#civility
Words like wasps clamor across
empty, luminant screens
Voices cast in Unicode
Feelings in Unicode screams
I close my eyes between the words
just so I can breathe
As the words start to sting
and my brain begins to swell
and the words echo
and the stings linger——
Happens ever time
Behind every letter there is a pulse
Of a stranger I will never see or know
I remind myself of the human heart
that beats behind the glow
Mar 25, 2025
Mar 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM UTC
flipping channels,
odd conjunction of random itinerants,
mix and mismatched, blend and burr, and the
combination of irritants, annoyingly raucous
pester the barely warmed brain,
by informing me to solve for X,
combine and contrast,
throw all into the blender,
add Fage yogurt, and some chill
ice with interracial combo of
black, blue & red berries
and pour it on you head…
and a breakfast poem is served up…
***the utter urgency for civility
rings alarm bells, for it is so threadbare a quality these days, and it is worn by so
very few, and I ponder,
how the quality of*** civility
could be so lost,
when I diagram said word,
see it
so clear
Dec 31, 2024
Dec 31, 2024 at 11:59 AM UTC
Everybody seems
Terrified of what will happen
When one person or another
Wins this election
And it matters so much
But not so much that you
Need to scream at others telling
Them what to believe, who to
Vote for.
I want to say, “IT DOESN’T MATTER!”
Because we 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 that they will do nothing.
The president is only a single part
Of a single branch
And no one listens to them anyway.
These people may be dangerous
But they are effectively ineffective
And the greatest danger of all
Is how we choose to treat each other,
And no president can change that—
No president can take away this basic
Human decency.
So let us all
Vote personhood
For president.
Let us all look the
Fearmongers in their eyes
And say: 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥.
Nov 4, 2024
Nov 4, 2024 at 10:48 PM UTC
Civility for civilty's sake
Do you laugh to feel,
Work to wake?
Is there a person there real?
Or, are you too fake?
May 1, 2023
May 1, 2023 at 9:20 AM UTC
We deserve sounding boards of truth,
Not sponges of deception.
My head is full of lies, equivocations and beguiling stories.
Who can I trust?
The poor?
The limb-lost warrior?
Residents in Cell Block A through Z?
Patients found out but can't breathe.
We must be sound,
And let the voices of truth echo.
Dec 31, 2020
Dec 31, 2020 at 11:46 AM UTC
Politics is broken
Something is missing
Politics is polarized
Opinions are divided
Clearly we are at extreme odds
Perhaps Vernon Jordan*
Had his finger on the pulse
Of this confounding
Movement years ago
The panel was distinguished
Vernon Jordan spoke
“In Washington, there is no longer civility”
Elected officials representing opposing camps
Engage in animus and grudges
Without social civility
Without civility
There is no healing
Nor is there compromise
Sep 3, 2020
Sep 3, 2020 at 11:32 AM UTC
Our children see others lie with impunity
Simply blow out the light, darkness perverts civility
© 2020 by Mark Toney. All rights reserved.
Jan 4, 2020
Jan 4, 2020 at 2:02 PM UTC
Is civility
a good-willed politeness
to other people?
Is the benefit of being civil
to a person I disagree with
that I maintain
my joy and happiness
and the other person’s joy and happiness?
Jul 29, 2019
Jul 29, 2019 at 6:29 PM UTC
Sharon posts a photo of her new baby
on social-media and
Nasty-Jim comments
“That’s an ugly baby!”
Sharon feels shocked, insulted, appalled.
She hugs her baby protectively,
feeling hurt.
Sharon posts a photo of her new baby
on social-media and
Civil-Sheryl comments
“Congratulations on your beautiful baby!”
Sharon feels joyful and happy.
She hugs her baby warmly
kisses him on the head
and says “I love you little one”.
Jul 21, 2019
Jul 21, 2019 at 5:47 AM UTC
The downward momentum is clear to me now.
The engine has built up a full head of steam.
I’d try to stop it, if I knew how.
The fires of industry must burn on somehow;
they tend to burn brightest when fuel is extreme.
The downward momentum is clear to me now.
When currents are surging, we shouldn’t allow
the jingoist fringe to swim in the mainstream.
I’d try to stop them, if I knew how.
Civility means more than I can avow,
but poems can only allude to a theme:
The downward momentum is clear to me now.
Each click of a mouse that shouts holier than thou
is a cog in a treacherous clockmaker’s scheme.
I’d try to stop him, if I knew how.
We worshipped the circuit and forsook the plow
in search of a false technological dream.
Our downward momentum is clear to me now.
I’d try to stop us, if I knew how.
Nov 2, 2018
Nov 2, 2018 at 1:07 AM UTC
A true test of a man's character
Is to see if he'll bother to stick around
When you impose no copulation before marriage
Many will shut the door
To never look back
Civility is something we often
Forget to possess
Some never choose to have it
Oct 30, 2018
Oct 30, 2018 at 6:55 PM UTC
She said with much respect
The memories of us were like Marie Antoinette
I imagine she smothered their screams
Before leading them to the Guillotine
Guiltless and why shouldn't she be
She wants change, revolutionary
So long live her new Nation State!
And no, know, it doesn’t bother me
I’ll simply change my foreign policy
Aug 7, 2018
Aug 7, 2018 at 11:54 PM UTC
Deadly demons
Are the kindest creatures
But anger makes them monsters
The kindest creatures
Are the deadliest demons
But civillty makes them angels
May 12, 2018
May 12, 2018 at 10:53 PM UTC
Humanities better days
asking if their, OK
today the way, nothing to say
leaving them, far behind
a tip too the waitress
door opened for courtesy
all we know, a poor man's show
no room, civility
nodding to acknowledge
a simple recognition
one human to another
no walls and no partitions
where did the switch get turned off
when did we all agree?
ignoring everyone, and else
ourselves, a human
absentee
Feb 21, 2018
Feb 21, 2018 at 4:40 PM UTC
Me my
Nancy here
we boisterous
and lawyer
jive Me
my Nancy
strange in
suit but
host innuendo
that court
make a
case point
with rhetoric
and bolster
decision in
Me my
Nancy favor.
Dec 16, 2017
Dec 16, 2017 at 8:52 AM UTC
as she
was dire
with heath
inside her
desire where
flattened scape
or aberrance
anywhere heathen
to her
debt and
foremost in
liability but
Lakshmi sheer
while glamour
laid deepest
cacophony in
world today
Dec 5, 2017
Dec 5, 2017 at 11:23 AM UTC
A word for the peaceful muslim,
who has no stomach for violence,
no passion for conflict,
no appetite for blood,
Stop laying your job at my feet.
I know you're not all mad, or murderers,
And know good and well
that most of you just want
the same thing that we want.
To raise your families in peace.
Trouble is, you see, that the peaceful majority
has never been relevant
in the shadow of the violent minority.
They fly your flag, and they keep a ****** agenda.
Just ask the Germans of 1945.
So I thank you to stop making it my job
to change public opinion about your religion.
If yours is one of peace, then prove it.
You've a lot of history to overcome, but...
Start by curbing your savages.
Then start loving your enemies.
Then try becoming their friend.
Oct 6, 2014
Oct 6, 2014 at 10:42 PM UTC
In a generation of decadence
it's sad
that we cannot simply enjoy
simple civility.
Perhaps inflation
has taken a toll on our cost of living
increasing the price
we need to pay
to earn civil manners.
Jun 26, 2014
Jun 26, 2014 at 2:07 AM UTC