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James Floss Feb 2019
X: Mr. Floss, do you believe in god?

J: No, no I do not.

X: Mr Floss, do you believe in sin?

J: No, I do not.

X: Mr Floss, are you saying…

J: Please, let me explain. I believe in goodness. If you know what being good is then you know what being bad is…

X: Isn’t that simplistic solipsism?

J: Yes—but it is not that simple…

X: Explain.  

J: We want the world to be simple but it isn’t. We desire absolutes. We want the news to assure us that what we think in the moment is right. But it may not be.

X: Go on.

J: You could be right at the same time that I am right. We needn’t rely on a two-valued logic.

X: So, what are you saying?

J: Let’s both get off our high horse?

X: What?

J: We both just might be right. Relax. Sleep well tonight. Do something good tomorrow. Treat a fellow human being well. Goodness is its own reward.
James Floss Feb 2019
A tepid tempest in a teapot.
A puerile pursuit
of personal perspective.
Corporate censorship?
A first amendment attack?

Times-Standard?
Really?
One letter kills a comic?
Or is it an overlord order?

Artist assassination it is.
Artist with his tools powerful
Pen nib and India ink; his
Semi-automatic pistol pen

Reminder:
1st comes before the 2nd.
Mr. Rogers: "Amendment?
Can you say that?
Amendment?”

Do you think you can
take that tool from the artist but
keep large capacity clips legal?
Censor artistic license?
It’s a minority report!

Let’s go to the semiotic
Shooting range:

There’s rap.
You know, rap?
Music?
What our ******* kids
are ******* listening to?

Bukowski shoots “****” from
His lethal snub nose poems
When he needs
to make a point

David Mamet sprays “*****"
with his literary machine gun
In his plays made into movies
that you have watched.
And enjoyed.

Even Shakespeare got away with:
“You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!”

Meanwhile:

Trump shoots full fallacies
As a spray of stinging tweets
Disregarding both amendments
While hobbling the press

Different weapon that;
Smoke-screen screams
Tangled web of
Fabricated news skeins

An Internet search showed me that it was a monk that first scribbled the word “****” in the margins of a text on moral conduct as an opinion about an another abbot. In other words, an editorial.

It was the wile and guile of Wylie
to pay homage to
this historical reference.

Let’s remember to keep the amendments in their proper order:
First one then two.

Artists hide messages in
artifacts.
It’s what they do;
we expect that of them—
we don’t want them to
throw away
their shot.

I hope some of this makes sense
to some of you
fans of amendment one.
If not, I guess it was a
Non Sequitur.

(Thank you Wiley Miller for your beautifully drawn and artistically constructed comic strips that had a
Line A (family plot line)
Line B (Noreastern bar humor)
Line C, D, and Etc always
With sly custom commentary.

Censored.
Removed.
Wrong.
**** that!
**** Trump!

There.
I said it.
James Floss Feb 2019
Pedro, Brenda, Alejandro
Voces Inmigrantes
Vertas, Yolanda and Richard
Brave radio show guests

Risking all to follow liberty’s call
Tremendous risks taken
For the sake of familia
Far away and years unseen

Get here, work here
Bring them all here
Seeking asylum
In the land of opportunity

My great grandfather did
I bet your grands did too
We did not then nor should we now
Build barriers, gates or walls

Native, immigrant or freed slave
Were here, came here, or forced here
Our wants for family are the same
America is great, let’s be better
James Floss Feb 2019
“Fool!”
Accusation accepted
Actually, although,
Really: Clown

Free the Fool, yes!
Foolish?
Whenever I can
Fooled? No.

I may own
A tri-tipped foolscap
With jingly-jangly bells, but—
The emperor has no clothes
James Floss Feb 2019
WHO
Technically,
It’s not not that.
Though It might be
Or something other
Or completely different

Don’t ask me
I wasn’t there
I didn’t do it
I didn’t see it
I’d rather not think about it

Have you read Moby ****?
Wonderful weather we’re having…
Carbon sequestration will be difficult
(I like touching myself)
It’s not the narrative, it’s the narrator
James Floss Feb 2019
Roses are Rosaceae near 700 angstroms
Violets are Violaceae around 480 angstroms
Sugar is C12H22O11
(It’s sweet)
And so are you
James Floss Feb 2019
It’s now all gone
What was wrong
It’s now a past that
Now won’t last

Here, movement
With involvement
Moving forward with
Goodness toward
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