Poetry – Page 7 – bendingtheneedle

Our March Towards the Gallows

Silhouettes and shadows

blurred pictures on the wall

we stumble towards the gallows

our walks fall into crawls

People start to gather

they’re screaming at the sun

hollow eyes and sunken cheeks

blinded, crippled, stunned

Cracked and hardened landscapes

fires all around

sunbaked souls

are full of holes

no water in the ground

Empty silos bellow

a sorrow fills the air

we turn to face our fellow man

to discover he’s not there

Trees that thirst for water

burnt poppies in a field

a loss of social order

a weakened faith revealed

The warning signs were present

we looked the other way

the climate climbed

and mankind fell

now we scramble for the shade

Souls too weak to whisper

our words fold into prayer

the dead feed off the living

and dust becomes the air

Connectionless

Facebook and Snapchat

YouTube and Tik Tok

Lost boys on Reddit

Black sheep

from the same flock

Millions of followers

with no one to lead

a whole generation’s

collective brain bleed

Communally living

in woke echo chambers

dimwitted dice-throwing

zombie-like gamers

Vid links and jpegs

the shallow and vain

everyone jumps on

the “look at me!” train

Looking for meaning

in meaningless places

we screen-scroll bikinis

and beautiful faces

With eyes gazing downward

we all barely see

the world of the living

our humanity

More connected than ever

yet still isolated

we’re captive less active

we’re chained and we’re gated

Networked in sorrow

we borrow from pain

we search for tomorrow

with nothing to gain

We touch screens and tap links

but don’t touch each other

we sniff around porn sites

for sexy stepmothers

Adrift in the wireless

we’re glued to the cam

tireless voyeurs

we wolve for the lamb

From Classroom to Casket

Rose on tombstone. Red rose on grave. Love – loss. Flower on memorial stone close up. Tragedy and sorrow for the loss of a loved one. Memory. Gravestone with withered rose

From classroom to casket

an American journey

arrive on a school bus

depart on a gurney

As children lay dead

in Uvalde Texas

it’s hard to ignore

the obvious nexus

with unfettered access

to weapons of war

the number of dead

will continue to soar

We live in a land

of pierced hearts and sorrow

no shooting today?

just wait till tomorrow

In a fog of futility

explicably numb

we reach for our heartstrings

but there’s nothing to strum

Crap-casting Rogan and Young-loving Streamers

Crap-casting Rogan and Young-loving streamers

Fact-blasting moron, artists and dreamers

Free speech and fact breach, they dance and they stab

Truth in the morgue on a cold marble slab

Drip-drying wet naps on Vin Diesel’s Daisy

Popcorn and Pepsi with Martin Scorsese

Grifting and grafting on quaaludes and blow

Gaetz in sex traffic with nowhere to go

Oath Keeping Proud Boys, soldiers in waiting

“My Pillow hucksters” gaslighting and baiting

Fascists and fucktards fall from the sky

Democracy’s gone in the blink of an eye

Hopscotch and whiskey, Sorry and Twister

Rebellion and UNO with Vlad Putin’s sister

Records and transcripts get flushed in the can

Truth getting trumped by a fat orange man

Cow tipping junkies and pill-popping tweakers

Political flunkies in loafers and sneakers

Gazpacho Goosestepping Capital cops

Malevolent Marjorie, she never stops

Fuck headlines and deadlines

Bread, milk, and inflation

The next time you vote

for the soul of your nation

Carry integrity into the booth

Raile against liars

and vote for the truth

February, in the Warmth of the Morning Sun

I found a dead ladybug

on the sill of my window today

Just a few days prior

I witnessed her flying around my bedroom

and wondered,

trapped inside my sunny domicile,

with frost on the windows,

did she long for the warmth

of late summer days

and leafy plants on my kitchen patio?

She was a lifeless faded orange

hard, shiny, and smooth

her legs tightly tucked

into her flat underside

I slid her on to a piece of printer paper

carried her down the staircase

that goes from the bedroom to the kitchen

and placed her gently in a potted plant

in the warmth of the morning sun

Chrome Covered Rosebuds and Dyslexic Daisies

Chrome covered rosebuds and dyslexic daisies

Dirt-devil divas and wombats with rabies

Blue bloodless fem-bots

that drop from the sky

Misogyny dies in the blink of an eye

Dipshits in red hats with white MAGA letters

Grunge bands with new tats of Cobains and Vedders

Palm trees and face plants

a rip in the sky

Ginger loves Mary Ann’s Coconut pie

Deep-seated distrust and misinformation

Biscuits with deadbolts and sex doll inflation

Mad rants and just cants

a flask full of lies

The truth falls asleep to our sad lullabies

Sinatra and Martin, Carson and Rickles

Bone chips on blood-stained pennies and nickels

Douchebags and despots

About to ally

To map out our lives on the wings of a fly

Fearing Life

Life

A crooked path before us

A ragged race we run

A 9-to-5 grind-to-dust

To keep pace with everyone

We take some time to breathe

A few weeks every year

Before getting back to rat racing

And being ruled by fear

Fear about finances

Fear about jobs

Fear about COVID

and Fascist-led mobs

Fear about terrorism

the Taliban and ISIS

Fear for America’s Democracy-crisis

Fear for our planet

increasingly warming

Fear of our fear

which is constantly forming

When emersed in fear

We don’t live our life

The roses and sunshine

Give way to our strife

And we just live to survive

On the edge of a knife

Because this is all there is

When you reach the end

I hope you had more good times than bad,

laughed more than you cried, and

loved more than you hated

I hope regrets were few,

achievements many,

and that your wealth

could be measured in smiles

I hope you enjoyed your stay,

were buoyed by happiness,

oxygenated by love,

and were at peace when you left

Because this is all there is

Relentless Time Regardless

We begin life nervously

Waiting in the wings

Queued up and ready to take center stage

each of us a rusty fragile link

in a fractious chain of humans

We embark on our quixotic quest

for meaning and connection

The truth of our transience

evades us at first

Or maybe we just refuse to let it creep in

We keep those thoughts at bay

We bury them under daily routine

for years at a time

Until we begin to sense

the slowing of the merry-go-round

and we see and feel

the snarled and toothy grin

of the carney worker

All rides must end

We lean hard from our painted ponies

Elbow pit married to the pole

We reach and stretch for the brass ring

And it’s promise of another ride

As if more ride is a cure-all

it isn’t

As if more time will sand the jagged edge

of disappointment and regret

It won’t.

We don’t need more time.

We need understand how little we have of it

Donny Shakes the Jar

Donny Shakes the Jar

Donny stirs the pot

Donny knows that hate and fear

are really all he’s got

Donny peddles lies

He feeds them to his friends

They eat’em up

And spit them out

The cycle never ends

Donny knows that facts

are a death knell to his game

He always tries to bury them

And set the truth aflame

Insurrectionists as martyrs

And the freedom fighter lies

“A fraudulent election!”

His fake-ass battle cry

He’s got minions on the take

And congress in his pocket

FOX to help him spin the lies

Vlad Putin in his locket

We need Guardians of democracy

To fend against attacks

From Donny and his hateful gang

Of red hat wearing hacks

When you’re forced

to use fear and hate

To bolster your position

To inspire acts of violence

and treacherous sedition

And when you do so

For vainglory and the

Insatiable lust for power

Expect a mass gathering

To knock you from your tower