it is a wonderful world
out there somewhere
where brethren plead
for love and peace again
and woodstock rises it's head above
Manson
where corporate greed
individualism
can be not replaced
but added to by societal caring
where the
farmers have enough to share
the workers are well rewarded
the banks feel empathy
and government is us
where the times have changed Bob
to where no one among us not the poorest
goes without
where the wealthy
keep their
mansions
porches and yachts
their mar-a-lagos
but have hearts , too.
In any swing a long way one way
comes the other way around eventually
and I see
from this hard right way up narcissismic and me
pendulum
a hard swing back to peace signs
a rebound in flower covered
VW buses and
sit-ins
and flowers
in guns.

Across the leaden sky
A gull shooting a cry,
Hastens to his final task
Before the sky puts on his mask.

No one knew what his final task was
Except that his time drew to a pause
And that he had to hasten because
From the open he had to retreat.

This the bird knew, but he was wayward;
He swam in the airy waves, beak forward,
Skating-flying, but always eastward,
Heedless of the dark - like a poet.

©LazharBouazzi, 2017

.
Slip your arm around him and smile,
tell her that she has beautiful style,
bring love and friendship to them all,
then stand back and watch them fall.

Shower compliments from way up high,
be with them all to laugh and cry,
share their pain and share their lives,
whilst in the darkness sharpening knives.

For rumours, and cursed words you weave,
behind the scenes, intent to deceive,
to bring them crashing to their knees,
and conquer that which has you displeased.

Then laugh until it hurts, somehow,
the means may have justified the ends,
but take a good look around you now,
you no longer have any more friends.

© Pagan Paul (25/03/17)

Nine years and still
we cradle our grief
carefully close,
like groceries
in paper bags.

Eventually the milk
will make its way
into the refrigerator;
the canned goods
will find their home
on pantry shelves.

Most things find
their proper place.

Eventually the hummingbirds
will ricochet against scorched air,
their delicate beaks stabbing
like needles into the feeder filled
with red nectar on the back porch.

Eventually our child
will make her way
back to us. Perhaps.

But I’ve heard
that shooting
****** feels
like being
buried under
an avalanche
of cotton *****.

For now it’s another
week, another month,
another trip to Safeway.

We drive home and wonder
why it is always snowing.
Behind a curtain of snow,
brake lights pulse, turning
the color of cotton candy,
dissolving into ghosts.

And with each turn,
the groceries shift
in the seat behind us.
From the spot where
our daughter used to sit,
there is a rustling sound—

a murmur of words
crossed off yet another list,
a language we’ve budgeted
for but cannot afford to hear.

I woke up this morning
In the middle of the night
Saying to myself
such a dandy plight

Every thorn has it's rose
Every brier patch it's hare
Every Monday has it's shame
for the weekend it bares

You can buy salvation
for a dollar a shot
During happy hour
So much redemption why stop ?

All the glasses
in a row
Why they call them shots
I already know

Every thorn has it's rose
Every brier patch it's hare
Desolation is one after another
Until you just don't care