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Carlo C Gomez Nov 2023
~
Did you hear?

It starts with guilty cubicles
and churches under the stairs.

Then a fair amount of poisonous storytelling.
And of course, 451 magnetic tiles that reveal the hidden "truth."

What happens when you push this button?
Hollywood scientist, lab coat stained
with strangely colored chemicals, pulls at the stitches.

The intruder is close
and up on crutches,
fighting wars on television.

All out of catastrophes?
He will sell you a secret one to keep under your pillow.
~
Jess B Oct 2023
Look Left
Oh oops,
they went Right

Great desire to learn
met with shame and fright

Balance is fair
to those who weigh the most

Captivating
is the sly fox's coat

The choice is yours,
but don't you dare

A single-file line
met with great fan-fair

Good job
Pat-pat
Kindly, stay there.

This image is real
AI made it with care

There's depth to the story
But the cover says it all

You're ready to up-lift?

Oh oops,
the mic went dead

try again

next quarter

or

next       ...Fall
Kelsey Aug 2023
Brew the coffee
Brush your teeth
Get dressed
The world is on fire

Get in your car
Drive to work
Sit at your desk
The world is on fire

Pay the bills
Clean the house
Feed the kids
The world is on fire

Take a shower
Lay your head
Start again
The world is on fire

Check your phone
Read the news
Wipe your tears
The world is on fire

Look around
See the flames
Feel the fears
The world is on fire

Wave your arms
Scream for help
No one listens
The world is on fire

Try to breathe
Want to leave
No one sees
The world is on fire

Hang your head
Time for bed
Start again
The world is on fire

Brew the coffee
Brush your teeth
Get dressed
The world is on fire
Zywa Mar 2023
At home, in the sun, I watch
the news intently, I study the photos
the parabola of a mortar
like a shooting star
and the grey ruins after the impact

There are cameras everywhere
I shiver from everything
I do and don't want to know
but I wouldn't know anything
if I didn't know

I read of people
who woke up and
ran to a cellar
their children crying
in the pale morning light

The wounded crawl over debris
scramble past the charred cars
An ambulance drives away
Daily corpses, daily news
with survivors

with a dry mouth
speechless, pale in the sun
in which I follow the news
with my sharp eyes
my cool heart
"Every Morning" ("Elke ochtend", 1986, Mary Oliver)
Published in Poetry Magazine (March 1986) and in the collection "Dream Work" (1986)

Collection "Reaching out"
Zywa Mar 2023
Something's happening,

more and more people pass on --


what they do not know.
Collection "BloodTrunk"
David Hilburn Jan 2023
Tones of a thorough voice
Masculine or feminine, tender to a fault
And a whole leap of conscience, for to liberty we were...
The time of collecting notice of a shared decision, for a salt

Restitute, and wondering if gay can be?
The tale of lived hours, home to save a callous share
Of what is us, if thundering frustration, have to heed...
Will a certainty of poise, begin with destined options or a delinquent flare?

A voice through enough, is careful, to tell the chance...
Of cease and herald, my timidity is for better all
Them and sense to seem, the better of a falling man?
That has seen a wiser choice, the breadth of concern to any's call?

Truer to define a shout, than a whisper of curiosity...
Mind over mention, of matter's at hand, may and?
Have the courage to live in well and lent light, a virtuosity
That comes and goes like a lover, notice me in the sulk, of also ran...

Time immemorial, them given implicitly...
Finished thought's, that feed me for years...
Kissing questions sound enough, to live the life of reality...
And a brown-nosed television, with an excuse of purposes to suggest we're...
Plus, don't even worship the fruit cake...
Zywa Dec 2022
A magpie inspects

what is trusted, what is new --


around my new house.
Collection "NightWatch"
William A Poppen Sep 2022
Each day they invade
Headlines against my small mind
Stories of pure hate
CJ Jul 2022
Fire up your talk boxes
Life’s such a bore
Until we discover
Today’s Rage du Jour

Do we have to turn Red
if they’re feeling Blue?

Does screaming more loudly
make it any more true?

Is it fate we must hate if
They want to make it great?

Must our faces turn redder if
They want to build back better?

What if we hear different voices?
And what if they make different choices?

Do we choose to lash out
always feel justified
As our fears turn to rage
and we’re bloated with pride?

Who among us sees clearly?
Whose judgment is never astray?

What great one among us holds just the right viewpoints
to keep cyber pitchforks at bay?

He said sinless stoneholders
could fire away
Yet there’s rocks hurling
constantly every which way

Can’t we sew up our lips
and ***** up our our ears
and realize there’s much
we can learn from our peers?

It’s hard to see it through our spite
But life is rarely black or white

Whatever happened to nuance?
When did we lose the gray?
How did this digital mob get the power to police every last thing we say?

There’s a whole vibrant world in 4K
We’re all welcome to come out and play
Let’s not label them Other
When they’re truly our brother
Only Kindness can show us the way
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