We used to receive bad news
in the privacy of our homes;
a Saturday morning call
from a tearful Auntie Joan

to say father had finally
lost to leukaemia; or my wife
interrupting the sleep between shifts
when our son had been run over.

Anxiety and grief might be indulged
in secret, but mobiles are like
an enemy drone; they find you in bars,
village halls, buses, and your reaction

Hyperbole taken to the mad max
mayhem when necessary
to, poeticize, publicize,
exorcize, criticize, and alphabetize
desecrating, demeaning, dehumanizing,
online behavior by George
toward one run of the mill
on the floss (by the pond)
decent chap and good friend of mine,
who I will defend
to the last gasp of me dying breath
so help me dog
from becoming...what else,
but analogous to melon collie.

I like that your feelings are rare
your pastures are grazing despair
you'll be mooooo-ning at last
with his bull up your ass
you're just classless and cow-ardly fare

Everything hurts; I can barely breathe.
Demons keep clawing, biting,
tearing at the pieces, pulling the strings!
Won't they ever leave?

Nerves on fire, sinews snapping,
the days are long but the night's never ending.
They're in my head; hissing, whispering,
blood upon on my soul, so entrapping.

Memories be damned, no safe place to hide!
My heart rages on while my spirit slowly dies.
Reaper come swiftly, kidnap me from the madness.
Make me yours upon my final ride!

Standing in rows of angels
wearing bright white robes!
Looking up at deity,
in complete humility!

Impressions of the resurrection,
weigh heavily upon my mind.
I still see the light,
that lives inside of me!

The plight of man is fading,
into ambiguity.
Things feel so hopeless,
at times I cannot see.

The essence of power
in the plan at our feet.
When winter assails us
we contemplate our misdeeds!

Swartley fosters by the same
granted coloration impossible mission
to shuck off and figuratively wash hands with
unlike a more clear cut matter as a quitclaim
evinced courtesy abracadabra
and "poof" the quandary resolved
obvious if one owns the name
Jagger, or Shakespeare
most renowned english musician
and author respectively -
the latter ofttimes quoted
a rose by any other name....
attributed to William Shakespeare
sho wrote the line
"a rose by any other name

Today we landed
Early this morning
At
La Guardia airport
The porter caried
My bags
To my taxi
I gave the porter a tip
He thanked me
At 9:00 am
I arrived in my hotel
Across Central Park
The porter in the hotel
Carried my bags
To my room
When I got to my room
I had slept in
For a couple hours
Because I was exhausted
I woke up 7:00 pm
And I went for dinner
In the hotel
I had to eat
A green salad
First
Then a had to eat
Pasta primavera

Silence bleeds our soul
threats combat our peaceful mind
rhetoric insults us
dismissiveness from those too blind

to see, as we're erased
diversity, tolerance defaced
soldiers to contain us
while protesting veterans are disgraced

Liberty's flame
no longer shines with great acclaim
the world is censored
from those who aren't the same

Mother Earth cries aloud
as Sacred Lands are drilled and haunted
sea and soil are defiled
as power and wealth are chased and flaunted

Back Again
Home is where the heart is
But enhanced when near the brick and stone
That is stuck so deeply within my mind and bones
I touch the locked doors of my past life
Walking the paths I chose
Going Home

Sitting in my little red skiff,
mid-morning enjoyably passed into day.
slowly I came upon the distant view
snow-white clouds, turning shades of gray

Vistas morphing to massed discontent,
on the horizon a gloom slowly creeps.
Distant sheets of rain come crying
and with vibrations, I break down and weep

Electric fingers stir the storm waters
cloud to ground strikes adding light show.
I forget to return to safe haven,
Indeed, I forget what I know.