So, I missed you,
misused
the tales
that other dudes
passed on.

I stole
the swollen heart of
the dark art’s love,
in observing
and serving up
other peoples
stuff,

little notes
about their lives,
things that I
did not experience
or survive,
but I still write
about those desperate nights
bringing their realities to light.

I plagiarized,
with a chameleon’s guise,
took their truths,
rationalized,
and fictionalized
with little details
and larger lies.

But isn’t that how
strangers empathize?
Isn’t this how
creatives thrive?

I finally got the piece of the puzzle
that people use to muzzle
modern dissidents,

this backpack loaded with
all the gadgets you want to get
so, you don’t have time to
join the resistance,

videos and social media,
games with rewards
they use to feed ya
a sense of techno satisfaction
from imaginary actions
kind of like prayer.

I finally put the hours in
to get my promotion,
getting home late
suffering from exhaustion
and other stress related
maladies.

I finally got fired
and rehired
to work my way
up the corporate ladder.

I finally got to retire
just in time
to expire.

There is nobility in humility,
but discipline and persistence
has its value in this resistance
and I am always seeking
that self-improving
human empathy moving
kind of thing.

There is nobility in kindness.
To take your darkness
and resist the urge to give in to it,
instead becoming
the one they are shunning
for the wrong reasons
as you take their cruelty
and give them generosity.

It is a sinking ship
that sails amidst
all of this madness
and maintains
that which fools
struggle in vain
to take from them.

“Look out for yourself.

Keep quiet,
and bow your head.

Do not stand *****
or act with defiance.

Do not try and deny us
when we tell you
you’re all wrong.”

There is nobility
in staying true to who
you are
and who you strive to be,

especially,
when you live in a society
that just wants another
cog in the machine,
another out for themselves
sucker super psychopath
who likes to laugh
at other’s suffering.

A lot of things have changed.
A lot of good folks have gone,
and I’ve forgotten most of them.

Timbers tremble in the woods,
losing leaves these grieving trees
prepare to go where nightmares
fear there will be a terrible dry heat
burning every single thing.

Desolation on a scale
that makes reality
look like a biblical hell,
but I tell myself
we can do better.

We all know
that dreamers lie,
and I include me
in that tricky
category,
because
I do not see
humanity
succeeding.

I only dream
of fallen forms
retreating
due to
our self-inflicted
descent into
death’s dark hallway.

We're in thrall.
Where's your wall?
You dump truck...
You fumb duck...
You other mother...
You worse than senseless thing.

This poison pill
is not the hill
I wish to
plant my
flag upon.

This dull blade
that bade me bath
in the bloodbath
that warlords make
for the sake
of profits
is not the tool
I would like
to use to fuel
my creative life.

This crushing
weight
of unwieldy hate
is not the force
I would choose,
and yet
unfettered fools
debase and abuse
themselves
and all of us
for their wealth.

They seek to conquer
with sick implements
of destruction,
such impediments
to the betterment
of our human
condition.

Art’s armament
is not adequate
to defeat them,
and I do not know
if I alone
or all of us
can beat them,

but I will not
concede to their greed
and be what they need
to feed their profit machine.

There's a Revolution coming,
The boots are on the streets;
It's calling from the graves,
We're stirring from our sleep.
There's a hunger in the eyes;
The troops are on their feet.
The revolutions's coming
And the enemy's in retreat.

The mob appeal
Is running lights,
Towered minions
Join the fight
To rein in one percent
From their ***** heights.
Desks in towers,
Facades of power,
Will tumble to defeat.
The gravity of greed
Will drag them through the streets.

The bell at four
Will sound no more;
The chorus chants
For a holy war,
For salvation,
Then, for some more.

There's a revolution
On the way,
We'll re-write the laws,
We'll line up the Romanovs,
And shake down all the Shahs.
There's a revolution coming
And it's coming
With just cause.

Dear daughters of Eve,
sweet children who bleed
because god perceived
that he was betrayed
when your sire ate
the fruit we believe seeded
the knowledge that we needed,

and the punishment given
was the ability to conceive
in a woman’s womb,
the greatest boon
from said fertility,

oddly,
something
that a man can
never achieve
despite his raw virility.

So, the punishment
for gaining knowledge
is really a gift on both ends,
cause the fruit of your bodies
is where each successive
generation begins.

Imagine
a world of compassion,
led by the well fed
not those with a passion
for keeping up with the
current Kardashian fashions.

Imagine,
a society
driven by empathy,
that would not stand by
while observing
certain tragedies,
would not let
curable maladies
fester for the
faintest profit.

Imagine
a reality
were science
and artistry
work with a
symbiotic
chemistry,
where
instead of
reality tv
presidencies
we have
well-informed
people who lead.

Imagine,
a place
where the human race
is not driven by greed,
but has all that it needs,
like more modern-day Medici’s
who support
the values we need to be
a better batch of humanity

I have no use
For the military Boys
Prancing around
With their nuclear toys.

I have no use
For the heads of state
Ignoring the climate
‘Til it’s too late.

I have no use
For Supreme Court Judges
Bending the law
To their personal grudges.

I have no use
For the lovers of Trump
I have a nice lake
Into which they can jump.

I have no use
For the trolls I attract
Attack all you want
I’ve never yet cracked.
             ljm