at times we tend to think
our democracy is safely founded and secure
only eventually we recognize
the need to constantly defend its fundamental rights
work steadily against their stealthy abolition
watch carefully the words of politicians
       lest they betray what they pretend to say
think twice for whom we cast our votes
avoid contenders who too often bray
     that these were not their quotes  
listen to those who have good arguments
     do not unleash too easy sentiments
and in the end cast our votes when called

in short  
democracy turns out to be hard work

     in case we shirk this
     we soon pay the price

unfree societies have known
     dictatorship  corruption  vice
have often needed centuries
to remedy injuries done
to find their four freedoms

and to recognize
democracy remains a living promise
a brilliant idea with many faces
always a work in progress

It's been a back and forth motion:

losing
  gaining
losing
  gaining
losing
  gaining
  maintaining
losing

for nearly a decade.

I can't seem to find* my way back up from this downward spiral
and I'm losing more than mass as I descend.

I don't have anyone close enough to stop me. Not that I'd let them anyways.

I'm going to keep
losing and
losing and
losing.

I'll turn sideways and disappear.
Shrivel up into .nothing.

And maybe then,
   just then,
I might feel valid.

(*correction: I can but I refuse to.)

Shade, go away
knaves, your shadowy
hands are made of clay,
simple worthless dirt.

Darkness, be gone,
night belongs to poets alone
to cast their bones where they may,
worthy words, their poetry.

Who to talk too? You?
Should be able too;
Wow. We took vows.

As I fear mortality
You call out morality.
Yow. Wrong somehow.

We need to weather
Somehow stay together
How, me and thou?

lips all pouty trembling
my chin dimpled again
tears in my eyes listening
to your playlist
when I should be trying
to make the miles disappear
walking your way
if nothing else
instead of just singing along
to love songs on a
soggy Sunday afternoon
tears in my eyes
memories on my breast
wishing you were here
feeling your breath
smelling your perfume
lingering in
the past.

She paints a pretty picture
she says the nicest things
outside she's always smiling
though demons live within.

She wears the latest fashion
Is surrounded by her friends
She goes to all the parties
but the torment never ends

She always feels so helpless
while alone beneath the stars
She paints a pretty picture
the girl with all the scars.

that over millenia
major religions have advocated peace
their adherents have been slaughtering each other    
     supposedly in the name of their assorted gods
more than any other known species

why is it
that in my maturity
(which people usually call old age ...)
I‘m getting so *******
with politicians who seem not to see
the obvious solution to a problem
but find elaborate fake excuses
just so they can get re-elected

why is it
that for Europe it‘s so difficult
to find a way for refugees to be accepted
with respect and  dignity

why is it
that the USA apparently forgets it‘s been the country
living off its (il)legal immigrants for centuries
and now simply ignores the words
they put onto their Statue of Liberty

why is it?!??

FAKE NEWS is not new;
Fantabulism populism:

SHRIMP, BOY!
Mind the clause!

BEARDED PERSON!
Absolutely Ordinary!

ZIPPY THE PINHEAD:
Are we having fun yet?!

Resting the mind is not easy
it dances like a sparrow
and speaks like a babbler
seeking the minutest grain
from the jungle of weeds
tweeting what it has to say
from one perch to the other
in all weather.

Then the aching wings falling slow
by the cold north wind
find no worth in the haste
seek a rest
perching upon some heart.

When unbroken silence is all it has
the mind rests easy in peace.