Though we bleed the same,
We are torn by miles of indifference,
More of pain.

In a brief respite from terror,
My mind escapes this squalor,
This harsh reality;

And I become you.

Clean. Clothed. Cool.

Glossed lips pursed
In idle chatter
Between blissful sips of Chai.

Pristine cheeks caressed
By pillows, silky smooth.

Alexa idles on the dresser.

Samsungs recharge on the floor.

Come dawn,
Which suit to wear
Is my biggest worry.

Being late for work,
My worst fear.

O! To be free
Of war and tyranny.

To be you!

Perhaps someday
You’ll think of me.

Or send me a note
To spark a ray of hope
Into my God-forsaken space,
Where bombs reign daily
By the ton,
And blood spills a river
From Aleppo
To Armageddon.

As the world turns
To the next virtual meme;
And waves of refugees
Fill a desperate tide
Over the Western Sea.

Though we bleed the same,
We are torn by miles of indifference,
More of pain.

~ P
#ADreamFrom_Aleppo
01/26/2017

It started with a devious question
And the answer was clear
To all
But a curious faction
Fueled by fear,
With the means to concoct
An Orwellian plot
That rendered hate normal,
Like bible study.

Let the Right say, 'Amen'.

"She should be in jail," said
A lady in the deli
With a red cap
And matching tee.

Her eyes spewed fire;
Mine stayed on the menu.
Bypassing the bologna,
I ordered turkey on rye,
To Go.

I had a revolution to catch.
One I'd missed like the polls
On Election Eve.

Dylan shot nine,
Dead.
Sparing one to spread the news
And start a race riot
Before Obama takes away our guns.

Then Vladimir bombed
A city Gary didn't know
But no one asked Don.

"I like you," said one tyrant
To another.
"But I despise Fidel, CNN and ObamaCare.
They are all dead to me."

We heard the lie.
Of the grand Muslim celebration in Jersey
After the towers fell.

And a million more.
Yet the tide of deaf ears kept growing,
Engulfing US in a tsunami
Of *****-grabbing misogyny
That made Bill blush
And gave Hill another shocking traumatic defeat.

Women from Times Square
To Tokyo rained on his parade
And a speech spawned in 7th grade
Earned an A on FOX
And a wet sticker
Everywhere else.

Let the world say, "Impeach Him!"

~ P
#LyricalAssassination
01/21/2017

What to do
When the floor you call home
And the walls that shield you
From zones of discomfort
Crumble like the Dow
On Black Friday,
Casting you downtown
in every state,
Under the bridge
Near city hall
With 2 swollen duffel bags
And a story to tell?

It was supposed to be a best-seller
Well-researched and crafted;
Tailor-made for PC
With royalties to match.

But there was a catch,
A devilish twist
Dished by the ghost-writer
With a blond toupee.

His profile was subpar
But he had 4 stars,
A million followers,
And 10 buckets of  crow.

So like a scripted clone
You swallowed the pill,
A placebo.

Now he's got the power
To write you off
Like taxes
Or health insurance premiums.

You'd better stay well
Bubba,
Cause that pre-existing *** ticker
Means you'll be fully covered
By remorse,

Not Cigna.

~ P
#AGhostwriterNamedJohn
(1/16/2016)

what are the final thoughts
after the final words
before the guillotine drops
or 2000 volts shock
or the farewell cocktail pops
the veins of a serial killer...

does he wish his sentence
had been executed much sooner,
in the first trimester...

does she wonder why
her right to live weighs less
than that of her fetus...

does he regret poor choices made
or  poor voices erased...

does she pray for redemption
or divine intervention

does he fear God's wrath
or
the devil's trident...

or
is the mind of the walking dead
crystal clear like morality...

and the conscience of the living
stained like that ole rugged cross at calvary?

~ P
(#DeadManThinking)
(7/9/2013)

before the wall
came down,
there were  lines
12 hours long
for bread and kielbasa

and nuclear warheads raced
rhetoric east to west,
and back,
and rhetoric won

i sat on a train
westbound,
idling on the left side
of the border

ten 'gestapos' stormed aboard,
black leather boots
knee-high;
stern angled faces
missing smiles;
eyes of winter
and steel,
unblinking - blue,
sending chills through
and through

'you,' he said
pointing at me

open fist
flipping the universal
'come here' sign

60 minutes later
he conceded,
reluctantly

the 15-year old
black face smiling
in the mug shot
on my passport

was indeed - me

not some ****** student
trying to flee
the misery
behind those  iron curtains

to freedom

without walls 12-feet high
topped by razor-edged rolls
of barbed wire;

without food lines
12-hours long;

where choice
and opportunity
know no bounds.

~ P

Ancestors of a certain hue
With a penchant for adventure
Ventured West
Then South
Discovering lands inhabited
Eons ago

Staking claims nonetheless
with guns
For the Queen;
Silencing millions
With germs and the Old Testament
Way back when

All lives didn't matter then....
Those savages and heathens
Weren't men
But akin to beasts
To be hunted and subdued
For the Queen

They bled red;
Had eyes and ears
On their heads;
They even had two legs
And arms to match
But they were brown and black

A melanin caste
Destined to labor in the Sun;
To bleed and serve
But never lead

Cursed,
Said the Talmud.

Crime-prone,
Said the pundit on tv.

And the meme was spun
Spawning a presumption of guilt
In the jury's pool;
Guilt by pigmentation

There's a bulls-eye
On your back
Jack

And it's hunting season in America.

~ P
#GuiltByPigmentation
7/11/2016

I cry a trail of tears
from the Coast of Ivory,
land of Mandigo and Ashanti,
where ships swollen with betrayal
sailed and sailed and sailed
over pious canons and civil creeds,
feeding colored limbs to circling sharks
when they could row no more.

I cry a trail of tears
through the haunted hills of Mississippi,
land of Choctaw and Cherokee,
where wagons loaded with betrayal
on tireless wheels,
rolled and rolled and rolled
over signed statutes and sealed deals,
crushing colored spirits
'til they could fight no more.

I cry a trail of tears
to the parched walls of Auschwitz,
crypt of Sephardi and Ashkenazi,
where ovens stoked with betrayal
burned and burned and burned
through hair and flesh and bone,
scorching a million souls
'til they could scream no more.

This p-o-g-r-o-m trail of tears...

I cry.

~ P
(#trailoftears)
2008