Poetry
from The Lie of Inspiration and the upcoming More Lies
Ask me again tomorrow
It was the right day to ask
and they answered
some listened
some forgot
most moved on
but some people don't move anywhere
can't move and need to move
yesterday's cause is yesterday's news
it will come back again
next year
when the world is ready
and the time is right
once you were valid
today you're just out of time
are you okay?
tell me sometime.
Ask Me Again Tomorrow
Backwater
It was such a time
things were different then
accepted it was, it would be
worthwhile in the end
Something somehow started
on an old boat on a river
we watched, all of us,
for the perfect end delivered.
Backwater was a binding
but it was not a reason
the love that they were finding
had to bend to suit the waterways
Backwater was the weather
of a sunny summer season
that held them together
through the sunny summer days.
We thought Backwater would do it
but it had its limitations
I can now see through it
that the summer had to fall
They and I and others
can quote prolific quotations
but only season lovers
really know what to recall.
In the end it seems
not all dreams come true
a stolen season on the water
can make things overdue
a thousand miles away
in an office raising bail
Backwater was a memory
just an old boat with a tale.
Backwater
The Further Descent into Stupidity
As darkness falls
the new decree emerges
the loaf of bread, the armed robbery
the misspoken word, the waiting rape
all crimes and misdemeanors are the same
and people lie
to everyone prepared to not listen
the truth and lie go unexamined
as conservatism finds new life
from its most unlikely ally
as regression masquerades as progress
and develops crude culture
as the cowering lone voice
concedes in explanation
with "please let me explain"
as the subjective word is appropriated
to codify the thinking of the masses
as punishment must not fit the crime
as inquiry, debate, discussion, jest
await their clearance
as books and films are burned
memories erased
and the unperson banished once again
as the narrowness of history is embraced
in their sureness it will benefit the future
as the future straight ahead is a reflection
of an era derided yet pursued
as bigotry becomes the new convention
the dimwittidness of people is astonishing.