There is no dignity in the bootstrap
The sad lack of facts that fat cats spread
The lies that said to be strong
You must pull yourself up
But the rope that they would have you use
Is the one they use to hang you with
Boot laces and straps don’t hold up to that
They will snapped withered from the labor
Tare and be shredded before the vetted
Ever get high enough to overcome
Where they come from
While the rich man’s son
Doesn’t even have to bother with one

What’s so hard about being human?
Knowing our roots seeing our kin
in everyone
every father, daughter
mother, and son
is someone.

What’s so hard about being human?
Seeing other humans in pain
and knowing
that the growing
of their suffering
is wrong.

What’s so hard about being human,
about being humane?
I know it’s a struggle.
Struggling in vain
to impede the stampede
of the diseased or merely deceived
human beings
who think caring is a weakness.

What’s so hard about being human?
About feeding the hungry,
helping the homeless,
seeing a stranger as family,
seeing another nation
as distant cousins,
seeing a neighbor
as a neighbor
and not a competitor
for better
things.

What’s so hard about being human?
Giving A helping hand
to help us all understand
loving can
make the world a better place.
How hard is that?

I was there for only a fraction of her grief.
I only softened her hunger pains slightly.
I only shared her burden lightly, by listening
to her mumbling anguish.

One dollar sandwich,
one good ear,
one cellphone call,
to make it clear
that I cared.

I let her vent her pain incoherently.
I listened carefully,
watched her eyes swell with tears.
Swollen cheeks and wrinkled face
looking for an inkling of hope,
but I could not offer that hope.
In that place I could only spare a little grace.
Till, she slipped out the booth
hustling to the door to disappear
into the world that was hurting her
with a pound or two less
of stress and pain.

Every heart beats in 3d
Waits for the world to see
What it will or won’t be
Not pre-destiny,
But sometimes expectations
Set up the situation
Till only one outcome
Becomes reality
Letting 3d hearts
Grow, shrink, shrivel, and beat
Pumping out heat
Imprisoning or freeing
Our 3d humanity

Little ember floats in the wind
Tiny paper dancing in the red road
Signs that speak of intolerance
Sparking the hate filled minds

I do not know how to unburn
That broken wooden bridge
To take back the fire that
Licked and snapped
Leaving tires and other rubber trash
That never turned to ash

Leaving mad men
Stomping and demanding
More violence and less
Understanding

The rabble turning life to rubble

Gun rights meaning more
To them then civil rights
For all my friends

Trapping time in
A tiny painful moment

One friendship down
One job lost
One town burning down
Miles behind me
As I escape this mad city

When there are profits to be made
the corporation's will sway
politicians to the warring ways.

When people believe
there is more to be gained
from war then from peace
more to be gained from bullets, bombs,
body armor, commodities, and unmanned planes
then it will always be easier
for the sick, slick, and sleazier
war profiteering *******
to trick this submissive
population into being dismissive
of the artists and other peace makers.

When there are many takers
big spending capitalistic money makers
instead of scientists, poets, singers, and songwriters
it is almost impossible or at least improbable
that we will live to see a free and non-warring society.

But if we can change a few minds at a time
if we can see change expand from me
to you and beyond
Finding such influence expanding exponentially
that is when we will see
a better world waits for us
if we can change enough.

There was a time when things were fine
But he went from full time to part time
Then came to find they had no time for him
A short trip barely a blip when he slipped
And was stripped of his security
And the narrative went from the American dream
To some other sick sad distorted Norman Rockwell scene
And his family went from prosperous
To welfare kindling struggling and burning in anxiety
Choosing between eating and heating
Between water or electricity
but the numbers read him wrong
Statistically society claimed that he
Was a poor *** deserving his shame
Classified with those he despised
Those he never bothered to look in the eyes
Cause he just made bland generalizations
Now he is the generalized
Marginalized by the lies
Forgotten by those who fail to realize
They too are one high wire walk away from
The same kind of pain and devastation
Cause the safety net keeps getting clipped and snipped
Soon even you to will fit, falling right through to
The same sorry state of poverty

No justice no peace
The riot geared up police
Line up to stop these
Hopeful and heartbroken people
From protesting
To the inconvenience
Of the wealthy

No lie can live forever
Cause liars always die
Leaving the next generation
To waddle slowly to the truth
Letting honest hearts free to fly high

It is blindness by consent
Not knowing where we were going
Not caring where we went
Just tearing up the world
As we play follow the leaders

He isn’t a nobody
That body
Soft skin
Broken in
Wrinkled and
Crying

She isn’t a nobody
Homebody
Welfare mother
Struggling
Working
Fast food
Registered nurse
Still not enough
To fill her purse
To feed her kids
And pay the bills

He isn’t a no body
But that ****** body
Is all we have left
A memory
Water skin drying out
Dying, no dead
What they were lying about
How one man is worth
So much less
You forget yourself
Because he is you and me
Somebody to somebody

Look out the window
We see smoke
Children choking on
The chaos
The media played us
Trained us
To only see enemies
But after the smoke clears
After the sirens you hear
Carry the wounded
Out of here

I only see broken bodies
Shattered glass
And past that
I see lost dreams
All those fires
Go smoking
Choking gas
Smoking clouds
Of dark blue and grey
Billowing and swallowing
All that we can see
Fires blasting pass
It’s all in the past

Pictures and videos
on facebook, tumblr,
youtube and google
We could have been
More attentive
But there are so many other things
To see and do

You will not watch the videos
Of the police brutality
See the finality
Of their violence
Blood spilled
Another man killed
Spine severed or choked out
Swearing and pleading
Crying I can keep breathing
And you can’t stand seeing
The darker truths
So you turn it off and walk away

You will not look at the pictures
See the children gutted
Cities busted by bombs
Clusterfucks of killing
Legs split open
Jaw ripped wide
Eyes glazed
You are not phased
Because you turn and walk away

You do not hear the hungry child crying
Or see the woman bleeding from the beating
Of one who claims he loves her
You are not disturbed
Because their sobs remain unheard
And the bruises and broken bones
And the cold broken furnace
In that ******* broken home
Doesn’t mean thing to you
Because you can’t see it

Well, I hold those horrors in my head
Plant painful points of ink
So you will be forced to think
Instead
Of ignoring
Cause it is to agonizing or boring
I write it down so it can be found
But the truth is that you will
Mostly likely ignore all the horrors until
They become the reality of someone
You love