it's hot coffee and warm paper cup steam
and illegible tattoos without a theme
it's late night eyes and restless hours
and cheap notebook paper towers

it's sleeping until noon and arriving late
because of weekday parties that couldn't wait
it's worn out chucks and shirts with holes
based in a religious background and thrift shop clothes

it's community cups and feet without shoes
seen by long eyelashes and the color blue
it's ink rubbing off on freckled hands
from crumpled papers thrown in trash cans

it's an improbable dynamic and an impossible feat
because of barely-earned titles and grinding teeth
it's the quiet thoughts and midnight dreams
that, come the sunrise, are not even feelings.

Information...
is it dissemination
or confrontation
of the truth behind the lies?
They pull it, stretch it
knead it, shape it
into something
for you to believe
D'oh! We believe
in what we see
and miss out
on little but evident clues
Like doe, we run away from grasslands
towards shady woods of alternate media
pulled, stretched
kneaded
shaped
dough – our reality
something they play with.

My mouth tastes like fireworks
Grown with love
Enjoyed with care
Blitz blaze ignite a truth
Obviously there
Watch smoke go drifting
You, too, reach to the sky
Weightless
Wordless
No less a person than the news
Under the influence
Under all things
Matchsticks, boxes, food makes
Mountains in our kitchen
Rot smell, cancerous, foul
Presence in our home
Under the mountain
Insect in flesh
I'm nothing more,
Am I, than under the influence?
It's true. Which celebrities locally
Represent you? Senate, what? Political duress.
Kaitlin Olson, say something poignant
Or in dark we die, speak well, or we'll be Jersey soon
Save me with your confirmed link to God,
Please.

listening to the news
that brings disasters of all kind
with reliable regularity
     thanks to our sensationalist media

you may be tempted to believe
the world is going straight to hell
apocalypse is near & unavoidable

     whether by asteroids or comets
     the Russians or Americans or Chinese
    
fact is that rising ocean levels
are much more dangerous than changing presidents
flooding the fields and homes of millions
     in the lower lying islands of the South Pacific

the cold oblivion of the powerful
about the real people’s tragedies
is what I find most missing
in the so-called news

News flash! What's it worth?
Today's the last day of Planet Earth,
What would you do today?
What last words would you say?
Dance like there's no tomorrow,
Genocide has no one left for sorrow,
So what would you do and say,
If today was Earth's last day?

The black flickered with shades of white
As people were moving to and fro
How many have gone to ghost
As I was at a loss to know

Such a pretty face on that lovely one
What a straight framed man of youth
What has life left of them
I didn't really want to know the truth

Even the bridge that spans the sea
The thunderstorm so far away
Nor the reality that's meant to be
As frame by frame who's now to say

I've decided to stop reading the news
It's full of contradiction and misinterpreted views,
Bending of truths like a novelists muse
Inciting inspiration, stimulation, radicalisation but, never the truth of the situation
Just a public announcement of the wrong account, a miscommunication or fake revelation
Is it an attempt at entertainment?
Lacking empathy, a cold report with no sympathy
Of death, disaster and misery
Attacking humanity
As they relish at the world flying in to abyss
I can't be alone wishing we would all hug and kiss
So, instead I've turned to poetry, where theres no need to encourage, provoke or lie
For words of poem can reach the sky, you cant deny
My interpretation is all I need to see
Where thoughts can wander, minds can ponder
I never need to wonder, if what's written is fact or fiction
As a poet spilling his heart on paper, writing fast, creating friction
He goes to war with every etching
Of love and emotion of pain of gain
It's truer than the mirror in which you see your face
It reads like silk and flows like lace
Spilling over with generosity, leaving a genuine taste
Whether of love or hate, faith or sin
It's come from within where only truth can win

Giulani ...

looking much like

a radiated & mutant tortoise

from the walking dead,

& the always golden-hearted

Judge Jeanine Pirro

casually chat

on Fox News

all chuckles & smiles

about Muslim bans

& refugees,

while youngsters

languish in camps,

die in cities,

get cold

in mountains.

Chuckle on
you two
chuckle on.

I was going to write this poem
To say how much I still love you
Even though you don't love me
But that's not true anymore
I'm writing this poem
To say how much I love myself
Even though you don't love me

Donald Trump has frequently claimed
the mainstream media's got to be blamed
for always trying to make him lose
by spreading vicious, vile fake news.

So just a moment, we shall take,
to list some news that's surely fake.

The inaugural crowd was the biggest of all
(not according to photos that day on the mall).
Three million votes were cast fraudulently
(without any proof of such conspiracy).

The ****** rate's highest in 45 years
(but there are no crime stats supporting such fears).
Many terror attacks the press failed to report
(past coverage provides a convincing retort).

So Donald, it seems that the tack that you take
is, if news doesn't favor you, it must be fake.
Fake news does surround us, that much is so true.
Such a shame that so much of it's coming... from you!