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Sean M O'Kane Sep 2018
Crumbling Victorian concrete falls to the ground.
The crunch of rubble, levelling histories to dust.
All this is “progress”, “a bright opportunity” and “good for the economy”.
Yeah, but for who?
Those who live there? The communities forged from years of migration?
Those who take pride in the shape and feel of their own unique milieu?
It seems, no.

Look closer and you’ll find a hidden clue - the quietly mouthed magic word: “apartments”.
It won’t be long before a weekly shop will need a pay-day loan.
Or the late night fish supply shop turns into a swishy niche café.
WINZ offices relocating to where its denizens have been priced off to.
Meanwhile the newly whiter-than-whitewash feel of our once beloved suburbs,
present themselves as bastions of modernity and “progress”.
What lies in the rubble is not just dust, it’s the debris of pākehā civility.
Written in response to the (near) demolition of the original Stewart Dawson shop on the corner of Lambton Quay & Willis Street in Wellington. Now reduced to nothing more than a façade waiting on whatever ugly modern lump is placed against.

Glossary:

Fish Supply Shop - Cross between a fishmonger and a fish & chip shop.
WINZ - Welfare  benefits office.
Pākehā - Māori word for European settlers & their culture.
james nordlund Jun 2020
All saw united **** of assassin's Gov't's premeditated taking
a knee for 9 minutes on George Floyd's neck, the **** cop
calmly looking into the camera, an assassination for many
reasons, who's seeing past the 'show', following the $?

Ebony, ivory supremacies repeating their victory of 2016's
(Only) Black Lives Matters participation in the Int'l criminal
conspiracy's installing **** into the Black House, etc.,
determining their dividing the nation, in perfect harmony.

Like the bi-headed, Utin and Utin's ****, global axi of
supposed power has re-established, East, West, you're
either totalitarian or not-see, and if not you're murdered
by both, now either Black or white supremacist, or die.

For 15 years ebony has dictated Caucasians call themselves
"white", "be proud of being white", make believe they have
"white privilege", to the benefit of division, ivory, when
there's no "whites", and almost no non-repubs thought it.

That while the reality is their class war against the lower-
middle-class to poor, the boot on our neck, by the police/
military/intelligence complexes, is all 23 flavors of the
baskin + robbins of supremacies, usa, the global oligarchy.

Criminal insanity, that illegally installed the Int'l crime
family **** into the Blackhouse: repubs, conservatives, global
hackers, wicked leaks, J. Assange, usa intelligence/military/
police/prison industrial complexes, J. Comey, R. Barr, C. + K.

West, J. Stein, 13 % of Bernie or Bust 'Bots voting **** and
another % that stopped the youth vote from getting behind a
"not perfect" Hillary, "boat loads" of organized crime $ from
Russia, Ukraine, white supremacy, sinos, linos, ginos, ainos,

dinos, Moore for hawking 'trumpland' entitled book for months
before the election while projecting **** "would win", a % of
the elite of the black supremacy, etc., just allowed the not-
sees, totalitarians to destroy, ****** at an increased clip,

now add premeditated pandemic, ebony/ivory dictated duality,
racial environmental justice "only my environment matters"
movement and voila, the end of the climate crisis movement,
total extermination of humanity to it's extinction, in a can.

It's not a coinky-**** that the "knee" was taken upon the
news that "Biden was considering not choosing a woman of the
right color, Black".  For Ebony figures "if they're not get-
ting a Black president now, through a Black VP pick, they

might as well just put up with 4 more years of ****.  Biden,
Sanders, Warren, etc., will have aged out, Booker, Harris,
Patrick, etc., will be sitting pretty for the 'once you go
Black you never go back' prez job.", same as it ever was.  

Even though the 'show' was able to pull a Mattis out of their
hat, supposedly legitimizing not just the military, but the
republican conspiracy, during this 15th anniv. of the 'use'
of Katrina to "clean out the bowl", and "let the river take

what's the river's", exterminate the lower-middle-class to
poor, gentrify, militarize NOLA by purposely not preventing
the failing of the levees by 2005, by Reagan "we got 300
buses but no drivers" Nagin, Gov. Blanco, etc., to the tune

of mass-murdering going on 3000 predominantly lower-middle-
class to poor, mostly people of color, like king george and
his ****, cheney didn't the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01 and
serial murderers masquerading as cops don't daily terrorist

attacks, their one-sided and continual coverage of the
"current controversy", as ebony and the 'Blackish' lead
actor called the premeditated murderer of some women, ******,
kidnapper of 100's more, B. Cosby, was suffering from, is

clear, keeping the faux opening news out.  No ebony racist
comments, like the Houston Police Chief who repeatedly stated
throughout the day that "the looters were white" only, were
even remarked on.  The lock, ebony and ivory, the fix is in,

if it ain't fixed don't break it.  All the smoke and mirrors,
song and dance, show, weapons of mass distraction, to take
the news cycles off the too early "opening of the country",
pandemic, by ebony for ivory, in the world can't change the

facts, even though it's death toll is only 111,000 by their
accounts, actually 122,000, and there's going on 2 million
infected, there will be an extra 100,000 murdered by ****'s
policies and lack thereof in handling his virus circus.

That there's more prisoners, defacto-slave laborers now than
the number of slaves at the height of the slave trade, here,
not spoken about because ebony, ivory are both the corporate
structure, global oligarchy that it enriches, won't change.

See how the assassinations of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,
George Floyd, have paid ivory by ebony, like they did in 2016
to stop there being a minimum of 16 years straight of 'white'
prezs, Hillary and Tom.  Their deaths and the aftermath being

used now to cover up the premeditated ****** of 10,000's of
Blacks by ****, because ebony + ivory, working together in
perfect harmony to fill every news cycle now and for months,
want 'the economy open', to make them more $ now, instead

of saving all those Black lives who don't actually matter to
them at all, 'cause it's all about the benjamins, instead.  
Biden should pick a progressive woman to cement Bernie
voters, if not, then a liberal one of color, no particular hue.  

'De-funding police dept.s', etc., should wait until after the
election, unless ebony's insisting **** wins to get a Black
prez in 2024, instead.  The determined Winter of our death,
extermination to come, will surpass their class warfare's

liquidation of ases and assets of the masses en masse's
increased rate of blitzkreiging Gaia's kids to their
extinction.  Now it seems too late, their 'use' of pandemic
to subjugate the world to survival instead of alival,

exigency instead of humanity, has closed eyes, minds, pulled
the rug out....  But, "...we(e),..." can't be over-confident,
apathetic, cynical, complacent, nihilistic, pessimistic,
burned-out, for supposed anarchy is the global bi-polar axi

of supposed power's mutual modus operendi, to determine
la machine's chaos, and the division it causes, increases
vacuum-up economics to the global oligarchy, replicating the
'show' that must goes on, including colonialism, hegemony,

patriarchy, imperialism, supremacy, conspiracy, etc..  If you
didn't vote Hillary you voted Utin and his **** be installed
into the Black House.  There's public records of who did and
didn't do what, please stop them from doing it again, or die.

Protect, occupy, GOTV, "you can't dismantle the man's house
with the man's tools", Lordes, notseeism and totalitarianism.  
"The root of all oppression lies in (supposed) science",
Gandhi.  If you're not taking bullets you're making them.  
Viva la vida, solidaridad, la evolucion   :)   reality
The normal they want to return to, northern malaise, euro-centrism and projections of academia, a blood disease, have always flown in the face of necessity, progress and the need for humanity to even be allowed to exist.  Yet, now with coronaing of everyone going on, that desire for normalcy and return of norms takes on new hues; some very human and even desirable.  That while the purposeful too early opening of the country has already determined that being pandemiced is the new normal for at minimum a year (possibly permanently); until we get a vaccine or more life-saving treatment possibilities.  This has all opened many eyes to the disparaging realities of pre-pandemic America, where the life expectancy of people of color, and more so, the lower-middle-class to poor, were predominantly still only being addressed by their getting the establishment’s projected healthcare for them, eat st and die.  That goes for sociological maladies as well, for e.g., the lower-middle-class to poor suffering oppression from serial murderers masquerading as cops; police brutality tantamount to a incurable birth defect of all poor.  The injustice system and their dictating everybody accused of anything must plead guilty to a lesser charge or face the draconian rage of la machine’s dictating they get little lousy representation in fixed trials that most of the time determine ******* up or false convictions and incarcerations unequal to the reality of the circumstances that took place.  I wish I weren’t diffabled to the point where I can’t be at the front of these demonstrations for real change taking place now; as I had been for decades in the past- yet, still am doing all I can.  Thanx to you and All for doing all you do; have a great day    :)    reality
Tony Luxton Oct 2016
They're digging up the cobbles in our street,
moving them to a classier area.
We'll be given tarmac, black and soft in the sun.

Yes, even here it shines - on men's vests.
They're red faced, drinking from lager cans,
while their women finger scarved curlers.
At least, that's what others think they see.

But neighbours do talk with us.
There's a code of decency,
though Mum says, 'some have hearts
as black as the tarmac'.

There's a hierarchy,
in minds and heads,
if not in pockets.

Some day the toffs will turf us out,
gentrify our street. We'll be moved,
filed vertically, pigeon lofts in the sky.
Then they'll bring our cobbles back.
Joshua Haines Oct 2017
White Interceptors illuminate, cry, and leave ribbons of red and blue,
  accelerating north on Featherbed. Streetlamps hang like midnight ornaments.

It starts to rain, turning the tar streets into slick mirrors.
  I can see my lights lead me, sweeping the asphalt.

Kent is still too dangerous to gentrify. The trashcans are spilling
  cereal boxes and empty two liters. I imagine a two-thousand year-old
mountain of trash, corroding and forming this neighborhood.

  Barefoot children walk around aluminum cakes, reaching for the rain.

Skinny cats trot across the street, green and yellow eyes,
  leaking through the dark. I name them after sicknesses.

The humming of my Camry grows louder as I squeeze by
  dripping, patting hands. I now recognize the moon.

Buildings swoosh by faster and faster. Minutes go by and I
  find myself on the outskirts; the trees sway, dodging rain.

My phone rings like a frenzied roach. Picking it up,
  'Hello.'

'Sure. Yeah, I'll be right there.
  'Nowhere.
    'I'm going nowhere.'

The phone bounces on the grey seat. A screeching.
  Coming to a stop; my chest almost touching the center
of the steering wheel. All becomes still.

  A buck with velvet antlers stands in the rain.
It runs into the dancing forest. Much like me.
A Simillacrum Jun 2018
There are poor neighborhoods
that are tucked into towns,
where the less educated,
where the lesser of means,
find in the dregs, the ability
to coexist with higher society.

Society is grown to the point of disease,
killing the feeble, disabling the lost,
in the name of and for some ease.
So here comes the city, meaning so well.
They said, "Let's add a train line
to a town that has none!"

Well, there goes the block.
There go the people who
barely have homes.

The Council wants to drop a line
where they see shoes bounce power lines.
What's the harm in displacing
the part of the community already dead?
The town now seems to be just fine
now that the poor are paying fines.
Why not double down and just
gentrify when history tells the story best?

Expand Portland, rid Tigard of blemish,
trade your rug for cement and track.
Beautify Tigard, please your ill desire,
don't be surprised when your eyesore
comes back.

Go ahead, pave your poverty.
Go ahead, clean your streets.
You're thinking, "Lines for dimes."
What do you think a new line means?
What do you think the traffic brings?
The sweet guillotine repeats.
The city spikes that peer out over
rock-spires in the distance taste like
coffee grounds and finger paint.
They're bitter, but they matter.

Maybe someone north of Washington will
read our S.O.S. and send an airplane full of
urban-types to gentrify our graves.

And maybe Jesus saves.

Or maybe Jesus raves with coked-up
Gandhi up in Jersey, when the
winter turns to mush.
J Feb 2017
nobody
in the whole ******* world
has the power over you
that you do
**** that guy who broke into
your holy body,
vandalized your insides
used his hand
to crack stained glass windows
he smashed what you were born with
but know
he did not break you
there is beauty
in rebuilding
gentrify what he left condemned
you are still standing
you are still here
the power is in you
and boy,
does resilience
glisten
when you wear it
**boldly
saw the man who sexually assaulted me as a kid today and stopped breathing for a while until I realized he does not rule my life and wont ruin my day
CE Oct 2016
my life is sadness

As if you didn't already know that,
I'm a teenager after all

But this isn't a poem about a sad wasted life

It's a bland poem about a sad artist

Nothing I can ever do will make it meaningful

There's no point to it

I can create,

Write some profound or empty poetry

Make some genius or contrived music

Paint some ugly or beautiful pictures

gentrify my sadness,

make it pretty
make it art

It doesn't make it anything more than a black hole

a black hole that throws out a portrait of a boy with a million eyes that can't see anything

I realise now
that sadness

no matter how much I dress it up

Is sadness

And even if it's pretty or artistic

it's never going to be more than that
I realised how much of a little poseur I am. How terrible.
Julian Aug 2015
Affinity for the sharks attraction to the squeeze
Apotropaic lyrics cure an ineluctable terminal disease
Traversed time repent and rhyme
For every dollar exists a crime for every penny lost cured with wine
I serenade the world with lore threadbare and cloying but earnestly transcendent
Linger longer in evanescence so I can see the rainbow’s intent
Confederate putsch subverted by transnational push and supreme wonder
Tactless assault on the unadulterated truth a sheepish blunder
Ennobled and regal they gentrify the legal
A European tyrant fishes the sky to capture the preeminent eagle
Kings of the jungle turning us gradately into desert
Desiccated promises elicit the thirst but **** myself they can be so curt
One eye to see them all
One conqueror beyond the confines of linearity hogs the ball
Shoot the three when two will do
Missing every time when the sky is completely blue
Shrouded in the clouds are souls wafting to the sky
Concealed in the Dow a dry rain turns the dust extra wry
Moments clash with movements and chaos erects a monolithic lie
Sold in every shop consumed by every cop it keeps us landlocked on the verge of flight
Rescue the contempt needed to override the wrong and enshrine the right
Abdicate the war, annex the score and appear to soar
Words cannot corral the present anymore than the future can ignore
The past becoming present presents us throttled to the wire
Cartels own the news but the periphery is harder to conspire
We scour the earth looking for rebirth
We tower over the worthy with a catchy mirth
To all law belongs the defeat of malcontent with a begrudging consent
To any miser nothing is more miserable than avaricious but impotent intent
Invisible prison with visible prisoners beset by bars established by BAR exams that we fail to apprehend
Zero sum collapse contingent on the motives of the tyrants that cannot break or bend
So stand to grow the earth with elapsing sand and synchronize the beating of the drum with the actions of the best possible invisible hand
Choice monopolized by a garbled voice trying his best to be the lead singer of the smartest brand
Wary of the scary and contemplative before the boast
We align with design streamlined in serpentine time and on that sinuous path we coast
So we find time for a dream that proves God is a dreamer
Only to find out that all the teams play for the teamsters
Bribe yourself and renege your own wage
Depriving yourself of the ink needed to fill the page
But many words are impotent
When few will do
All you truly need in this world is an emboldened you and a chosen few
Odd Odyssey Poet Jun 2022
Now in these eyes, petrified, terrified, suicide,
In all the walks of life, fighting only to survive,
A man's pride is weaponized; his failings widely televised,
All the moments of love's bitter sweet,—by what we gingerfy,
Love is red; putting yourself out there to be hurt and jeopardize,
Learning from past mistakes,—change of character we gentrify.

Oh the next line; follow suit of a route to death wrapped in a necktie,
We envy to say "hie," but are accustomed to saying short goodbyes,
As life is a constant trial; walking court cases with a confident smile,
"Guilty or not," all of my shortcomings I press on in their denial.

I've walked a thousand's,—in a mile of every breath of time,
Though I haven't lived a while, I've seen plenty in these eyes.
James Medley Mar 2017
A treatise on things you believe infallible.
Disease spreads through words, as well.
Yellow abdomens on Men of Mathematics.
Equations containing division: a forte.

Wish for world peace and waste a wish.
Leave here with more than you came with.
Gentrify the darkest corners of your mind.
Excuse the rhetoric or make it better.

Less is more or less less than more, mostly.
More objections are questionable than not.
Do the math. Do the math. Do the math.
We are here for you and you only.

Let it all flow through you sickeningly so.
A new way of doing old things worse.
Look not into the eye of the beholder.
Bite the hand that beats you down.

The Devil knows you're dead and frowns.
Destiny sans mine family of origin domicile
   locked in a full nelson,
   and...eventually wrestled
   to the ground as pile of jagged rubble!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Synonymous with fragile hulk
   (pitted against backhoe and wrecking ball)
   incredibly resilient,
   when incessantly whip lashed
   until unanchored off mooring

thence, her frail exterior (rabidly
chomped via humungous steely toothed jaws)
bowed, teetered and collapsed
stern weight accosted, beckoned, and caved, 
spot on dead reckoning,

   non bash full machination yen
suffering being most weather beaten
   since about nineteen ten
embodying painstaking craftsmanship
   from way back when,

effort to build an enduring domicile
   ruled as blueprint for a den
not necessarily of thieves,
but extra ordinary ship shape,
   rich n hard folks (The Leipers)

fancying innovative
   Hercules hue men, and women 
who wrought their family genealogy
   via quilted pen
predecessors of Barbie and their ken
Erected by strong strapping young men.

Since February 28th 1968
   mighty noble domain occupied
by thine now octogenarian widower father
echoing with ghosts,
   who formerly inhabited 324 Level Road
(plus spirit of deceased mother), 

a plethora of past occupants came to life
when’re he visited berth of his lady friend
who lives in the langhorne area
haggled with Gambone builders
   to pocket a *** of cash
resigned immeasurable

   blood, sweat and tears all for naught,
nor without Miley Cyrus astride
   the demolition destroyer
which hundred year old mansion
once a stately summer resort
   (to the upscale who owned 
the Bell & Clapper),

   a respectable haven for well to do Philadelphians
whar English ivy obscured visible slated patio
upon said pseudo pier viewer proffered view
where lily padded fishpond aqua culture bounded

(where froggy went a court'n
   hopping tubby a prince) below decks
which once renown estate
accrued facade as mere dark shadow 
sitting like a charade along,

   the outer limits of the twilight zone 
casting shadowy silhouettes, 
   sans lovely bones the edge of night
versus former vestige of former radiant glory
prompted this prodigal son to be somber and brood
perchance never to set my eyes, whereat 

no artisan gentrified abode of vested gentry 
thus, debilitating, hunkering,
   and landing plain trampled
so much uniqueness expended viz zit by the hands 

of thine extraordinarily dexterous
   hands of me papa,
who spent immeasurable energy
and countless precious blocks of time 
to gentrify, mend and rescue
   from natural degradation

(whence thee bell tolled the hour
   maws gouged gored a gaping hole 
from this fixer upper, 
   the entire complex edifice
Like fate of humpty Dumpty

   did crumble and fall 
vis a vis, our own Roman version
Thence, my father removed a sign
passersby (whether on foot or via auto de fe), 
would never know, nor glance to read

historical indication, viz the original occupants 
i.e. captain Leiper, and listed in registry
steered his shipshape tract titled "Glen Elm",
a vast vibrant 100 + green acres
before dilapidated home
   listlessly lumbered ponderously

with nary hub buyer shaking hands at acceptable price
thus, the sad outcome as indicated above
mine dada did agreed
   on a deal with contractor 
who bought scrappy spit of land

Acres bandied crumbs
   dealt enough finances "bread"
hence (as explained)
   by the end of November 2012 
demolition crews 
   bull dozed childhood crucible
   of memories without fail.
Molly Mar 2018
Your standard suburban background,
row after row of identical
pebble-dashed houses.
Names made up by the council.
Applewood. River Valley. Manor.

Control-V town, with cheap rent,
public housing, the occasional
café desperate to gentrify
and the same shopping centre
as everywhere else in Europe.

You argue like a gang member –
everyone here does. Except
when you’re at home
and back in your immigrant tongue.
The white noise is honey to me.

Watching planes fly from the airport –
magic in this urban wasteland.
You buy me chips with extra vinegar.
Love pours out from my throat,
slick and rainbowed like an oil spill.
So many suckas claimin
They love us
Destroying hip hop
I call ya **** hop staged the prop
So many intellects get shot
No more real lyricism
In the game I came
To put out the fire
But the flows ain't trying
To be heard by the higher
Power so I gotta devour
I go for the jugular
Don't care forget being a regular
I'm not a masturbater
But ill debate a master causing disaster
Slaughter the rhyme with ease
Massagin' temple
With these spiritual ephipanies
How I come I be
A threat to society can't quiet me
I be the representer of the black galaxy
And death to who ever threatens me
Never shady cant trust anyone not even my own lady
Feelin' like Turner With the burner
Grab ya magazine and turn tha
Page see another brother engaged
By the sounds of police guns
And no one in rage but in a rage
When you point out there political raids





Yeah so what I gotta act up
Cuz they wanna keep me in the cut
Arrested development
But I broke the commitment
Of being apart of the imprisonment
I cause mind riots they try to keep me quiet
Say I'm violent cuz I speak on justice
But it's just us brother chilling
Then they come to bust
Us for drug paraphernalia But I'll tell ya
We ain't the ones bringing drugs and guns
Along with the ammunitons
Poisons in our community
Then claim.we be the problem of society quietly
I see the thoughts unravel
Now they gentrify my neighborhood
So **** white jews can feel good
But too many dummies in hood
Sellin' there property for cheap good
Feedin' off material your misguided
Spread em.with knowledge
They get silent
Wake up my sister and brothers
They plotting us against one another
Cant you see it naw they rather fool
Be addicted and used as a tool
Black masses you don't need glasses
To see the ******* they pull on us
Too many bitin' dust cant even trust
Our own they droppin' chem trails
So well always roam
Baby mamas makin' dramas
Isolate the black man
Serve with court papers in hand
And it started off with his mama
Fathers absence makes for prison entrance
Since adolescent
I been target for termination regardless
If I'm.doing wrong or right
And they say it ain't about black or white
Coded language makes me anguish
At how they label us
But trust we coming back
With vengeance
Just like when we broke the slavery allegiance
Drug my thoughts with food so they can't be created or a battle initiated
Charles Vorpal Aug 2022
Wanted: Urgent Rapid Gentrification

Attention demons, devils, abominations.
Do you seek an empty soulless husk?
An unassuming unwanted meat puppet?
Look no further, for here I am, in the flesh!

This rotten mobile corpse just needs repairs
Rebuild and renovate, improve and renew it
Gentrify it! Its previous owner doesn't give a ****!
Use it and make it better! Change it till it's unrecognisable!

All for the cheap cheap price, of a single condition:
Destroy the soulless spirit currently haunting within
4th poem for SEAPoWriMo
Mind Da Hed Dec 2017
Gentrify a dream
into an edible
religion
Jonathan Moya Sep 2020
Smash the glass if you must, yet
do it gently using soft hammers.
Catch the fury in your breath and
release its image on the pane.

The goal is not destruction but creation,
to leave behind something cracked
yet still whole, hanging precariously together,
a reminder that we are all shards about to fall.

Tap and if it forms a line tap again,
until a lip forms a mouth, maybe yours,
a tear- an eye like your mother’s,
again, your father’s shattered brow.

Leave enough of you behind
for them to complete.
Gentrify the other glasses with
the genealogy of all your pain.

Make everything a museum of
all the world’s shattered glass
that none dare destroy  lest
even they fall apart
but for some unknown reason
more tired than usual...,
without daily twenty four hours
proper rest, I feel haggard.

I strongly suspect (a hunch acquired
upon returning home
after visiting Notre Dame)
deep sleep interruptions...
attributed to uncontrollable need:
tap a kidney, micturate, spend a penny
(thee last mentioned British, informal)...
quite displeasing... yea urinate kidding.

Methinks perhaps to purchase adult diapers
(or fashion/repurpose water absorbent material)
in an effort to stave off awakening groggily
after experiencing an awesome dream, cuz
REM (rapid eye movement cycle) interference

courtesy natural function versus external
noise, which when slumbering both equally
affect bringing about onset of fatigue,
yet herewith yours truly intent to hone in
on former.

Meanwhile, he hoops to entertain thee dear
anonymous reader with the following poem
posthumously dashed off while falsely
believing himself to transition into afterlife

So sit back and kick up dem heels
without falling on yar crown
and/or bare stocking feet
and/or if ye prefer by all means lie down
attempting moost impossible mission

to flip (i.e. reverse) any lurking frown
other than standing on head whereby gown
and/or other stitch of clothing (casual wear)
preparatory to embarking on scheduled hoedown,
perchance participating among other groupies

(a gratefully deadset of fervent beastie boys
and goo goo dolls) join fracas intown
where martial law heightened surveillance
police able, ready and willing with Billy clubs
to crack then scramble noggins, and knockdown

civilly disobedient citizens in dire straits
politely courtesy coronavirus
(COVID-19) lockdown,
which heavily truncated livingsocial options
inextricably linkedin with societal meltdown

psychological fallout endemic among Caucasian
or hue men/women talking heads of natural nutbrown
persuasion, which madding crowd (think Woodstock)
where little upstate New York town
of Bethel hmm became quickly overgrown

with peaceable folks across gamut
regarding age, nationality, race, religion...,
rendered superfluous strong arm of law to putdown
and/or quell any anarchistic uprising
(perhaps even top brass
military industrial complex)

incognito as... beetle browed brothers
of some contraband slated to perform
and eventually gain world wide webbed renown
donating their unexpected proceeds
to upgrade and gentrify

one after another shantytown
even boosting fame and (mis)fortune
of Matthew Scott Harris
at long last, he could relocate
out his tumbledown abode to parts unknown.
They want to gentrify me
suit and tie me
they'll ******' crucify me
if I let 'em.

should I have known Salome
she could have come home with me,
but
would I have lost my head?
Everything turns biblical when
the water turns into wine.
Spurred by mother dearest
as well as other politesse
drummed into her second born
fobbing blandishments as incentive
tumbled off fingers of prodigal son
tripped wordsmith to splutter forth
forthwith the following lines.

Back in the day
quaint summertime of yore,
the following popular refrain reverberated
within hallowed halls of school.

"No more pencils,
no more books,
no more teacher's/
teachers' ***** looks”

Never did exotic vacations populate
those twelve weeks
when doors flung opened
at Henry Kline Boyer,
whence score years ago yours truly
now (June 8th, 2023)
approximately same age,
when mine paternal grandfather visited
me, and other members of family
at then Route Deliver #2
Collegeville, Pennsylvania,
the home of mein kampf.

Figurative eons ago
bygone innocent childhood of mine
oblivious to progressive political issues
easily delighted, liberated, tantalized...,
especially when Sunkist grandpa Harris
(Aaron) indulged yours truly
jais nais sais quois
kibitizing lovingly, mirthfully
naturally offering pleasing qualities,

surrendering slender tanned arms
where upon left wrist dangled his
venerated wristwatch (analog),
I ecstatically fingered, prized, and toyed
with said object fascinated
at the linkedin craftsmanship,
which yielded general squealing zealousness
from an ordinarily
non emotionally expressive lad.

This towheaded grandson,
extremely excited when me daddy's papa
came to this figurative rural outpost,
(despite his chastising behavior
ridiculing favorite progeny's children),
where traces of early twentieth century
still evident when manicured formal gardens
pegged, limned, harkened... back
to a supposedly simpler time

when this elderly family member
(who only completed eighth grade),
whose birth benchmarked, coincided
and demarcated with late
Industrial Revolution, whence
Philadelphia birthplace noisy with
horse drawn carriages competing
with early model automobiles
crowding thee busy thoroughfares,
where the streets have no name.

Lemme return back
to the previous topic,
and explain how
I felt eager to interact
with cranky, yet doting old man,
which showcased chained metal links
wore a temporary imprint
upon his bronzed aged skin – dog
head lee remaining
gently persuading him

to delay when departure time arrived
for favorite boyhood relative,
twas pure heavenly glory
conniving, finagling, inveigling...
our favorite grandfather
to situate myself on right side
and toy with the wristwatch (analog),
winning three way verbal tussle
between yours truly and two siblings
(an older and younger sister),

which when a kid
also exhibited glee at occasions
treasuring said older folk gave me a frog
tiled toy (sliding puzzle)
that required dexterity
moving pieces fastly secured,
which when complete
always left me agog
and this, that or
some other gewgaw, souvenir, trinket

(plus a bit of chump change given to me)
spurred mine late mum
to spark me mental cog
to say “good morning”, “good afternoon”,
“goodnight”, “thank you,”
or when eggnog proffered to this
most senior chronological guest,
who sat at the head of table,
or blankly watching television
like a bump on a log

while chided, forced, induced...
to parlay social graces
from this mere pollywog,
who (much as delight arose fussing
with trappings worn
loss on atrophied flesh),
a skittishness found me
averse to follow orders
as if I happened to be a petsmart dog.

At that time
Florida orange juiced industry
touted, popularized, and linked in
with Anita Bryant -
American singer, political activist,
known for anti-gay activism
and 1958 Miss Oklahoma
beauty pageant winner,
and a brand ambassador
from 1969 to 1980
for the Florida Citrus Commission.

Thee paternal grandfather
oft times visited our then rural abode
at that time one sturdy estate
(originally called Glen Elm)
wildlife twittered, jibber-jibber, crowed...
within the plush wooded tract
even then blueprints drawn up
land deeded, mapped, parceled,
and slated to explode;
our then eco-friendly family averse
to witness expanding commercialization

across wetlands horizons
(Canadian Geese flocked to pond,
which liquid haven courtesy Donald Nelson
got the plug pulled
and drained watery basin)
asthma late mum didst lament
misfortune of flora and fauna,
nevertheless chided me
against even thinking
about sabotaging property

after I played  devil's advocate to goad
conspiratorial natural forces
to undermine cookie cutter
look alike slap dashed, ticky tack
shoddy tinderboxes (vinyl city) growed
on formerly untamed, uber ****** woods,
perhaps early boondocks getaway hoed
and plowed, but indomitable
(naturally enshrined eminent domain
abandoned since pioneers

bushwhacked rustic habitations)
nature relished reversed
grape seeded tracery etched
yet 'pon reflection,
I ponder how early occupation knowed
no habitat foresaw wreckage
when decision via wealthy Leipers,
(original residents plus wealthy owners of
The Bell and Clapper)
unanimously custom made crafted mansion
actually originally a summer getaway.

Self imposed endeavor
to indulge drafting literary effort,
though methinks love's labor's lost
hunt and peck typing  
across qwerty keyboard
and captcha characteristics
unique to house of my boyhood,
whereby selecting alphanumeric
and/or special symbols  
instantaneously generate electronic signals
electronically communicating,
subsequently transmitting

byte size data packets description
to respective ip node
(to create document courtesy OpenOffice)
analogous how modus operandi
to build stately
sturdy summer country villa,
(circa early 1900's)
which property whittled down
to 324 Level Road demesne comprising
about a half dozen acres
eventually acquired by Boyce Harris
February 28th 1968 -

for x number of years mortgaged he towed,
a near singlehanded undertaking
to gentrify house as elements of style
witnessed once ship shape
wrought architectural structure
weathered, subjected to degradation,
naturally deteriorated
him (in vain) to enlist by force if need be
grunt laborious services of singular son
the author of these words,
who houses the ineradicable genes
and chromosomes of August Aaron.
Mathieu Jul 2021
I know the enemy.
I know myself.
I have  the energy to
chip.
chip.
chip.
Away at this hell.
Those naysayers.
Those martyr's.
Those doubters.
Those harlets.
Drink in oblivion.
Taste all I know so well.
And when
the echo's
of dreamers
rise.
The meek
The crushed
The beautiful,
betrayed.
Won't hide in shadows
We won't be denied
Eternity will
swallow the victor.
Rewrite the world
History will reveal itself.
Gentrify truth.
Untarnished youth.
Segregate misery
to thrive without
abuse.
Authenticity
converts publicity
wields authority
unshackled from destruction
Despair
unleashes
revolution.

— The End —