This is the Last Straw –
and Something About Sacred Buckets of Holistic Ice Water

****** predators, human smugglers
Starvation in the Sudan, civil war
in Syria, mass executions in China
Journalists murdered almost everywhere
Fashionable infanticide, homelessness
Unemployment, urban terrorism
Mass ******, school shootings, wildfires, racism
An unstable national government
Anti-Semitism, border desperation
Riots, arson, ecclesiastical corruption
****, alcoholism, historical cleansing
Skinheads, abuse, Khardassianistas
Volcanos, the death penalty, free verse
Affluenza, Jerry Springer, The View
Herbal tea, antifa, anti-antifa
And the soul-******* existential despair
Of inspirational singer-songwriters:

Nah, not a bit worried about plastic straws

But I must go now; The Voices are telling me
To pour a bucket of ice water over my head
(As long as it’s not a plastic bucket)

Hold tight to hope's embrace,
   wait...

I've heard this line before.

   This corridor I've walked along before,
I walk along once more.

Breathlessly tracing my fingertips along the walls as I stroll through the halls,
  
   Feel the infinitesimal imperfections,
akin to the ones in my mind.

Mind the gap.

Ahead here,
   is a dead end.

the point I cannot see past.

what,
What is behind my wall?

~Robert van Lingen

Just like the seasons,
You’ll catch me changing.
Sometimes for the better,
Or for the worst.

Regardless, I should be loved,
When I’m in every state.
I’ll love you at your best,
But even more at your weakest.  

Since we’re all worthy of love,
Why stop when you’re feeble.
In the winter, I’m brittle and
Without the spring there is

No summer within me.
I’ll crumble in the fall since
We love the colours on the ground.
And the cold that slowly creeps.

I doubt you’ll love the seasons
That change in me.

n.n

I only had to go school today
I ate my toast I grabbed my bag
And don’t forget to say bye to dad
All I had was to go to lesson
Meet my friends
Give a presentation
Maybe today I can learn something new
Do a science experiment I’ll be happy to
Go to homecoming with someone I love
But how can I do that

I only had to go to school
I ate my toast I grabbed my bag
This time I couldn’t say bye to Dad
All I had was to go to lesson
Hide in a cupboard
Not to give myself away
And cover my ears to block out the screams
Maybe today something would change
My safety ensured
But not today

I only had to go to school
A place of learning
Friendship
And love too
But what I wasn’t prepared for
An early departure
From the world that I lived
I looked forward to my graduation

Sometimes we forget to say goodbye
But that’s not our faults
We did not plan this
But we could have prevented this

I only had to go to school today
My daughter said as she smiled and made her way
I don’t remember saying goodbye,
but I hope I did
Because that was the last time
I saw her alive
I wasn’t prepared for what came next
To outlive my daughter
And bury her along with the rest.