Thirty / Thirty

“And you,” returned the prisoner, “who bade me to ask to see you; you, who, when I did ask to see you, came here promising a world of confidence; how is it that, nevertheless, it is you who are silent, leaving it for me to speak? Since, then, we both wear masks, either let us both retain them or put them aside together.” -Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask In the interim Cooler heads prevail We step down from the ledges Count enough sheep that we drift off The things we should have said Keep folded in back pockets Long enough for the ink to fade Like it didn't happen Though it once was a bone in the throat Sometimes the wrong kind of swallow brings the ragged raw to the surface Those days we salt our own wounds. We swear one moment if it feels like this we will not eat again And in the next can not believe we have ever felt so hungry

“O immortal gods! Where in the world are we? In which city do we live? What sort of state do we have? Here, there are here in our number, members of the senate, in this most venerable and dignified assembly of the earth, who think about the destruction of all of us, who think about the ruin of this city and even the destruction of the world.” -Speeches against Catilina by Marcus Tullius Cicero, 63 BCE I don’t know what to pray for anymore God bless everything To ask His will be done in a single brick will not keep a foundation from crumbling anyway God help us all And maybe if the news stays muted it will be all right for a day As though it isn’t the problem that’s the problem but the awareness of it For all the millions spent on lofty campaign promises and best intentions the insistence we keep our “under God” in the pledge and “in God we Trust” on our money that...

  When tyrants rule I will march for your name Riots as scissors in mouths So destroys the memorial Break past the barriers Destroys the dams Memories held in clenched fists gritted teeth Shake the fists that I love Hear roaring When despots lay resplendent Kick their fucking heads off

EARTHLING REPORT #5527 isn't it silly how their invincible die first?

Work, it consumes the day Who would have thought? Life drifted from one work day To the next, a life without play Remember when we were kids On the playground picking on each other? Play, joy, If only it were always harmless With the intent to make others laugh It was fun. We played baseball, football Dodgeball and bowling We played with dolls, stuffed animals We could craft an entire town out of mud But now, we bask in the glow of monitor light Pretending we are smart That we contribute to a better world That we are improving the next generation And we pretend that Dancing With The Stars Is more entertaining than a starlit sky That the Bachelor is more loving Than the human that sits beside us, or sleeps in our bed Do we contribute? Do we give more? Are we so exhausted from the tedious day-to-day That we dribble and drool in front of the flat screen? We are wasting our lives In the glowing in the pixels Pretending we ma...

in softness, another is welcome, sits near me until the toll is considered paid-                I'm not sure                what he thinks                I've become, except                for his- this time, I'm told you have to stop being so nice. you have to protect your cardinal gift