“Virtue is it’s own reward.”
Ever hear that one? But I dunno ‘bout
      that & neither anyone else does.
Romember to question everything.
Do it a few times over.
But first learn how to ask a question
      & be sure that you are sober.
It was never easy to get at the truth,
      since folks are such big-time liars.
We do know two things clear enough, how
      to lie & how to ***** someone over.
One doesn’t preclude the other, either,
      folks are no ‘first-time-flyers.’
Ignorance isn’t bliss but just another
      excuse to coast-along in our naïveté &
      blame-game all our others.

— Ray Laccetti

DA FASTA, DA BETTA

When the people we’ve put in place to
      uphold our laws
Are the first people to ‘buck’ them
We’re in heap-big-trouble, kemosabe
      No doubt about that f**k-u story
All we get are the shrieks emanating
      from an oval-office
From the ‘beached-whale’ that’s parked
      there, barking orders
Fumigation is the answer; plenty of us
      who’ll do it, pro-bono
It won’t be a rash-disaster, the faster,
      the answer
Don’t throw-in-the-towel,
      but “GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL”
If we fail in removing this coffin-nail
— Ray Laccetti

ICE-CREAM CASTLES
I often hear folks declare: “We all have to die, my dear.”
I respond: “I know that! But answer me this, if so, why?
Why were we born to start with & why do we get gray-hair?”
Religious gobbledygook is tossed back at me & mumbo-jumbo
out of a delusional-book. It’s a revelation to many that faith
can be stretched just so far, before reality snaps it back.
Painful as it maybe, we believe in nonsense without-foundation,
to avoid or to best life’s many disappointments. We’ve come
to believe there’s a place somewhere we go to, in that ‘great somewhere out-there.’ A place where we’ll all meet again. Nice idea, but totally without merit. There is no great ‘plantation’ in the sky. Hide under your blanket & try not to give into things too deep for us to comprehend. “Eat, drink, & be merry for tomorrow we’ll meet our eventual demise.”  — Ray Laccetti

ANYONE FOR TEA?
No time for TEA, even a 1/2 TEA!
So don’t impose that on me. B-Z.
(Unless it’s ‘you’ I always want it
to be & ‘you’ I would always want to
see.) Too busy for that kind-of-thing.
My mom always advised against it.
“Ray, too many inconsiderate &
gauche folks are out-there.”
Besides, I don’t care that much
for tea; a ‘coffee-man,’ that’s me!
(Especially if it comes from Hawaii!)
— Ray Laccetti                      gossip-visitation

No accounting for
      the creative mind.
We never can satisfy it.
      Obsessed are we,
To make it all-right,
      Keeps us up all-nite.
So pls., don’t even try it!
— Ray Laccetti

SLEEP
All in the angle of view
All in the beds we sleep
      upon, the night through
The dawn returns too soon
For many, too suddenly
If I had my druthers,
      I would sleep
Long enough & deep enough
No Sun, no Moon, no People
Just the peace & the quiet
      & all the rest
Escaping into the darkness
To circumvent the day’s
      relentless catharsis
The very stuff that makes
      for a somber-artist’s
      contentiousness
        — Ray Laccetti

TELL ME SOMETHING KNEW
Please don’t tell me something
I already know, or believe that I don’t
      already know it.
There is nothing new under the Sun.
And the Sun could die at any moment.
I have yet to encounter anyone possessing
      such an abundance of knowledge
      that it would impress me.
So off on your merry way; I’ll have no
      hamstrings cut on me.
Ain’t got no-strings to hinder me.
All I see is human-ridiculosity & no clear
      way to avoid it’s absurdity.
— Ray Laccetti