The Trough

just a quick one today, more tomorrow

The Trough                        2/29/2016

A fattened cat

Never goes easy

Biting and scratching

Hissing and spitting.

Evil men

Have killed many

And no deceit is to low

If it gets them

What they want. 

Covered by propaganda

They will never be questioned

Lying every day

And lying every night.

Day after day

Hoax after hoax

Burning with hatred

Intense as the sun.

Threatening and calculating

They manipulate the truth

Murderers from the start

Hiding in the smoke.

The worst is yet to come

And very few

Can ever be trusted

Bought and sold

With their head in the trough.

Snout down

They push and shove

Happily selling us out

For a little more gravy.

Look now the

They hold the head

The innocent murdered

Undefended and unknown.

Doom awaits

But not before end

As we all watch in horror

Atrocity after atrocity

Spread chaos and fear.

Slip and Fall

Mockingbird                                                  2/25/2016                                

It is a long day

And it drags upon the soul

As we, the wounded walk

Dragging the past

Behind us. 

We have waited

But nothing has worked

As the tentacles of evil

Slither in every crevice

And corrupt every man.

We were hurt

And we were stabbed

Cut down in the middle of the day

Half way finished

And almost done.

Our plans upended

And our insides pulled out

Left to bleed in a ditch

And die all alone. 

We were mocked

And we were abused

By the smug and the shallow

The merciless and the cruel.

I tried to wash it away

And I tried hard to forget

But in the end

It is a useless heartbreak. 

Life hurts

And convenient lovers

Will crush your spirit

Happy in the sun

And gone in the night. 

Many have died

And many have suffered

Drowning in despair

All for nothing

But dust in the wind.  

Our hands are tied

And our kindness abused

As we watch

With our mouths wide open

The treachery and the hate.

I look at them

But they never knew me at all

Small, smug, and hateful

Doomed, dumb and dead.

The liar will lie

Just like he always has

Hiding behind walls

To pick us apart.

Giving only to take

And loving only to steal

Soulless, empty,

Arrogant, and vain. 

We have heard the words

But how often, have we learned?

Not just the beginning

But all of it

Word for word.

In due time

Their foot will slip

Destined to die

And destined to fail. 

Black Birds

Black Bird                      2/25/2016

Blackbirds search  

In a gray winter sky

Crying out secrets

I will never know. 

The coyotes are dead

So the ravens must eat

Sitting on the wires

Circling my head.

What worked before

Does not work now

And what pleasures

Have I known

That have all passed me by.

I huddle in my sleep

And draw up my legs

Colder than the evening

The dark before the dawn. 

Whispering ghosts

Tickling my ear

Food for the birds

Left in a ditch. 

Unspeakable is the loss

That no one understands

So we hold it captive

In our heart

It becomes a strange comfort

That we nurse

Drawing out the blood

To watch it bleed. 

The birds know me

And I know them

Both afraid

But both alive. 

Half a Loaf

 Half life                             2/25/2016

For half a life

We all swallowed the bait

Believing in a world of ideas

That were never true at all. 

We listened to speakers

Who made their best case

Appealing to our sensibilities

On how to chart a course.

But in the end

It was all pretend

A parliamentary trick

To divide up the loot

Providing a comfortable life

No matter who should win.

Trading spaces

And trading places

Just to keep us going

A fake fight

To please the masses

Dumb in the dark. 

All bought with gravy

Filling every plate

Laughing at the people

No better than tools. 

They ask for money

And they track our every thoughts

Betting on ignorance

And greed. 

Buying off the foolish

With almost nothing at all

And kicking the can

Down the street

For all of us to pay.  

If you are awake

They you are the enemy

A person to be ignored,

Or ridiculed. 

Marginalized and diluted

Until we all pass away

The fruits of a middle class

Attacked and condemned. 

Funny how it works out

Just like it was written

As the bar is lowered

And all the beasts rush in. 

Set up for the slaughter

Reduced expectations are the norm

As the young and most vulnerable

Never see the light of day. 

Because if you cannot remember

You cannot know

The difference between

The truth and a lie. 

Those with much to lose

Will fight tooth and nail

Anything to win

And get what they want. 

We who remain

Must only wait and watch

Watching for every sign

That most assuredly will come

Drenched in blood. 

The longest walk

Hurt Park                              2/24/2016

It will never be easy

Because the memory

Is just too heavy to lift

Crushing me down 

As I struggle to forget.

I slept with her sweater

Until the scent was gone

And I walked through

The same old streets

Over and over again. 

Stuck in an endless loop

And unable to escape

The unknowable cost

Of self-loathing

And regret. 

It is easier to forgive

Than it is to survive

Because words once spoken

Can never

Truly be swallowed. 

We do what we do

Even though

We know

Unable to stop

Resentment and emotion.

Others don’t know

And they remain

As we remember

Stuck in one dimensional pictures

And long lost feelings. 

The agony is all ours

And God only knows the truth

About why it all has to be

And what it is

We should learn. 

It hurt

And it made me angry

But still I wonder

And still I wait.

People do things

Inexplicable and strange

For all the worst reasons

Spoken and unspoken. 

The truth floats above my head

While I jump up and down

Slippery and elusive

Peaceful and perfect.

It has to be enough

That we just don’t know

But still we keep on trying

Even for nothing at all. 

All there is

Is faith

And prayer

Even if unanswered

And silent.

Whatever may come

We are together

All of us who try

And are forgiven.

But whatever the truth

Evil will yet slip

In due time

Falling backwards

Into nothingness. 

Fruit of Death

Rotten                                               2/23/2016

Can you see

The rotten fruit

Hanging from the tree

Dripping putrid hate

Poisonous and dead.

A ghastly sight

Repulsive and empty

The skeletal fingers

Swaying in the wind. 

The dead tree speaks

And calls to the fruit

A dead prophet of doom

Blood thirsty for murder.

The innocent sleep

Because they have 

Never been warned

Trusting and young

Vulnerable and old. 

A tragedy of nameless victims

Unreported and unheard

Asleep in eternity

In the here

And the now.

Buried or burned

Unheralded and unremembered

The victims blamed

And hatred excused. 

Without monuments

And without protest

Cut, crushed, or battered,

Savaged, beaten, and raped.

The endless names

No one dares speak

As if defending your family

Could ever be a sin.

Evil never sleeps

And evil has no shame

Always watching 

And waiting.  

Let them go hungry 

And die in their blood

Eaten away 

From the inside out.  

He is coming 

And he is near 

Now more than ever

Wake up, and hear.