#goodwill
Part One: The Throne of Chains
You’ve built a throne from rusted chains,
Demanding blood for ancient stains.
They didn’t do it? Doesn’t matter.
Their peace is just a thing to shatter.
You wear your trauma like a crown,
To keep the "guilty" kneeling down.
"You owe me," is the holy rite,
That justifies your venom’s bite.
Inherited sin is your favorite tool,
The vengeful god, the bitter fool.
Force their knees into the dirt,
Until they’re mirrored in your hurt.
Keep stacking bricks of cold disdain,
To build a kingdom out of pain.
You call it justice, call it right,
To turn the world away from light.
But as you watch the dominos fall,
And shadows stretch across the wall,
Remember as the bridges burn:
It’s finally your hollow turn.
You won the war, you claimed the prize,
Of empty hearts and darkened skies.
A master of a graveyard floor -
Exactly what you hated more.
Part Two: The Weaponized Wound
You don’t wear wounds -
you weaponize them.
Call it justice, call it history,
call it "what I’m owed."
But all I see is a fist
clenched around a debt
no one ever signed.
You stare at strangers
like they’re guilty by breath alone,
demand apologies
for crimes you can’t even name -
then crown yourself righteous
when they refuse to kneel.
You don’t want repair.
You want confirmation.
You want the world to break its spine
to fit the shape of your bitterness,
to nod along while you burn the house
and call the smoke proof.
Your hatred isn’t principled -
it’s convenient.
A ladder built from blame,
each rung another human
reduced to a lesson
you never intended to learn.
You say they owe you,
but what you mean is:
"I deserve to be above you."
And every forced confession,
every coerced agreement,
every silence you mistake for respect
feeds the lie that you’re winning.
Look around.
That echo you call power?
That’s isolation learning your name.
That domino line of justified cruelty?
You tipped it yourself -
and now you’re shocked
it won’t stop falling.
You confuse dominance with strength,
resentment with clarity,
rage with resolve.
But supremacy is a hunger
that eats its host first,
and entitlement always starves
in the end.
So keep demanding.
Keep pointing.
Keep rewriting the past
until everyone else is the villain.
Just don’t pretend you’re building a future -
you’re only perfecting the art
of standing alone in the ruins,
still insisting you were right.
Dec 21, 2025
Dec 21, 2025 at 10:58 AM UTC
--------------
musing, any using spare time to read,
and check cautionary tales told children,
who, in fact do not yet use literal literature,
YA, strictly for kids, yet used, same old stories,
re used for the same old purpose, to the same old
Military Mind every boy reared in my culture had,
adversarial defensive good old boy naughty nature.
Meaner than a junk yard dog, folks knew,
don't steal from Pop, he ain't got a fence,
but he damnsure got some guns, and
he had himself some dustbowl anger,
rose up infected lotsa World War veterans,
while the old Vietnam Vet hat wearers was boys/
dashes during six and a half hours, set here
in a time, and times, and a half of one
time… these signify time,
since sense, being there,
then being here, an awesome
idea I had
as a child, dispairing, we
pre-individuate anow, then
splits, double down, bet a life
against a soul, as a catch phrase
"Fun and Sport. Every man
to his own hobby"
posit real ization at is once
then at if
as it were,
when America was perceived great,
or whosoever was perceiving otherwise,
became nonconformist freaks
using alienated eyes,
snapping fingers to Ginsberg
out west, in a place called Aqua Fria,
there were boys, who wore big iron,
for weeks, after Christmas, circa 1954
-----------------
We all got guns for Christmas, and caps.
Bang. Real itty bitty doses of Gunsmoke.
Dec 18, 2025
Dec 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM UTC
I’m driving on my way home
from a job that doesn’t make ends meet.
Pawned all my gold, silver and chrome
and placed my hat and sign on the street.
I’m living in a creative hell
One that serves me but doesn’t serve well.
Into my flesh I would carve,
“You wouldn’t be a starving artist if you didn’t starve.”
At each red, I clutch at my steering wheel
and scratch my lottery tickets.
Manifest a positivity I don’t feel,
when it scans I hear only crickets.
I’m living in a creative hell,
one that traps and encases me as a shell.
Preventing me from air, society and heat
“You wouldn’t be a starving artist if you could eat.”
I have no certifications and no degrees,
my only trade and skill are the words that I write;
the gift that both comforts and tortures me,
it’s too bad that no one pays for plight.
I’m living in a creative hell,
voicing it quietly while ringing a bell.
Begging for help but don’t want to be rude
“You wouldn’t be a starving artist if you had food.”
I’m living in a creative hell
One that serves me but doesn’t serve well.
Into my flesh I would carve,
“You wouldn’t be a starving artist if you didn’t starve.”
Sep 17, 2025
Sep 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM UTC
My mind is made up:
I throw away all my lies!
Beware of the bang!
Apr 7, 2025
Apr 7, 2025 at 4:12 AM UTC
If you have come to seek
Only consent & acceptance,
You will be poorly received
And denied at the entrance.
You come only to take
What you think you are entitled to,
As though it were not valuable
And as if it were freely offered.
In what you ask
There is no promise of reciprocation,
No hint that you will be grateful.
In your hunger for it,
The only guarantee
Is that you will want more.
You share no contentment,
No happy acts or jovial gestures.
The best thing for all of us
Is to deny you of our goodwill,
Perhaps it will cause you
To grow up
And be more mature.
If not,
It will at least mean the stability & security
Of our happiness & freedom.
Feb 10, 2025
Feb 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM UTC
There's a little black angel
stuck in the liquor residue
at the bottom of my glass
I like to drink, a glass
is nice company, just
like family, Family
That little black angel is me
It's my good self, my love
stuck at the bottom
of your promises
that you couldn't keep
That rookie mistake
Promises you break
will break you
I know all about it
with the self-invented consolation
that a fallen angel
is still an angel
Oct 2, 2023
Oct 2, 2023 at 2:26 AM UTC
a man sits
at the bottom
of the steps
not blocking the path
but he cannot be missed
begging alms
from the myriad
who climb and descend
in droves
the cup he holds
is barely weighted
by the meagre amount
he has received
he patiently wishes goodwill
to all who pass
despite their lack of offerings
even though
the majority will ignore
purposefully averting their eyes
or apologetically decline
to part with
any lose change
instead saving their coins
to pay their entry
to marvel at
the gilded interior
of the church
whose teachings include
"love thy neighbour"
Apr 7, 2023
Apr 7, 2023 at 2:42 PM UTC
isn't it sad
that the only happiness in my life
is driving to goodwill and finding
an eight dollar pair of super cute boots
because i just think that it's sad
--
Nov 8, 2020
Nov 8, 2020 at 7:47 PM UTC
he infused blood into my vein
so i could
live
i exchanged ring with him
so we could
live
Oct 17, 2020
Oct 17, 2020 at 11:47 AM UTC
no money or things
that can buy goodwill,
in exchange,
only itself can
buy it.
©IGMS
Aug 28, 2018
Aug 28, 2018 at 9:27 AM UTC
What if
I fall before I fly
What if
it's really only foolishness to try and reach the sky
What if
My heart will always feel this way
What if
I'll only be led astray
What if
all my tiny wonders will go to waste
What if
I'll never quite know the taste
What if
It's really all a useless race
What if
No one knows how to show their realest face
What if
I just take you where
What if
We can try and find our answers there
What if
We won't be losing touch
And what if
this time a promise kept, I'll hold you as such
I want to hold you so much
Jul 18, 2018
Jul 18, 2018 at 10:33 AM UTC
Goodwill to all
Men
Women
Children
Family
Neighbours
Those kids on the corner
Fellow commuters
That bloke
who takes my parking space
Workmates
My boss
Competing shoppers
Nodding acquaintances
The woman down the road
with the 6 dogs
Complete strangers I see each day
The family who just moved in
over the way
Refugees
wherever they are
whoever they are
whatever their origin
- to all human kind
Heaven-sent goodwill
and God's grace
to you all
by my hand
and by my voice
Raised in greeting
Raised in support
Raised in defence
All year round
and never tiring
- Merry Christmas.
Nov 28, 2017
Nov 28, 2017 at 4:14 AM UTC
Ashamed when put their mistakes up
Flour needs water to strengthen it's parts
Hardens the belief when it bakes up
Appreciated is pure struggle in the carts
Oct 5, 2017
Oct 5, 2017 at 5:02 PM UTC
The boy, shaking with excitement, nervously bangled the key into the tiny obscuration, just as he sank it deep in the purse and twisted it began to give as if to break and he stopped. The wretched key would not turn no matter which way he fumbled it into the opening trying. He, puzzled, sat back on his haunches and squeezing his countenance…carefully, slowly, measured in his way, he slid it in without a waver and sank it into place. A foul wind blowed and forced his cough but with it came the flutes…and just then, as if by magic, a voice so resolute;
“Heaven’s treasure cannot be seen or known except in heart’s desires,”
“And certainly never be known by a farmer-boy or filth-trodden squires!”
“For ancient sealing of box so great withheld Pandora’s fires!”
“…but listen closely for a truth is hidden in conundrum,”
The little boy gleamed with excitement as he dropped on his hands placing his ear to the keyhole whence the fluting and cherubic voice extruded…though nothing came forth? Try as he might, the key again and again, there was nothing more to the magic of the box. Though he was sure that in this box a treasure was to be found, in all his days, the many numbered, never did resound, never did the voice again give instruction to propound, never did it give again to magic thus profound and never did he figure out, the mystery which did confound!
To wit the newest little boy said;
“But grandpa how does the story end then?”
Without haste he replied to the child;
“Never want-for, nor ask, nor seek out, all the paths of heaven’s fortunes,”
“Never covet sacred knowledge or doubt the god’s contortions,”
“Forever all will be as well as good as you can be, if you can be a richer man when giving other's portions…”
With that said the old farmer died. His daughter and the child’s mother, tears streaming down her flustered cheeks, grabbed him up and began to say a prayer for her dead father while unbeknownst to the family; a troupe in their employ had been employed by someone else and that someone was waiting for a signal. At the moment of the man’s passing the horse-hand ran from the sprawling estate to a well at the fork in the dirt road leading to the local town. There sat a traditional well and bucket with a large copper bell at the top and he rang it with a fervent vigor. The black horses in the thickets past the field bellicosely retorted as they were whipped into an action. Then along came the banker’s chariot, filled with three men in black, riding quickly to the manor’s door;
-judge, pastor, banker.
Storming into the home the pastor ran to comfort them and strutting-forth, so the banker and his judge in stride comportment too. Slight his pause and nary couth the banker announced his judge and from his handbag produced a document, an unwieldy scroll of parchment…
“Alas my dear and sorrowful child be happy for this great farm! Your inheritance is more than most and do not be alarmed! For we have come upon the courts with documented trust, read this here then sign away to keep the farm you must! For all you see and gathered to you, bought upon agreement, that on thick trunk with gleaming content be exchanged to me for deed it seem-med!”
Shocked, the woman protested;
“Never nay, what’s this you say? The box his greatest treasure…he would not have done, no this cannot be, sold it without inform me and in measure, for he hath had this since a boy of youth collecting wood in winter’s cold displeasure?”
The judge stepped forth to conclude the matter and gave her some, though curt, respite;
“Now, now dear we feel your loss but see these lines and see these costs? Chickens, horses, sheep, a wagon, seeds and stock and land, a home, -the lumber, nails, the roof of stone? O’er the years buying more and more, whilst only for once to settle this score, upon release here is your deed, give us the box for which you have no need, this is not a matter of one man’s greed for it says in payment here and here, collateral, that box was dear!”
In came the horse-hand with axe and fury, chopping apart the bedroom floor, -and in such a hurry, the four they cooed and sighed aloud, as a gleaming treasure chest appeared before the crowd, dropping all the four to knee as banker cried his rapacious glee;
“All these long years did I thus wait and now will find the heaven’s gate! Load it men, the treasure ours, the moon and sun, the awesome stars, the untold secrets of millennia past, we are rich as all the ancient Kings at last!”
Before they left he turned to her and proudly presented his palm extended;
“The key there deary…”
She begrudgingly removed the necklace about her neck and handed it over…after the men had left her little boy said;
“Don’t cry mom and don’t worried, boy have I got to tell you a story!”
The End of the Golden Key
Jun 19, 2016
Jun 19, 2016 at 12:18 PM UTC
THE PREACHER GOODY GOODWILL walks center stage and steps up to the Dias; eyeing his congregation with a seriously serious frown. Clears his throat, takes a tissue and blows his nose. Then resumes eyeing all the families sitting before him. Finally-
PREACHER GOODY GOODWILL
Were you unsettled? Did my silence catch you off guard? Or was it my frown, sure that was it, you're not used to seeing me frown, you're not used to me stretching out the silence. And yet I wonder: why is it you were uncomfortable? Surely, even though you weren't prepared for it, it wasn't as if I came here with accusations of you - you Charlotte Ray, or you Jimmy Matheter, or any random one of you for that matter - accusations that you had sinned 'for you surely did as the Good Lord intended you too, you sinned and you will be forgiven if you simply give in to the Good Lord's Word and his wholly Holy embrace.
(BEAT)
And so I wonder - and I ask you to ask yourself - why were you uncomfortable when I stepped up in silence? Have you sinned and are ashamed? Too ashamed, perhaps, to confess said sin? 'For if that's the case then you are truly ****** having committed not just the sin you are ashamed to confess but now in the Good Lord's own House you are committing the sin of pride, you are certainly not humble as the Good Lord asks of us all, are you?
(BEAT)
Are we not told that "the meek shall inherit the earth" as written by the Good Lord's very own, very Good Hand in our Holy Bible?
(BEAT)
So who are you to walk with pride when He asks you to be humble, that's all he asks of you my friends; be true and humble, be meek among men, and He - the Good Lord Himself - will surely welcome you through the pearly gates of Heaven and into his warm embrace.
(BEAT)
It is not for you to be your own judge nor are you tasked with judging others; surely you must see how full of pride one must be to imagine he can rightfully judge others or himself, for that matter, and not be full of pride if he dares take on such a task.
(BEAT)
And let us be clear as He the Good Lord is clear, that to be Holy is to be prideless, to accept Him into your heart is to accept that you have sinned - and you have, each and every one of you - 'for we are imperfect beings in an imperfect world and who among you would claim to be perfect of His Own Son, Jesus Christ himself, was a sinner among men... oh, I see, I literally see your raised eye browse as if you truly don't believe me or perhaps you don't understand. So if I may let me give you just one example which is the one that speaks most true to your very own Preacher Goody Goodwill who does not and has never claimed to be great, oh no have I ever claimed that my good friends? I certainly have not 'for I choose to be good, just good at what I do which is all the Good Lord asks, while his own Son Jesus Christ, he too was a preacher like me, but he was great perhaps the greatest yes! the greatest of all time thus he wasn't very meek, to be great is to have pride and in pride we live in sin; and so, as the Holy Book informs us Jesus Christ died for our sins but consider that he, too, was a sinner among men and so he died for his sins too, he had surely lived in pride and he had not a confessor so he died a filthy man.
(BEAT)
Yes that's right he died as he had lived, full of pride and not so meek, do you see now what I say? You are not too full of pride that you'd consider your own sins and believe that you may judge what is right and what is wrong? No, I know you all as I do myself and you are Good Folks with good hearts and meek as lambs, are you not?
The congregation nods whole heartedly.
PREACHER GOODY GOODWILL
Good good, I know you are, you're good and meek at heart as the Good Lord intended, and so when it's your turn to confess I expect you'll remember this talk we just had, and confess as the Good Lord intended, let me hear all the sins you sinned for you surely sinned, and let me then offer you his Holy reassurance that the penance I deem is the key to your salvation and once you clean yourself of sin then salvation will be yours.
Now the Preacher Goody Goodwill scans the congregation, eyeing them all, one by one; then he smiles and they smile back - all is as it should be once again - and his warmth radiates within the Holy House as he concludes this Sunday's sermon by making the sign of the Cross across his chest.
PREACHER GOODY GOODWILL
You may rise.
Aug 9, 2017
Aug 9, 2017 at 1:11 PM UTC
Persistent ill-will
Will fester and creep
Deeper.
It will reopen old wounds
And keep seeping down
Dragging down
Happy to knuckle down
To a common level
That we can all disagree upon,
While nurtured good will
Can soften all sorts of ill designs
With a front-line grace,
That keeps pace with a peace
That salves injury
And deftly soothes
Each latent misery
Paving a way for relief that thwarts
Any undermining sneak-behind thievery
So weep no more
And shred that unbelief:
This is where Hope is chief.
Jan 6, 2017
Jan 6, 2017 at 7:53 AM UTC
I shall hold on dear . . .
To all loved ones so sincere,
. . . Another New Year!
Dec 31, 2014
Dec 31, 2014 at 9:07 PM UTC
Bring to an end of this
Game of killing!
Bring to an end of this
Game of power to exploit the hard-up!
Bring to end of this
Game of censure each other!
Starts and look forward for opulence of all and sundry
Standing hand in hand
Working with head, heart and hand
No one can stand alone!
Give us a chance,
to live in concert !
Bring everyone closer!
Bring new trust to moving together!
Transmit and get going vocation for concord and goodwill!
Dec 24, 2014
Dec 24, 2014 at 5:19 AM UTC
I belong in a Goodwill.
They’re the only place that’d take a reject like me.
You guys don’t need me anymore.
You never did.
I’m merely a dusty doll.
Too ugly for even a footnote.
In the background, on her shelf.
I don't need pity.
Go.
Dec 12, 2014
Dec 12, 2014 at 10:38 PM UTC