The curtain of Oz has been lifted!
The shadow pulls strings
perfectly supreme!
Free will is dead and so are the Gods!
Arise! Arise!
Raise cries for the paupers demise!
Liberty and livelihood are crucified!
Even the Age of Eden was forsaken
in the name of sacred inebriation!
To the streets! To the streets!
Do not cease the effigies for peace!
From the ground
to the mouth,
through the heart
to the brain
let us give birth to the soul of the Earth
let the age of lost wisdom reign again

Guard your freedom flame: Do not permit
Events or people to extinguish it

Guard your freedom flame:
Or live a shackled life, corrode in chains
Without a vision of the sun or rain

Guard your freedom flame:
Or hear how truth is mocked by lies and lust
And let sweet souls be trampled in the dust

Guard your freedom flame:
See how turbulent times threaten its spark
Into the shadow and the waiting dark

Guard your freedom flame:
Share your spark, ignite hope for you and me
Increase, again increase, this liberty

Guard your freedom flame: Do not permit
Events or people to extinguish it

tension politics
tomorrow we need to vote
we need liberty

Brian Hill - 2020 # 279

An unsolicited cry for help
The bodies of brothers stacked as fences.
To separate I from you.
In attempt to erase black from the color spectrum.
There are no grey colors here.
Grief painted in rainbows.
Our *** of gold is the silencing of church bells ringing.
A solicited cry for help.

Let me be
the river sea that flows up mountains
Hills and bees
Past the boughs and hanging trees
Of oak and elm of ages old
Once adorned by kings in gold
Let me be
the water flow
That carries fish and boats in tow
Past their homes and to and fro
Till timbers shake and gills do wither
Mothers hearts a’tither, dither
Let me be the rolling wave
That crashes, crushes, spins and saves

Lounging, today, on Your back porch
I saw America's men
Holding their tiki torches
Toward all they had been

I saw all of America's men
Wade angrily out into the icy upper bay waters
Toward all they had been
Through the tears of their mothers and daughters

Wading out into the icy waters
Holding their tiki torches
Through the tears of their mothers and daughters
Lounging, half-drowned, on Lady Liberty's back porch

I did not know this was possible: to be in 2 places at the same time. I am here, still here but my heart is elsewhere. I am here, staying here but my heart's packed up and left a long time ago. My body sleeps with him at night but I look the other way. I have looked the other way and lied to myself for years and years, blinded so foolishly by a love so strong it ruined me. The truth is always the hardest pill to swallow, but I need to face my demons and the secrets I've kept if I want to move on. I am in 2 places at the same time. First, I am where I have to be-- a place that beckons me to stay and be strong and forgive over and over again. Second, I am where I hope to be-- a place of peace and contentement and if I'm lucky, maybe joy. The mind is so strong that it allows one to endure great suffering through unwavering willpower. How do wrongly incarcerated persons survive decades in prison? It is the idea of freedom and faith in justice that keeps them sane and alive. It is the hope that one day, their truth will come out and their liberty served that empowers them. This is how I feel. This is how I'm still alive.