"rioters" poems
it's only deep in the night when my mind wanders most that i ponder why another night of drinking alone is the status quo. it's when i wonder why the wheel that started spinning so long ago keeps spinning, in the same direction and general speed. deep in the night is when the doubts and regrets run rampant like rioters through the square, flipping cars amidst flaming tires. it's when the needs and the wants clash for supremacy, assuring the mutual destruction of each. loves lost carve their names into my neocortex. where dreams unrealized fill their time by playing ping-ping until they're ****** from the backburner to manic importance. deep in the night is when blood-shot eyes and blaring computer monitors have a staring contest. deep in it, thought becomes reaction and the beans spill accordingly. knee-deep and we're ravaging the calm into frenzy and burning the books of our beliefs and abandoning rationale in favor of the spectre of immediate gratification at any cost, at any loss. deep in the night where no light penetrates, things become somehow illuminated.
Jul 10, 2011
Jul 10, 2011 at 12:41 PM UTC
I guess you could say I'm supportive of gay marriage
Because if a boy and a girl can get married
Then a boy and a boy can get married
And if a boy and a boy can get married
Then a girl and a girl can get married
And I say this because I don't care who they marry
As long as it isn't who I want to marry
And I guess you could say I'm supportive of smoking
Because I don't care if you destroy your lungs
As long as it isn't around me
I don't care if you decided to sit in a smoke filled haze for the rest of your life
Wondering when it all went wrong as long as you
Don't call me at three am saying you have no choices
And you've given up.
And I guess you could say I'm supportive of selling
your body, mind and soul
Because I don't care as long as I'm not written into the fine print
And you're not signing me up for something I don't want to partake in.
See I'm selfish, I'm supportive of a lot of things
As long as the rioters don't come to my door demanding changes
And the altercations and "long live prosperity".
I don't care if it counters my ingrained beliefs,
It's not the end of the world
Just anther person doing what they want to do
So I guess you could say I am a liberal,
But I'd say I'm just too busy to give a ****
About controlling people's lives and that instead
Of making people conform I'd rather
Be getting **** done to actually
Change The World
Oct 29, 2013
Oct 29, 2013 at 9:54 PM UTC
Why can't we all just get along?
Maybe if we all just hit a ****
Bhatiboys, bald heads, reggae mons too
Open your minds, and see what JAH can do
Rioters and looters fighting with cops
Roll up some ****** and the violence stops
Terrorist blowing up the middle east
Some Afghan kush would bring them all peace
If Escobar sold **** not ***** cocaina
Then the whole world would be a lot greena
We are all JAH's children, so lets all get along
Maybe we could, if we all ripped a ****
Sep 26, 2016
Sep 26, 2016 at 9:19 PM UTC
I cried when Barack Obama left office, and I cried for Joe Biden too, as though I'd lost parents of mine,
But Mike Brown and the others had it coming, they were probably resisting arrest,
So love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
I go to pro choice rallies and I chant about female anatomy,
I retweeted a #blacklivesmatter tweet once, I think that's just as good as a protest
But don't talk about revolution, that's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
I cheered Bernie on the whole way, but eventually settled on Clinton,
I would do anything for free healthcare and education, as long as my taxes aren't too much more
I love all the minorities too, as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
The people who voted for Trump, should all hang their heads in shame,
I can't understand where they're at, John Oliver should set them straight
But if you burn an American flag, I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me love me I'm a liberal
I read Huffington Post, and Rolling Stone too,
If I vote it's a Democrat with a sensible economic view,
But when it comes to rioters in the streets punching nazis, there's no one more red white and blue
So love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
Once I was young and my heart bleeding, I bought every Coexist bumper sticker I saw,
Even marched alongside the socialists, thought I could bring the system down with the power of love,
But I've grown older and wiser, and that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
Love me, love me love me, I'm a liberal
Jan 24, 2017
Jan 24, 2017 at 5:09 AM UTC
Tyres and fires burning
circles of rubber
Rolled down black tongued roads
Heading to city centre
Where others meet
To greet the mighty ruler
With sword and soldiers dressed
In fibreglass shields, green helmets
truncheons with spikes backed water cannons
snipers on rooftops searching for vipers
to drill bullet holes
The tyres rolled in and rounded in a circle
Cutting off escape routes and
Dividing believers and non-believers
Piled high, pulled tight with pitchfork patience
The leaders orders more tyres.
Anything from cars, buses and bicycles
that could hold up the chains of freedom.
Last desperate attempt - not to escape but die
In the ring of fire -soon lit
Underneath the tyres
Which created bursting black flames and bluegrey smoke
Rising above the rants of leaders and shooters
and crackling. Sparks that dulled the day
And lit the night with sparklers of power.
The paratroopers soon retreated into barracks
and the rioters took hold of the city keys,
And over broken glass and burnt buildings
settled in for the long haul to freedom.
The pawns moved on the chess board
knights moved in the night,
The queen was cornered
and checkmate came when the hollow president
flew the palace with his coterie of
ear chewers and shoe polishers!
The tyres burned slowly
the fires burned down slowly.
Freedom came at dawn on the 21 st day
when the rubber factory churned out again
many new models of tyres with tougher treads.
The circle begins again today.
Author Notes
The Revolution continues. All common day gadgets that could burn and blister the new agenda is rolled down the road into the city centre where the
protesters gather to set fire to ambitious policies, unpopular with the people.
The fires from tyres will rage all night and day.
© Marshall Gass. All rights reserved.
Apr 1, 2014
Apr 1, 2014 at 1:21 AM UTC
It's quieter now.
Rioters are long gone.
For reasons beyond me.
Their anarchic war
Was replace with arctic winds
From far north.
Iciness blows through me
Unthawing the rawness.
Forlorn frozen feelings.
Slowly spreading, soon
I am a hollow iceberg
The world still moves on
Through the bright fire
And I watch from my frigid state.
Sometimes, flames will flicker towards me,
Sometimes, they lick my ice.
Temporary mealting occur.
The memory of water proves too
Tempting for ice to ignore.
But this chilled bliss is fleeting.
Memory turned sour and only to freeze up again
And forget about fire so ice retires from contact.
All I can do is watch on.
Coldness remains in the heart and brain.
As the warmth of health carries on around me.
It is time like this,
That I wait for this age to pass.
For climate change to do what it does best
However weather has always been unpredictable,
And even lava couldn't thaw me free.
Instead I will wait for the return of the rioters.
and prepare to greet them all
and All the choas they bring.
Jan 15, 2015
Jan 15, 2015 at 7:31 PM UTC
World War III was a pity
nuclear destruction
***** and Gomorrah
Babylon the last city
World war; IV, V,VI
skirmishes nitty-gritty
Reduced to rubble,
Land no longer pretty
Boulders and granite
Fire and ash trash
An Unrecognizable planet
Walk on mounds of broken glass
Each day, a little less men strive
Those who managed to survive
Irreversible travesty’s against God
Chanted by men to Stay alive.
Souls Reduced to Unspeakable things
To eat a human being is not as easy as it seems
Humanity in its primitive form Cannibalism
The bell tolls for thee” Dinner bell sings
What length would you go for your kids?
Looking in their hungry eyes first dibs
Carnal nature, tender young flesh
Hunger, starvation, soulless don’t confess
living off the flesh of
The belly of the beast
“Stab it with your stealing knife
But you just can’t **** the beast”
Mouth waters, a banquet feast
Life on the outside filled with decay
Losers never win they just fade away
False promised prayers nothing to say
One more gory battle fire the last mortar
War Ends with One World Order
Martial law rioters reject Curfew in affect
Government laws suspect,
Man fights to the end to defend
Freedom life liberty protect
BLT Webster’s word of the day challenge
March 13, 2025 CURFEW
Curfew refers to a law or order that requires people to be indoors after a certain time at night, as well as to the period of time when such an order or law is in effect it can also be used to refer to a time set by a parent or caregiver at which a child has to be back home after going out
The Phrase
“Never send to know for whom
The bell tolls; it for Thee”
Originated from John Donnie’s meditation 17
and means we are all connected, and the death of any person, even a stranger, is a loss to all of humanity, as we are all part of the same human experience
Ernest Hemingway use the phrase as the title of his novel “For whom the bell tolls”
The phrase can be used as a metaphor to emphasize the interconnectedness of
Humanity and the importance of caring about the events and people even those far away
Inspired song
Hotel California by the Eagles
Mar 13, 2025
Mar 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM UTC
My birthday is on the 19th
it'll be a riot
the next day, they say
My birthday is on the 19th
the rioters won't be quiet
come what may
My birthday is on the 19th
I'm not adhering to my diet
that bittersweet day
My birthday is on the 19th
I'm not so happy about it this year
My birthday is on the 19th
the next day fills me with fear
My birthday is on the 19th
can't be near those I hold dear
My birthday is on the 19th
it'll be a riot, they say
come what may, the 19th is my day
Jan 10, 2021
Jan 10, 2021 at 8:44 PM UTC
Down and out, broken like so many burned out automobiles
Yet blazing infinite with immeasurable conviction &
Rapturous with the weight of destiny
Manic hysteria drove them off the overpass
Hipster Valkyries raised them to avant-garde Valhalla
And the eight o'clock news made messiahs of the lot
Nirvana sold last weeks newspapers on the side of the highway
Rolling with a sweet glimmer of a shark toothed smile
On the horizon hunting for a high that can't ever be attained
Holiest of Holies on a red lipped mountain top
Or a supermarket bathroom stall scrawled with ****** madness
The Lord's Prayer in black ink, brutal and simple
There were misty eyed girls on the morning train to some great and unenviable elsewhere
And by night the crows circled six times, once for each of the dead end dreams swallowed that day
Candid and conscious, where the wild ones roam the city
Burning the flags they wave and waving the flags they burn
America's sweethearts on the run from the police
Sawing at heartstrings like bows on a twisted violin
From the mountains to the valleys the winds screamed senseless in their joy
Liberation and the kiss of a lipstick Judas were on everyone's mind
Martyrs a mile a minute, a dime a dozen
Down the line the angels wept gloria mundi
For the sinners sung with passion, the saints stoically mourned
The revelers and the rioters and the street kids looking for a ride home
The toxic kissed stars that set the city lights the shame
And the masochists, blessed with a gypsy goddess' double edged kiss
And broken down like so many burned out automobiles
Yet blazing infinite with immeasurable conviction &
Rapturous with the weight of destiny
Dec 19, 2014
Dec 19, 2014 at 2:59 AM UTC
When one of your own is taken
It is natural to take someone In return
However when you scream race hate and turn around and burn down a town
You will never be treated as people but at as a problem
Now is not the time to riot, it is the time to reunite as a people
It is time to seek justice through a noble cause
It is time to make your voices heard without using fists
It is time to stand as one
Don't perish a boys memory with misdeeds and greed and burning violence
Honor it by banding together and offer a solution by peaceful means of absolute candor
Don't riot
Reunite
Aug 17, 2014
Aug 17, 2014 at 1:13 AM UTC
The buildings,
on the horizon,
are falling into the sun.
Crooked eyes,
always question,
the meaning of it all.
And corrupt minds,
will always defy,
the rules and the law.
As we await,
the wrath of,
the Gods.
The present state,
of our mother Earth,
shows we don't care,
about her worth.
The decrepit state,
of our future's minds,
will only fall apart,
over time.
We are falling,
we've fallen.
The torn wings,
of the angels,
have fallen to the ground.
The nuclear bombs,
all exploding,
barely make a sound.
And the roars,
from the rioters,
are incredibly loud.
And we await,
the wrath of,
the Gods.
Let the crooked eyes,
and corrupt minds play.
Let them play their game.
Be one with you,
and we will survive,
we are the sane.
We are falling,
we have fallen.
Oct 17, 2012
Oct 17, 2012 at 9:32 PM UTC
By: Cedric McClester
I know what it is we saw
On the streets of Baltimore
Everything we should abhor
Burning, looting and much more
As our history has shown
Once contentious seed are sown
Violence that we can’t condone
Begins when the first stone is thrown
Once we loose the savage beast
And opportunists start to fleece
Their local businesses decrease
And there’s no justice or no peace
Deprivation is the aftermath
Once people choose a violent path
For some it’s fun and so they laugh
But they don’t know much about math
Whole communities disappear
As rioters stand around and cheer
Once the smoke has a chance to clear
We find it’s worst than we had feared
What began as an expression of pain
Rapidly denigrated before it changed
Which often happens when police are estranged
From communities they police when there’s no exchange
Violence never is the answer
Cos it can metastasize like a cancer
It never was an agenda advancer
Nor a valid argument enhancer
So let’s not try to pretend
That there can be any other end
Nor a position that we can defend
Can I surmise we comprehend?
(c) Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester. All rights reserved.
Apr 27, 2015
Apr 27, 2015 at 8:41 PM UTC
Dumb Streets stroll along with brains of blitz
to an evening ritual of bathing with blood
where young smiles melt away and tears dry out,
guilty die and so do the ones who dare to doubt,
audience calls it the crowned fool’s supper
but our fool names it ‘Blooming of the Juniper’.
Dumb Streets poke their pride with ***** knives,
scoop their brains out for the queen of beehives
and surrender their soul for a single penny
which leads them to a war-zone surrounded by jinni.
The poor souls mustn’t retreat to the fool,
who’d treat them as his supper or a war-tool.
Dumb Streets fed-up, riot with sullen spirits,
they burn bridges and **** the fool’s puppets.
The supper gets heavy as the days go by,
our fool feasts on rioters who’ve sworn to die.
Soon the puppets disappear into thin air
and leave the palace for rioters to spare.
Dumb streets have our fool as their supper,
sink their shelters with wine and clutter,
but fail to notice uprising of another fool
who’d played leader of fish in the pool.
Shower mercy O! wise Fool upon your streets,
preach the dumb, who wonder what he eats.
Mar 26, 2018
Mar 26, 2018 at 2:24 PM UTC
Brother my brother you are deceived
Love cannot come out of hate
The underground movement you speak of is worthless for God's sake, if you don't fight with love.
We are in a battle not of white or black for the attack you see is spiritual.
Hatred is sin, distrust has no color. Love is the solution my brother. Reexamine your facts and come back to me with a different book to sale. Actually never mind. I already bought the one I need. I heed the words that were written in the story.
It talks about people once enslaved, yes ****** and gory.
But in the sands of Egypt, a leader was saved by the want to be killers daughter in the wading water. What a juxtaposition.
Has your position changed?
The leader of the movement was saved by the person you would hate. The movement was birthed by love. And that only comes from above
So I love you my brother but I can't buy your book. It costs too much to come this far. The water hosed walkers vs. street rioters. I can't buy your book. Not for five dollars or three
But please listen to me. Love is the solution. And it was not free.
Jul 4, 2014
Jul 4, 2014 at 9:04 AM UTC
In twenty-four, the streets aflame
a tempest brewed, a nation’s shame.
Southport’s wounds still fresh and raw,
three children lost their lives, a flaw.
False whispers spread through cyberspace,
the stabber’s name, a twisted chase.
Muslim, seeker, both or none
the spark ignited, chaos spun.
England, torn by fear and hate,
far-right voices, venom’s weight.
Riots surged from Southport’s core,
a wildfire leaping, burning more.
Arson’s dance, a crimson waltz,
shops looted, streets in tumult’s pulse.
Police van torched, officers besieged,
a fractured nation, wounds unseized.
Islamophobia’s venom seeped,
racist fervour, hatred steeped.
Disinformation’s murky tide,
Russia’s whispers amplified.
Yet amidst the flames, a counterforce—
Stand Up to Racism, voices hoarse.
Anti-fascists, Muslims, too,
clashed with rioters, hearts askew.
In this fractured hour, we seek the light,
to mend the rifts, reclaim the night.
For England’s soul, a plea resounds:
heal the wounds, find common grounds.
I stand against the darkness,
where prejudice and anger collide.
My words, a beacon of empathy,
a bridge across the chasm wide.
For love knows no division,
no borders drawn by fear.
In unity, we find strength,
and hate dissolves when love is near.
So let us rise above the chaos,
embrace compassion’s flame.
Together, we’ll extinguish hate
and heal the wounds that bear our name.
Aug 19, 2024
Aug 19, 2024 at 11:39 AM UTC
By: Cedric McClester
Now the acolytes and apologists
Will no doubt come out and insist
That the mayor of Baltimore wasn’t remiss
I guess you could say ignorance is bliss
But the question remains who was in charge
When the mayor was absent by and large
And the duty of the office wasn’t discharged
While she was busy having her ego massaged
Acolytes and apologists
Have convenient answers for all of this
But those answers only make us ******
When we look back and reminisce
Although it may be an ominous sign
Dereliction of duty comes to mind
Or perhaps it was just blind leading the blind
But it shouldn’t have happened any time
Acolytes and apologist
Have ways of glossing over all of this
Try though we may to get their gist
They make us want to ball our fist
Who’s gonna help build the city back up
When the anger subsides the people are stuck
Because a callous few didn’t give a ****
Acolytes and apologist pass the buck
Acolytes and apologist
Are everywhere explaining this
But the salient fact they must have missed
Is the blame should be placed squarely on sis
What recourse do we have when our leaders fail
When looters and rioters don’t go to jail
Who should we look to, to assail
If not the mayor who's gone stale
© Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester. All rights reserved.
Apr 28, 2015
Apr 28, 2015 at 9:36 AM UTC
I, the capitalist war machine,
I, the magnificent static,
I, the bomb shelter peace,
I, the twenty four hour news cycle, the rise, the relapse, the detox, the retox, the crucifixion, the rebirth, the disgrace, the continuation of the theme repeating ad nausea towards annihilation,
I, the caged ******
I, the black boy bleeding to death,
I, the rioters in the street,
I, the Wall Street gallows,
I, the old money militia,
I, the yuppie **** appropriating culture from the scraps of endless genocide,
I, the shock value mockeries of conventional moralities dumbed down to be digested,
I, the blood spilled on sacrificial altars on holy ground,
I, the celestial body ignored, passing back and forth endlessly through peripheral visions,
I, the madman howling at the moon for some ******* peace and quiet
I, the pill popping siren choking on adoration,
I, the mass hallucination shared and reshared till it loses all meaning,
I, the Pantheon collapsed,
The downfall broadcast,
The television unplugged and still playing,
I, the crushing realization,
The devastating grip of ruinous apathy,
The movement monetized,
The victory shallow,
I have built this tomb with my own hands,
I have changed the channel one too many times,
I have let this consume me
I am guilty
You are no better
Lie still
Let it consume you
Jun 9, 2016
Jun 9, 2016 at 2:30 AM UTC
Dig me ditch
Dig me a home
Where I don't have to love anymore
Where my eyes will see clouds of dirt
And my body will lie still
I want you to dig me a home
And build me a fire
That warms me
So I can feel some hint of a spark again
So I can stop surviving and start living
Like I did
I want you to build me a fire
Make me one last supper
A simple apology on a platter
With the food groups being
The five stages of grief
But I won't consume it
It will consume me
You see that's what love does
It takes away your place in the world
And fills it with white walls
And blank space
It takes away your ability to feel
By putting a cloudy filter over your eyes
And an infinitely somber mask over every face
Love feeds you line after line
Of possibilities
From mountain tops
To the bottom of the sea
And the when your fattened and happy
It leaves you
With a hurricane in your heart
And a riot in your brain
There was once a refreshing ocean breeze
There was once a drizzle of hope
There was once a group of children
Who grew up and saw the world was cold
But now the storm whips through my internal organs
With the ferocity of a gods quest
And the rioters yell relapse in my mind
Because that's what I've learned to do best
There was once a simple sobriety to life
It was once okay to feel vulnerable
But vulnerability breeds love
And Love should be considered
A medical condition
A terminal carcinogen
Because it allows people to dig holes in your heart
So they'll always have a place there
And strike a spark in your lungs
So you'll always burn for them
Because it allows you to be fed
Images of a false future
And dreams of an alternate humanity
I was vulnerable for you
I opened my arms to the love
I didn't think I deserved
But I was certain that I'd need
Nobody ever tells you that love is a disease
It infects the brain so that you see
A false reality
But love has left my lungs drenched in water
And my organs pulling together as a community
To restore they're ecosystem to its former glory
To patch up the bloodied streets where the rioters commands took place
To stop the floods that the hurricane gave way
Love is a disease
A carcinogen
a riot
a storm
And a hoax
And I believe all the things
Because unlike you
I can't let ours go
Jun 29, 2014
Jun 29, 2014 at 3:52 AM UTC
By: Cedric McClester
Some question the police
They should be asked at least
As rioters disturbed the peace
Why they watched the violence increase
As incredible as it might sound
They may have been told to stand down
Given conditions on the ground
That would be nothing short of profound
The police used great restraint
But the picture that it might paint
Is it’s clearly what it ain’t
A show of force under constraint
So where do we begin
And how does the mayor fit in
Will someone say who can
To help us understand
Was it just a slippery slope
Or were their hands tied by a rope
Do we need a microscope
And will the answer restore hope
Those who watched couldn’t miss it
Were the police complicit
Cos the riot was illicit
They did nothing to resist it
I’m far from a detective
It's a matter of perspective
Were the police under directive
As some of us suspected
And if so who ordered them
From whence did the order stem
Whether it was her or him
They should preserve life and limb
© Copyright 2015, Cedric McClester. All rights reserved.
Apr 28, 2015
Apr 28, 2015 at 2:26 PM UTC
Hyperbolic statements can't seem to convey
How the peacekeepers can no longer keep the rioters at bay
And in a trying time my adviser would say,
"Give in to their demands, your grace, I do pray."
But I have been exhausted from toiling all day
So I will rest motionless on this bed I shall stay
As the fabric of my sanity begins to fray.
Sep 2, 2017
Sep 2, 2017 at 2:17 PM UTC
Police brutality is a huge factor
Continue to move forward & never look backwards
I pray for loved ones in 2020 that we lost
Fighting for equality like me no matter the cost
Police tells us nobody is above the law
Yet kneeling on your neck, staring you down as if they’re God
My weapon is my fist & my 45
I assure you I will protect my family & what is mine
Police brutality is a huge factor
Killing blacks one-by-one like we don’t matter
Rioters riot while protesters are beaten in the news
Cops speak in codes, waiting on a signal from their superior just to execute
Trying to survive 2020 dog, somehow
Praying racism will be gone so our color can bloom now
Being black in America is beautiful in my eyes
Keep chanting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” no matter what, & everything will be alright
Jun 17, 2020
Jun 17, 2020 at 12:05 AM UTC
Shots are fired thoughts inspired
by the desire
to see it never happen again.
Heroes walking right beside her
helping hands and lights to guide her
to a less bitter, sweeter, and brighter
world of Justice.
March or die riders share hopeful flyers.
Peaceful protest inciters instead of rioters
fight back against government deciders,
failed healthcare providers,
and other authoritarians who try to deny her
the light that burns so much brighter inside her.
Dec 1, 2020
Dec 1, 2020 at 9:57 AM UTC