Where are the so-called brave?
Not the brazen body who crows for cameras
And proclaims this land as theirs ripe for reclamation.
Nor the type who tirelessly tweets
To repeatedly and reprehensibly troll and trend,
Manufacturing anguish and outrage
Out of dreamed-up dilemmas.
But rather the breed that stands alone
Tall against plastic peers
Who have long abandoned honor
Now displaced by forced fealty.
The brave are fierce and few
Valiantly facing fiery gust
With grit and gumption.
Tag: poems
Ethereal
Golden rays
slice through darkly
dappled clouds
scattering flashy flecks
of violet, indigo, and blue
the radiant hues
spray the valley gap
starting at the tall mountain peaks
descending to the point
where the rocky mounds meet
I need a photograph
to preserve this moment
in my memory book
but I am on the highway
traveling was
the nearest off ramp
miles away
The scene softens
colors blur
before I can break
for a side-road snapshot
thus today’s summer sunrise
live with other memories
inside my mind
All I have are words
All I have
are words
…and
a laptop
loaded with
the latest software
and high-speed Internet
…and
a 50 inch
high definition
LED screen
connected to
the most popular
streaming services
…and
a four-wheel-drive
sports utility vehicle
with heated
steering wheel and seats
satellite radio
and anti-lock brakes
…and
a three-bedroom rambler
with solar panels
central air
and a two-car garage
Objects age
and need repair
pass on to others
or get discarded
when I am gone
all that will remain
of me
are my words
One more time
I’ve declared this before
And I’ll proclaim it again
One more time
My impassioned plea:
If we invite
One friend
One neighbor
One colleague
One classmate
One family member
Just one to…
Turn away from the blindness
Turn up the kindness
Turn around the lies
Turn our eyes to the skies
Turn down the enmity
Turn it over to empathy
Turn off the foxy firebrand
Turn out a helping hand…
We can salvage
Our shattered society
It’s past time
A cold congress
Clinging to discredited dogma
Escalates, elevates
Aggravates and cultivates
Our culture of hate
Each day, each week
Needless nightmares
Dip to deeper
Depths of despair
Leagues deeper than the past
A good man with a gun
Will some day save us, they say
But he’s seldom present
Prepared or prone to act
In that urgent hour
It’s past time
We abandon our modern myth
Of the good man with a gun
It’s time to replace him
With a good woman with a plan