Single File

Single File               10/16/2017

Single file

Through the trail

Lost in the silence

And Piedmont splendor. 

Over and around

We meandered through

Around the lake

Thick with trees

And mystery. 

Mostly green

And sprinkled

With gold

The leafy canopy

Dripping with dew. 

Hanging in the air

Are my thoughts

One foot

In front of the other

And lost in dreams.

A small wisp of time

Nothing but a vapor

Gone before you know it

Endlessly flowing
Over our heads

And under our feet. 

At campsite

We gathered

Round the fire

Laughing and listening

To time honored

Lore.

Of passages made

And experiences gained

The oaths of those

Who came before

Passed on

One to another. 

The words of the poets

Stirred in each

Blood and sinew

As we sat on logs

Watching embers

Rise and fall. 

Another weekend come

And another day down

Deep in thought

Adrift in the world. 

Anger and heartbreak

Frustration and despair

All of it happens

Together or alone.

But we have this

And we have the word

Springing forth

From parts unseen

And unheard. 

Sideline

Sideline                 10/5/2017

It’s not enough

And it never will be

Truth hidden

And poorly disguised. 

The good murdered

And evil excused

All of it obvious

And delivered on cue. 

Creating crises

With predetermined solutions

All pointing the same direction

Ever tightening the grip

On you and also me. 

Hidden and protected

They remain

Above and immune

Hiding in their castles

Smug and condescending. 

Feeding all their parasites

Off our carcass

The many and the dumb

Breeding like disease. 

And woe to any

That dare speak

The truth

That it is us

Who are the hated

Ugly, dumb

And violent

The cowardly fake heroes

Worshipped over nothing

Nothing at all.

Soon to be gone

And no doubt forgotten

Savaging the hands that fed them

Over and over again. 

The truth is coming

And it is coming soon

Sooner than they think

Sudden and complete. 

And all that was hidden

And all that was fake

Each and every fraud

And each and every hoax. 

All of us accountable

For what we really deserve

And all of us forgiven

Or doubly condemned. 

Watch them now

All fall apart

Exposed for what

They always were

Snakes in the grass. 

Stomped at last

When the world falls apart

Off script

And off the plan. 

When all the planning

And all the plotting

Turns to dust

Blown away in an instant

Total and complete. 

So let them all go on

And gnash their teeth

Always blaming others

For what they themselves

Have done. 

The voiceless shall rise

And so also the murdered

The truly strong

And the truly gifted. 

The real king

Shall yet come

All shall kneel

The worthy

And the dumb. 

Punchy

Punchy      10/5/2017

Let the slack fall

Running deep

And running long

Exposing all

And swallowed down. 

Straight as a razor

The truth is a straight line

Held in the hand of evil men

Cutting in

And cutting off. 

As predictable as the sun

The blame and the cure

Always pointing back

To what they want

Nothing but sheep

Led by the nose

Never looking up

To see

And know. 

Doubled down

And tripled over

The stakes are raised

Higher and higher.

Emboldened by the silence

Evil men conspire

Anything to win

In a cataclysm of fire. 

Beastly predators

Always crouch in the brush

Sprinting up

From behind

And below. 

Killing the unsuspecting

Unprepared

And undefended

Fill with hate

And bottomless cruelty. 

Fake heroes

And fake glory

Elevated on purpose

Violent and dumb. 

Turn them off

And watch you back

Opening your eyes

To the truth

Behind the glass. 

Always ugly

And always jealous

Burning with hatred

Allowed to win

Over and over again.

Red October

A hundred years or more

A coalescence of beasts

Joined by

A mutual contempt.

But the power of lies

Is already fading

Because no one believes

What they know

Is not true. 

The time is nigh

And the door knob rattles

Not a minute too soon

For the good

And the damned. 

Ramblers

Ramblers                        10/4/2017

Con men are gamblers

Often and also

Swindlers are the run

Always stealing to fill

The gaping emptiness within. 

They think

They are smart

And how they love

To boast

Anything to win

And anything to steal. 

Should have seen it coming

The unimaginable threat

Coming from such an empty void

Deceptively cunning

And evil to the core.

Placing bet after bet

They live off of misery

Stealing anything they can

With empty promises. 

Always on the move

And always on the make

They will take any risk

Without a conscience

And without a soul. 

Hands under the table

And eyes on the prize

You won’t see it coming

Until the damage is done. 

Cut off

And cut down

All for money

Or power. 

Hunched over the table

They think they are immune

Counting the cards

And guess the odds. 

Doubled down

And doubled over

They will raise the stakes

Ever higher

Rather than learn

Or grow. 

Using others

They pretend to be

Who they want

Eternal victims

And martyrs. 

Lying with ease

And killing with glee

They love only themselves

Selfish, shallow,

And dumb. 

Friendship means nothing

And love is only a word

A means to an end

And a trophy

To covet. 

Ingratiating themselves

And soliciting for secrets

Anything and everything

Useful for gain. 

Changing any allegiance

For a few dollars more

Destroying friends and family

For position

And prestige. 

Behold the criminal

Slithering in

And slithering out

Hiding in the shadows

And always watching

For more. 

They have killed many

And they have destroyed much

Swift and sudden

Vacuous and cruel. 

Whispering in your ear

Friendship

With a knife

Behind your back. 

Running all day

And running all night

For a long time coming

Betting it all to win

Or die in a fire. 

Beware one of many

Evil in and evil out

Unleashed by frustration

And limited time. 

Come Lord

And vanquish them all

At last to answer

For each and every

Unspeakable crime. 

Strangers

Strangers                  10/3/2017

I drove by the storefronts

But I couldn’t read the signs

Long ago given up

A stranger in a strange land.

The change crept in

And spread like an epidemic

At first a trickle

And then a flood. 

No one ever asked me

And no one dared speak

That all we had was stolen

A stranger in a strange land. 

I watched my son ride his bike

Keeping pace the best I could

No longer safe to roam

A stranger in a strange land.

On the elevator

And on the 103

I know I am the hated

One against many

A stranger in a strange land. 

Penalized for every mistake

I learned to walk the line

Watching others do

What they want

Untouchable and immune.

I went back

To my home town

Boarded up and alien

A stranger in a strange land. 

Retracing my steps

I remember what they taught

But now I know

It was all a lie

A stranger in a strange land. 

A whole world lost

And now its memory erased

With malice and palatable hatred

Attacked and destroyed.

If you can see the truth

In the present

Then you can see future

The threats of today

And the murder of tomorrow. 

No lie can cover it up

The reality in the street

Exactly the opposite

Of everything on TV.

Step by step

And hour by hour

The signs of the harvest

Rich, ripe, and heavy.

Hanging low

Above our heads

The fruit of lies

And deliberate deception. 

By every means

The voices are silenced

No matter how low

Or blatantly vile. 

The honest abused

And labeled

Shunned or even worse

The days and the times

A stranger in a strange land. 

Bleached out

And scrubbed clean

Everything scoured

And sanitized.

Besieged by ghosts

Who never have a reason

The truth obscured

Dead in the dark. 

Deep is the deception

And deep are the lies

Layered thick

And impossible to know. 

The monster grows

And multiplies

The tentacles

Reaching in

And reaching down. 

Afraid of the punishment

Many dare not speak

Too afraid to warn

The young

And the innocent. 

Now I walk

In the dangerous waters

Muddy and unfamiliar

Murky with blood.

Nothing but a stranger

In a strange land

An alien gasping for breath

In an atmosphere of lies

It will never smell better

Already covered

And already cleansed

The truth hidden for all

Nothing but strangers

In a strange land. 

From here on out

Remember who to ask

Careful as a stranger

In a dark

And dangerous land.