Truth Hurts
When I hear the Cardinal sing,
I always think of you
A flash of red inside the hedge
along a sea of blue
And when you leave this earthly realm
and earn your angel wings
I’ll think of you with warmth and love
When the Cardinal sings
Banning books and fanning flames
toting guns like Jesse James
thoughts and prayers to stop the bleeding
screaming at a drag show reading
Stripping healthcare, mining coal
pushing myths about the soul
damning those who don’t obey
denying women of their say
Casting stones, suppressing votes
grab our country by the throat
trapped inside a MAGA maze
looking back for better days
Drinking Kool-Aid from a cup
yelling up is down and down is up
spinning lies and crafting fables
trying hard to turn the tables
Deny the facts and praise the liar
collectively they all conspire
to set our democracy on fire
Doomsday just inched a bit closer
So says the clock on the wall
Amused, nihilistic humans
just waiting for mankind to fall!
We know the problem’s we’re facing
We know what needs to be done
We know that the weapon is loaded
but we like the taste of the gun
We’re ninety seconds from doomsday
So says that guy on the news
“It’s the end of the world as we know it”
A theme song to give us the blues
Doomsday just inched a bit closer
it nuzzles up to the fear in our head
The tick of the clock getting louder
It thickens our fear into dread
Religious to the point of destruction
Tribal to our own self-defeat
Chained to a blood-violent nature
Man and doomsday were destined to meet
She made it through the Spanish flu
a million others died
but slipped and fell with scissors held
Oh, how her parents cried
Rorschach’s plume, still in bloom
soaks through her dressing gown
she raps on heaven’s pearly gate
but no one is around
When sorrow clings to angel wings
They might-as-well be clipped
So back to earth
To haunt the house
Where she tripped and slipped
Immortal klutz with lots of cuts
dark shadows on the wall
she roams the house without a spouse
wrapped loosely in her shawl
Floating in his own orbit
absent from the ethos of ethics
he was driven by an ugly lust for power
fueled by an insatiable desire for attention
bootlicked and buttressed by a sycophantic public
and buoyed by yes men
The man was wholly unhinged from truth
divorced from morality
and devoid of integrity
Gripped by insecurity
and the crippling fear of being labeled a loser
he cultivated lies and deceit
Like a Shakespearean witch
hunched over a cauldron
of poisonous misinformation
he hatched his plan
to cling to the reins of power
just long enough to topple the republic
For a few hours that day
our democracy flickered and dimmed
teetering on the dark edge of an authoritarian abyss
and if not for the courage of a few
and the rationality of the rest
We’d have lost our democracy
and the hope and freedom it brings to us
It would be a fatal mistake to think
the bullet we dodged cannot be reloaded
The confederacy of cowards
who defended the snake
and helped perpetuate the crime
still walk the halls of congress
and just beneath the ashes
of the failed attempt
are the smoldering embers
of the next
Digging holes with metal poles
Earth hanging by a string
ember coals and smokey souls
our hearts refuse to sing
Nostril flares and double dares
blood coursing through our veins
no one cares or fires flares
to save us from the flames
Rubber necks on splintered decks
missiles pierce the sky
the crackling fires from funeral pyres
sparkle in our eyes
Mascara streaks on dampened cheeks
as quiet fills the air
we crawl across a floor that creaks
to waken our despair
Stars explode and fade to black
the darkened sky above
stretches far from east to west
obscuring peace and love
Mascara streaks
on expressionless faces
punk-metal fills the air
a swarm of pierced humanity
hits the mosh without a care
Rabbit holes of red-hot coals
their world spinning on a string
empty souls dance to Dave Grohl
life to them, a fling
Rubber necks on double decks
Russian missiles fill the skies
distant fires from funeral pyres
the flames flicker in their eyes
Tattered seams on crocheted dreams
slip knot future up ahead
poisoned streams and noiseless memes
They’ll dance until their dead
Mar-a-Lago’s a henhouse
guarded by foxes
with top secret files
in taped cardboard boxes
Classified docs
spread all over the floor
fodder for felons
trying to even the score
Millions of lost souls
and Q-cultist bigots
they lap up the lies
from electronic spigots
Looking for purpose
while grasping at straws
praising their savior
despite all his flaws
Empty of knowledge
full of deep longing
Q fits the bill
and their need for belonging
Fingers raised up
they sing and they sway
“The storm is-a-coming”
and so’s judgement day
Engaged in a story
which casts them as heroes
too dumbstruck to know
that they’re dancing to Nero
drinking the Kool-Aid
they’re dope-sick on Q
freebasing lies
and shouting fuck you
There’s fear in not knowing
how this will end
how far Q is going
to strongly defend
the lies of a con man
unwilling to bend
Don’t you ever get so tired
of all the bullshit in the air
Politicians always wired
pretending that they care
Don’t you long to get inspired
get this train back on the track
Aren’t you sick of being mired
in never forward always back
We’re in need of revolution
a youth-led promise towards a day
when our leaders represent us
without their interests in the way
Aren’t you tired of being berated
your world twisting on a string
all the truths interrogated
while the lies go on to sing
Band together to form your power
march into the voting booth
Turn the day into your hour
cut down the lies and raise the truth
When did it become Ok
In America
for snickering governors
to play politics
with the lives of tired
and desperate human beings?
When did the light
from that shining city
on the hill
become a trick candle?
When did America
erect its Darwinian dome
of indifference towards
the tired and the suffering?
When did we drift from the
Give me your tired and poor
to a cold and callous
Let me show you the door?
When did we
start to fear and hate
the huddled masses
detesting them
while casting a cold
and stony shoulder?
When the humane
treatment of others
takes a backseat to
cheap political stunts
it’s time to look at
the soul of our nation
bendingtheneedle