like we do 

after a crushing tackle and one can’t get up. 

Then after the commercial break he’s gone,

we smile again and thirst for another. 

I heard on the news 

the people 

are finally waking up 

but that’s no consolation 

for those 

who were never asleep.

So it just sounds like 

more propaganda to me

and I half expect the world 

to end in a couple weeks 

and I can’t decide 

to turn my cable box in 

and save a few bucks 

or just leave it hooked up 

cuz I heard somewhere 

the end of the world 

will certainly be televised 

and I wouldn’t want to miss that.