I came to the creek to talk to God,
But I'm not sure God is listening.
I used to see the world through rose-colored glasses,
But now my heart just aches.

I let my tears flow down my cheeks
Like the leaves flowing down the stream.
I release my anger and anguish to the wind
And as I look up and to my left, there a blue heron stands.

Deep breath in.
I watch a chipmunk scurry behind the blue heron
I watch the blue heron watch the chipmunk.
My dog sitting next to me is full of curiosity.

Grief and despair, sadness and rage
And all I can do is sit on this rock
Listening to the flowing waters song
And write some **** poetry.

I feel sick in the depths of my stomach
For my nation, for my neighbors
For so many loved ones.
For my own body and the choices I may no longer be able to make.

The warm sun beating down
Reminds me that it's too warm for November
Our Earth is crying out
And so are we.

I'm not sure what hope feels like in this moment.
I will give my body and mind time and space to grieve.
Grief turned into forward motion
Transmutes into Love.

I came to the creek to talk to God.
But I'm not sure God is listening.
So instead of talking, I will sit in silence
To watch the blue heron, to feel the breeze, and weep.

©KSS 11/6/2024

Verbal Activism
The man went for a hair cut
The barber told him
He had a friend from Ukraine
A female pal not a lover
Married to a guy
Both were of fighting age
She was a house wife
That really needed to be there
Making bullets or missiles
Or tending wounded soldiers
Does she have Russian citizenship?
Plus Ukrainian like many does
She lived in his country
Far from home right now
The man getting a trim
Told the barber
He wants Putin
And all his inner circle
To be assassinated
**** them all dead
The only way for it to stop
No more Putin's war
When he's a ******* corpse
All told while getting a trim
In some places those views are bad
The Ukrainian gal now has an ally

Girls of greatness must make haste,
for men of the very same stature start up a few pace!

CCP Turtles Grassing Line
China’s virtual hotline
Report online remarks
Slander Communist Party history
Crack down “bygone nihilists”
Party’s 100th centenary July

Grass line allows society report
Netizens “twist” Party’s history
Attack governance policies
Denigrate national heroes
Deny superiority radical socialist nation

Clandestine motivations old nihilistic parodies
Malevolently garbling
Denigrating contradicting Party history

Internet operatives administering people
Devotedly report dangerous info

“Historical nothingness” public doubt distrust
Chinese Communist Party’s earlier dealings

China’s net forcefully censored
Overseas social media networks
Search engines news outlets forbidden

Penances persons conveyed
Netizens prison lawful punishments
Placement content acute
Nation’s leadership procedures antiquity

Legal amendments folks
“Slur smear invade on” memorial
China’s national heroes’ martyrs
Face three years gaol

Not all flowers have thorns
but roses do

roses are special, they are beautiful
just to the likes of you

so many flowers are pretty
but nothing compares
to the aesthetic of roses

and that's why they are aware.

their thorns protect them
they are born to fight

but they keep us silent,
cut our voices
they make us die

some people don't like roses
or don't like their thorns
they'll cut off their leaves
because they aren't thorns
and they'll cut down the thorns because nothing should be in the way

of their love

or so they say

when they cut our thorns
they are so proud
but do they know they take the rain out of clouds?

they break the spell,
they obstruct the beauty
sometimes they go ahead and just shoot me

I wonder, I wonder
oh dear rose of mine
why you die, oh you die
without your thorns sublime

not all flowers are roses
but none wishes to be
for the life of a rose

is as miserable as torture makes us be

I am warrior, I am free, and in flight.
I am dancing, and swaying in fight.
I am warrior, but not out of spite.
I am warrior, against a discriminate plight.
I am warrior, I am advocate.

how many protests have you watched now?
how many devolving into riots?
via violent actors, on either side
what was gained, for those we lost?
was it in vain?
did the pay outweigh the cost?
or was our venture defunct?
would civil disobedience had been better sought?
or a more brutal insurrection,
to rival those we've been taught?
just do like they'd wish
and lay down and die