"investigative" poems
Manipulating information
To craftily plot your lore
Is necessary if you want
To continue an information war.
Specific example: Deny Russian
Collusion and interference in
U.S. elections, and do not stop
Seeking info that you can spin.
After months of denying Russian
Cyber attacks and election meddling,
Then admit the possibility
Through a little backpedaling.
Say that well…maybe they meddled,
But hastily add: so did others.
Say you'd still end all queries
And probes if you had your druthers.
It's vital, of course, that you keep
Bashing the press. Be sure to accuse
Investigative journalists
Of making up tons of fake news.
Finally, say the Russians will
Interfere in the U.S., and that's
How in elections this November
They plan to help the DEMOCRATS!
Why? Because you're so hard
(Wink!) on Russia. You'll be winning.
Your fawning fans will eat it up,
And you will have all heads spinning.
Your friends on your favorite TV station
Will help you criticize and demean
Those who don't agree with you.
Praise to your propaganda machine!
Who cares what the world thinks?
You've got your fans; you've got your base.
There's no match for a stable genius
Who says to the world, "In your face!"
-by Bob B (7-25-18)
Jul 25, 2018
Jul 25, 2018 at 10:21 AM UTC
.the moral obligation, to be cognitively dissident; which has to align with Heiddeger's da-sein at some point... a piquant fervor for reality as: static, yet at the same time moving in the realm of the Titans / orbs - time, is a concept that has to match up to the orbs... otherwise all this space... whatever the wind, the clouds... is just static... inanimate... time could only be derived from animate objects, which became subjects which became momentum... the rest, the rest is just space, and its excesses of the vacuous night... space became a probing mechanism, an investigative vector, posit, charge.
now you call me a germanophile...
like a Caligula or some
odd ****
kennts ihr selbst:
know your self...
which is a reflective form of
the reflexive Anglo
counterpart: yourself.
so i noticed...
whenever i become, really,
and i mean really reactionary
(not angry)
i tend to drift into
writing in my native tongue...
funny...
mother tongue,
fatherland...
but it's the opposite in Moscow...
motherland...
and the epitome
of the Cyrillic?
well... there was
a St. Cyrill...
but father-tongue just
sounds so ****** stupid
in English...
maybe in German?
vaterzunge...
well... sure as **** that
sounds better than mutterzunge...
but hey,
preferences preference preferences,
not everyone says: om, om,
ooh, chocolate,
when taking a bite of a ****
Oct 19, 2018
Oct 19, 2018 at 10:50 AM UTC
I am the people and the neighborhoods,
the pretzel vendor and the bank president,
the silver spoon child and the child who hungers.
I am public forum and barroom debate,
an investigative reporter and his angry subject,
the jury's patient search for truth,
a silent vigil outside City Hall,
and I can hear, on this humid summer night,
the voice of history's resounding approval.
Jul 28, 2015
Jul 28, 2015 at 1:04 PM UTC
Never in my inspiration,
Deflecting all imagination.
Breathing through an agitation,
With every mundane conversation.
Predicting expectation,
Leaving nothing but hesitation.
The fear is overwhelming,
But so is every situation.
A choice.
Risking ourselves for no one else,
Selfless in thought,
Letting selfishness rejoice.
Rhyme or reason,
Virtues painted in patient seasons.
In treason.
Trying to find the rhyme in reason,
Rather than being investigative,
And bandaging the lesion;
We let it flow.
Don’t let it go,
If you do,
You might know more than you know.
And we’d rather become blind,
Live in a detrimental time.
Seeing the future as our past,
And letting progress happen last.
Political,
Self-critical,
The devil is too literal.
Advocate for less,
Become muted for something more.
Because the goals inside,
The dreams we hide,
Are the demons we choose to store.
The choice,
The existence,
Is everything within us.
Its hope and aspirations,
Admiration and indication.
A vision towards change inside,
Allowing the child to play outside.
Feb 16, 2013
Feb 16, 2013 at 6:14 PM UTC
I long for change
but refuse to do the leg work
to get there
I'll walk down the sidewalk
avoiding the same glares
I never acknowledged the ordinary faces
which could alter my local reality, so
No, I resign to be a stranger
My sober brother won't stop
moving on a day-off adventure
but just as I got outta bed to see what was up
The spot on the driveway was empty
nothing but a power steering fluid puddle, left
It's hard to turn, but he's gone
Anyhow
now I sit here resigned to make some armchair change
it's better than the bed
and instead of organizing this squalor
I work in it
My disgust calmed
by good use of my possessions
I found a scrap of rotting meat
only to find
it was the pit of a plum I ate
New growth from death
with nothing but an investigative mindset
Oct 20, 2015
Oct 20, 2015 at 10:27 PM UTC
early morn (5:00am) scanning, scrolling,
unrehearsed searching and the question
appears in a “loves that got away” column,
*(why do all these descriptors start eith S,
I think I know!)*
and off on another self-effacing, investigative determination, a mental biopsy of another hopeless cause,
that results in poems too long
though the body and mind are rested,
with six hours of uninterrupted sleep,
and volumes of dreams,
the quest bags a burr in the bed,
(yes, rhymes with head)
but n o t h i n g pops in with a grin,
and a bell ring, stating presumptuously,
why that’s me
and the fault failure fear
in me
engorges
this really distresses,
with & in a deep sense of awful,
how can I not recall this momentous
illustrative precious precision
proof of why life is worth living,
and worser still,
don’t I get to choose,
isn't this an interrogatory,
suitable for a pre-provided
Multiple Choice Answer?
a pause to collect myself from a
falling into a hole of nefarious negativity spiraling,
*suddenly
recalling so many
kind and gentle touching brushes
of your comments re my poetry,
which provoked warm tears*
^***and one more tine,
poetry has saved
a life***^
5:37am Saturday 2-15-25
Feb 15, 2025
Feb 15, 2025 at 5:47 AM UTC
I destroy as I write
painted movements upon the disease of blankness
fulfilling the open potential
shining through a darkened tunnel
fraught with the weight of culture's phantasm.
A projected collective
imbuing meaning and density leaving the propensity
to do more in the hands of the unconscious.
A generation of dreamers caught in a co-created nightmare
It takes a forceful shaking to wake them into waking, a kind of tremor like the earth is quaking
but stillness
still grips
those who would otherwise toss and turn
You've had your time, now its our turn
Interdimensional investigative procedure
Prepare your resume, for today you will be hired or fired
Welcome to the game.
Apr 27, 2016
Apr 27, 2016 at 12:07 PM UTC
If you would like to run a country
And run it with an iron fist
While thumbing your nose at democracy,
Then keep in mind the following list:
One. Once you're in office,
Defy the voters that you'd been wooing
By doing some of the things that you
Criticized your opponent for doing.
Two. Demonize the media.
Accuse them of grossly distorting
The truth. Call them the enemy,
And give no credence to what they're reporting.
Three. When matters don't go your way,
Resort to alternative facts and choose
Disinformation as the best way
To strengthen your base with far-fetched views.
Four. Give alt-right nationalists
Top positions on your team
And then belittle those who say
That your advisers are too extreme.
Five. Meet with the FBI
To clarify your expectations.
Tell them that they should knock down stories
And change ongoing investigations.
Six. Pressure heads of intelligence
Investigative committees to call
Reporters to tell them to alter reports.
Tell them "To hell with protocol!"
Seven. Downplay the roles of foreign
Countries in helping you win the race.
Discourage further investigations
By saying they're totally out of place.
Eight. Follow the expert advice
Of Vladimir Lenin, who would say,
"A lie told often enough
Becomes the truth." That works today.
Nine. Belittle judges and courts;
Belittle even allies and friends.
Stick your foot in your mouth even more
When you try to make amends.
Ten. It helps to criticize
The CIA and FBI.
Intimidate and discredit them,
And hang the agencies out to dry.
Eleven. Chip away at people's
Rights. Try to make them believe
That what you are doing is for their own good.
Remind them that the press can deceive.
Twelve. Continue campaign rallies
To stroke your ego; to prove you're liked.
Cover up the fact that your
Disapproval ratings have spiked.
A master con artist will know
How to take information and spin it.
He needs to find a gullible mind,
And "There's a sucker born every minute."
- by Bob B (2-26-17)
Feb 26, 2017
Feb 26, 2017 at 5:36 PM UTC
wanting to pursue
encourage
getting fingerprints,
splatters
"It's amazing.
They're mesmerized."
end of their workshop,
children watched active detectives
while hooked
right questions
investigative tools,
early interest
a lifelike mannequin
in as the victim
molds of footprints
mind is made up, for now.
Oct 16, 2012
Oct 16, 2012 at 9:59 PM UTC
A prim, lavender skirt and a napkin on it,
Tells me this is serious, and I mustn’t
Rain upon it, not say what I think,
And much less what I feel.
You have found a lover
And she isn’t me,
I wish I was an eel
That could glide away
Into the primordial sea.
On second thought, it makes me
Wish that we had never met,
That I’d never looked at you and loved,
Or at least never brought you home.
It was there that it all began;
I assumed your were mine alone,
And now I am empty man.
Oh, my love,
For the first time in my life!
You did this to me,
Without knowing, charmed me
Until I was undone.
But accidents will happen;
It was only hit and run;
Such investigative fun!
Don’t tell the other one I feel this way.
On second thought let him…..
Follow me into danger
Since a gamble is good as a rest,
Or the off chance I’ll get shot.
After all, this admirer’s the best
Of a mediocre lot.
But he knows about me, I’m sure.
He’s gets so little reward,
But takes credit for what I do
And hangs upon my every word.
He listens to me in the dead of night
As you used to do.
It’s comforting that he’s not you.
-Unfinished Lament
Feb 12, 2019
Feb 12, 2019 at 9:39 AM UTC
On the backs of the women before us
Stands legacy and triumph,
Women like Anna Komnene
Who saved her father’s reputation, knew the classics,
And supervised hospitals,
Proving you can be royalty and brilliant,
Empress Wu,
The only known empress in early Chinese history,
Who challenged the norms for women liberation,
On the backs of the women before us,
Are the Roasies,
The strong women who joined industry and steel during World War 2,
Doing a man’s job,
Showing women have muscle,
A group known as the night witches
Women who bombed Nazi’s in the darkest hours,
Showing women can fight,
On the backs of the women before us,
Sacajawea,
Who at 16 trekked the mid-west with Lewis and Clark with a baby on her back,
Proving women can endure,
Kathrine Johnson,
Who proved to the world gender and color doesn’t matter,
Anyone can use mathematics for the growth of humanity,
Rosa Parks, who looked into the eyes of a white man,
And refused to give up her seat,
Proving that women can revolt,
Nellie Bly,
Who mothered investigative journalism,
Florence nightingale,
Who without her nursing wouldn’t have its roots,
On the backs of the women today,
Is Malala who at 15 was shot for standing up for a girl’s right for education,
Or Gretta Thunberg who at 17 is fighting for a greener earth,
On the backs of the women before us,
And on the backs of the women today,
Are women showing girls that tomorrow and the day after,
They can look into the eye of a man and say
Try me.. I’ll go far
Mar 25, 2020
Mar 25, 2020 at 3:20 PM UTC
Investigative force
Observer with no remorse
Awaiting the path to unfold
The trial of natures course
Never more shall we fall into oblivious plans
Connection with the source alleviates the confusion and uncertainty the future provides
Delve deep within
The answers are ever present
The soul awaits the physical to surrender in its presence
Break the chain
Strive for new
Break the constraints
That holds the potential back
Back
Back
Into deevolution
Always looking outward for solutions
Into the delusion
Take a look within to be the answer
Burying woe
Cannot let go of the familiar essence;
Your prescience
Bleak minutes tick away
Color fade
Purposeful sedation
Somber face
Metamorphosis
Into cold state
Visions of the Gate
Destroyed by the course of fate
What uncertainties now await?
Jaded repression
Bound by the constraints
Carrying the worlds weight
What uncertainties now await?
Bleak expression
Brewing oppression
***********
***********
Deathly wallows ensue
Inward into the grotto
Echoing hallows
What
Jan 29, 2015
Jan 29, 2015 at 10:04 AM UTC
In the deep, uncertain night the strangers met,
Unseeing, unknowing, unthinking-dulled brain and senses,
Through the porous shadows and tangled foliage they crept
Stumbling over fallen trees and broken-down fences
Their hatred binding them, root to root,
In the mediating light of the silvered moon;
Rotten barks covered in fungi, dried twigs cracking underfoot;
Reaching the village outskirts they emitted a painless moan
And stumbled on. Slow breezes drifted over their flesh, sun-driven
Investigative fingers inspecting their souls, medicating pain.
Memory restored, childhood relived, time rendered fission,
Their fears gliding away in the quietly-falling rain.
Striving through the bluster of life, together or apart,
We return to where in life we made an imperfectly remembered start.
Apr 23, 2016
Apr 23, 2016 at 5:14 PM UTC
Whistleblowers, blow your whistles;
Expose deceitful corruption and fraud.
Reveal the ghastly, vile and unethical
Doings that hide behind each façade.
Muckrakers, rake through the muck;
Bring wrongdoing and cover-ups to light.
Denounce guile and chicanery.
Raise our awareness; do what is right.
Investigative journalists,
Unveil lies and hypocrisy.
Disclose injustice wherever it is.
Protect our democracy.
People of conscience, raise your voices.
Loudly drown out the messages of hate.
Don't be bullied; don't be afraid
To express what you won't tolerate.
When your hard-earned freedoms are threatened,
Don't let your resolve give way.
"The press is the enemy of the people"
Is something only a tyrant would say.
- by Bob B (2-18-17)
Feb 18, 2017
Feb 18, 2017 at 9:14 AM UTC
we'll never be privy to what
happens inside the secret bunker
but if we were we'd be well
interested about its hunker
there's a lot of stuff going on
that doesn't get any open air time
those who are involved in it
keep a tight lid on the covert crime
an investigative body needs
to be set up like rather fast
so that we can gain insight into
the workings of it at last
once the findings are out there
in the public sphere
we'll have knowledge of what
has been occurring beneath the weir
Jul 1, 2018
Jul 1, 2018 at 12:34 AM UTC
It is right
It is right
'Only those
That stand under a tree
Know how ants bite!'
"Unless I saw things
Firsthand
Flaunting, I
Used not
Facts to understand!
In this regard
I often said off hand
'Concerning Covid-19
You could be off
Your guard
I do not agree
With a bizarre
Lockdown decree.'
Me if you ask
Why put not you
A face mask?
I will laugh
Behind your back.
While innumerable
Senior citizens die,
Well-nourished
Self-centered
Worried never I!
Investigative
Journalists I adored
To lampoon
'Cause I was born
In my mouth
With a silver spoon!.
'Yesterday I did note
The pandemic
Is screeching to a halt
No, no...
Excuses me I think
I have made a fault'
The angel of death
Me to hell's gate
Has brought!"
Though I lost in
WHO faith
It has wished me
To fast regain
My health!
Oct 2, 2020
Oct 2, 2020 at 2:55 PM UTC
Obstructing an investigation
Is really easier than one thinks.
Surround yourself with fawning fans
To help you work out all the kinks.
It helps if you can early on
Fire the head of the whole shebang,
And then sully his reputation
With every subsequent harangue.
Build distrust in the FBI
So when the people hear those initials,
They'll remember how you impugned
The credibility of law officials.
Spread the fear that a secret society,
Cleverly organized and malicious,
Is out to get you, even though
In reality, it's fictitious.
Let your "friends" in Congress create
Alternate scandals that detract
From your investigation, even
Though they are not based on fact.
A news station that has the least
Credibility helps a great deal--
One that pedals conspiracy theories
With unabashed passion and zeal.
Undermine investigative
Efforts by frequently causing confusion,
And then repeat ad nauseum
"No collusion! No collusion!"
Using some Stalinesque techniques
Helps your cause, and once you've begun,
The people, too, will call the media
Public enemy number one.
Having power will make you feel
That you possess unlimited choices.
If democracy gets in the way,
Keep on trying to quiet voices.
All of the strategies listed above--
If they're mercilessly applied--
Will come in handy, especially
If you have something to hide.
-by Bob B (1-25-18)
Jan 25, 2018
Jan 25, 2018 at 11:03 AM UTC
Thank you
Jeremy Scahill
For your sound
Investigative journalism
You revealed that
JSOC
Has assassinated
Foreigners
And U.S. Citizens
By Presidential decree
The land of the free?
Whoever told you that
Is your enemy
Abdulrahman al-Awlaki
Sixteen years old
Oh he was just
In the wrong place
At the wrong time
So the official story
Is told
The Khataba raid
You can read
About that too
This documentary
Makes me feel ashamed
Of the red, white, and blue
Sep 21, 2016
Sep 21, 2016 at 2:37 PM UTC
Lifeblood of democracy hemorrhaging
ousting the "FAKE" president only recourse
to staunch impending grim demise,
since forefathers drafted
United States Constitution
ratified more'n two centuries ago
hoi polloi must take to the streets
denouncing severe curtailment
impinging sacred freedom of speech
linkedin with paramount bedrock provision
accessing unvarnished flint ****** "truth,"
nonetheless commander in chief
he quakingly, staunchly, vociferously...
excoriates, lacerates, repudiates...
one damning hermetically sealed,
iniquitous airtight, vacuum packed
flagrant misuse of power,
(not to mention nepotism)
invidious, insidious, injurious... infractions
incontestable, incontrovertible, contemptible...
significant melange in führer
re: hating deplorably
crooked basely barren
factual exposé after another,
deft correspondents all not quiet
along western front
(I heard Maria - mull remark)
bring "to light" execrable,
lamentable reprehensible...
gross transgressions
commander in chief
significantly overstepped
Pulitzer prize winning
prestigious storied publications
scathingly trounced, pillaried,
lambasted, insulted, denounced,
butchered, critiqued, demonized,
fricassed, gored, humiliated,...
pummeled, quartered, reviled
courageously expounding fiend
ensconced within his Taj Mahal
impregnable donjon, whereat he trumpets
laurels asper, nonpareil administration
laying groundless accusations
baring his white fangs,
twittering, naysaying, mocking.. supreme
renown gifted by "honest Abe"
recalcitrant commander in chief,
who refutes objectionable
dogged investigative journalism
every step of the way,
where dedicated news gatherers
risk life and limb
firing line reportage troopers
ferreting (foxlike) *****
doth gopher precious nuggets
uncover alarming undisputable details
impossible to refute raw bits
agent provocateur freely colluding
immediately hashtashed poppycock
smarmy, snooty, snappy
beastly capital one ogre
blatantly castigating diligent endeavors
oblivious pie in sky
delusional egotistic haughtiness
bobblehead vilified by silent majority.
Jun 3, 2019
Jun 3, 2019 at 9:29 PM UTC
It was 1902 on the New Horizon 101 train schedule
There was a fancy party aboard
The schedule was from New York City to Kansas City, Kansas being explored
But as the party went on, the engineer completely ignored
A terrible storm blew
It was wind, rain and lightening being the slew
As the passenger train was trotting on its route
Suddenly the train derailed and turned over and over into a final pause about
It was determined there were no survivors
As years went on there was no longer interest being shown
Everyone felt this story was nothing more than a myth
But today is the anniversary of the final crash and perished lives
One night a ghost locomotive engine could be heard in the distance
Citizens were awakened in a sleep as a quick instance
Spirits unrest in moans being the deceased passengers
Human life cannot contest
The passenger train spirits were roaming the rails
A night of remembrance of the encore of prevail
A spiritual train with only souls that remain
Yet the moon being hidden
The souls in stalking in an unbelieving forsaken
An arrival of the Spirit of New Horizon with no schedule nor destination to arrive
The theory of the aftermath being taken in living one’s strive
Rails with no train and the eerie feeling of lives that remain
Yet moans continue to be heard as souls being the herd
The engine with no aspect
The microscope being investigative in what one would expect
The spirits will continue to roam
They hold the key in what should be known
Yet the Spirit New Horizon looking for new souls
A world unknown
The human population that will be blown
It’s quiet for now, but what is the reason being how?
We will never know
It’s the railing place and the soul’s having the face.
Nov 1, 2014
Nov 1, 2014 at 5:35 PM UTC
Praise to the leakers who take a risk
To rout out corruption, wrongdoings, and lies.
We have the right to know the truth.
A thousand thanks for opening our eyes.
Praise to the investigative press--
Brave, ubiquitous, and alert.
Exposing deceit and hypocrisy means
Sometimes having to dig up dirt.
Praise to the heroes who fight for our rights,
Exposing themselves to insults and scorn.
We take for granted most of our freedoms,
The loss of which one day we could mourn.
Praise to all the defenders of truth.
Don’t be bullied into submission.
Your vigilance will guide us when
Integrity suffers from malnutrition.
-by Bob B (8-9-17)
Aug 9, 2017
Aug 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM UTC
At times there are not two sides to a story
When there's a "side" that hoodwinks and distracts
The public with a far-fetched explanation,
While paying no attention to the facts.
A lot of us believe that truthfulness
And honesty should always be our guide--
Good investigative journalists
Check the facts so truths are verified.
We can see the demagogues at work.
Oh, how they twist the truth to meet their needs!
They finely tune their powers of deception
So they can get away with their misdeeds.
It helps when they have power and control--
Particularly when they have the latter--
And when they have supporters who believe
That lying isn't wrong and facts don't matter.
So if you feed me nonsense and proclaim
That honesty is not obligatory,
Then you confirm what I have just expressed:
At times there are not two sides to a story.
-by Bob B (2-26-22)
Feb 26, 2022
Feb 26, 2022 at 10:40 AM UTC