They say the camera doesn’t lie;
I suppose that’s why I sit and cry.
My passport photo scares me half to death;
My wife looked and couldn’t catch a breath.
I’m opposed to ridiculous restrictions on Muslim travel,
But my travel itinerary is about to unravel.
Countries worldwide would that ugly mug see
And prohibit my entry by land, air or sea.
The poor, the maimed, the halt,
and the blind were dragged out
of the halls of power and author-
ity to the hollow echo in the chamber:
“If you want a hearing, you better
shut up!” They wailed their way
out of Ceasar’s palace into lockup
in the dungeons of despair and Jesus
was there with them from start to
finish in that Realm of God while
not being found anywhere near
Caesar’s palace of worldly power.
Regardless of the race baiting,
Regardless of the (p)resident’s
misogyny,
Regardless of the GOP’s last
ditch effort to sabotage
the Affordable Care Act,
Regardless of the going no-
where tax reform,
Regardless of the Supreme
Courts’ upcoming verdict
on excluding Muslims,
Half of the world may very
well be obliterated (squashed
like despised bugs and
exterminated like rats
in the sewers and alleys
of Chicago),
In places like North and South
Korea, Japan, Australia and
countless inhabited islands
With radioactivity (more deadly
than all the rattlers, coral
snakes, Copperheads in the world)
snaking throughout the
rest of the world like a
dystopian novel squirming
into birth causing births to
stop by the grace of God because
the births would have been
something out of a horror movie.
Triggering the end of the world
as decided by only two
crazy people, one of whom
is the elected (p)resident of
the United States.
From time immemorial, humans have had their
totems representing their beliefs — a flag,
a pitcher, a dish, a bowl, a table, a blood
sacrifice — they are as are words — symbols,
similes, metaphors, — something other than
the thing and even though they point to some-
thing other than what they are, they eventually
mean different things to different people because
what they point to is usually, at its best, a
mystery and, at its worst– exclusion, fear, hatred
and violence and so maybe it’s time to make some
symbolic gestures that are pretty clear and
lower the American flags to half-staff and half-
mast to acknowledge our grief and shame for the
exclusion, fear, hate and violence and get down on
both knees at sports’ events as Christians in
the Roman Colosseum and everywhere in the posture
of non-violence, utter humility and submission and
dependence on and affirmation of the mystery of
eternal, creative love and to ask for forgiveness
for using totems for exclusion, fear, hate, violence
and death.
The divider-in-chief only can function with an
“US vs. them”
binary
worldview.
He thrives on the
CHAOS
and
ANXIETY
he creates because it makes him feel
POWERFUL
and in
CONTROL.
He is an incredibly DANGEROUS person,
in the most POWERFUL position
in the world,
who could cause
MASS DESTRUCTION
without blinking an eye.
His Waterloo might be taking on the NATIONAL GODS
----- on the courts and fields.
Was Napoleon hiding little fingers?
Who knows?
I love Johnny Mathis.
Seemingly every year
PBS drags out a special
About Johnny Mathis
And I get weak in the
Knees hearing his
Velvety sounds. I am
Escorted back to high
School and first loves
And, even without two
Glasses of wine in the
Evening, I start to cry
As I hear “Wonderful,
Wonderful,” and then
I sigh until I think of
My fiftieth high school
Reunion where I saw
Reality for itself and
I knew Johnny Mathis
Would never have
Shown up.
There is no litmus test on
standing for the National
Anthem for patriotism.
There is only the First
Amendment right to free
speech which should be
applauded by all Americans
except we are so ignorant
of basic rights that we are
willing to deny those rights
and ultimately deny our
rights which leads us to
the hell of trampling,
screaming, wailing, gass-
ing, incinerating, destroy-
ing, killing, annihilating
as most anyone in Germany
could simply inform us of
today.
Wanting to tame his instincts
toward road rage, he drives
overly politely and it makes him
feel good and so he beeped that
a driver backing up in front of him
could continue. She did without a
thank you and then put the vehicle
into drive and drove right through
the stop sign intersection without
so much as a gentle tap on the
brakes to even hint at obeying the
law. And so it goes in today’s Wild
West mentality in America in all
respects as this is just a simple
but potentially deadly reminder
of what could be the death of
democracy.
We boast we are 99 and forty-
four-one hundredth’s % Ivory
clean, but ninety-nine and 99%
of humanoid history is unclean
and violent and a few are try-
ing to live up to something
higher, a higher calling, but
for all the effort and postur-
ing, humans are not doing a
very good job of “moving on
up,” as the TV sitcom said,
in a humanitarian sense,
to that higher calling, but
the few will never stop
witnessing to the calling and
protesting the 99 and 99
hundredth’s %.
He thought, I have racist inclinations
But I try rationally to account for
Endemic and systemic reasons for
The plight of minorities and ask
Forgiveness for my fears and
Prejudices and pray that my
Head knowledge drops lovingly
into my heart. “I am a violent
Man Learning to be non-violent,”
Said Cesar Chavez and so with me,
He thought to himself. Then he
Thought about the (p)resident of
The United States and how he
Indulges his prejudices and his
Bullying and posturing of violence,
And he thought of the present
(p)resident’s base and, for all the
Reasons offered up on social media,
Their blind, visceral, near orgasmic
Fascination with the (p)resident,
And then he thought that there is
A xenophobic, nativistic Black
Hole in the Amerikan universe of
Endemic And systematic prejudice
Sucking people into fear, ignorance
And unbridled violence, the hell
Into which only Jesus is unafraid
To venture and heal. We must follow.
bobdahl 