this is
a thankyou message to you all
who have accepted me in your community
of poets trying to articulate
what we feel is important

often it's love,
     with all its ups and downs
sometimes  it's death
     or loss of friends and the beloved
sometimes it is political
    because one cannot stand aside
    when human rights are stepped upon
    and hate speech threatens those
    who have already lost their homes
    their relatives   their children

as poets
I believe  
we have an obligation
     not only to make life
     more beautiful with our art
     find words in situations
     that tend to leave us speechless

but also to speak up in times
    when fuzzy rhetoric
    spewed forth by demagogues
tries to paint cruelties in friendly colors
    and lack of principles as necessary adaption
    to current times

the power of the word
    not only made our world

it  is the only way
to save it

a long time ago when
    according to the tradition
the three wise men
    already quite a bit exhausted
    for following that star for such a long time
finally found the right place
and looked at the baby eying their gifts
they were relieved to have reached
    their goal & done their duty  
    and   after exchanging the usual pleasantries
they turned around and went back home

little did they know
that their subject of veneration
    would make empires fear him
    and have him crucified
that his death would only last for three days
    and he would spawn a new religion
    of communal sharing and love
    that unhinged old empires and created new ones
that in his name multitudes
    would sacrifice  suffer  die   and ****

little did they know

Killing in the name of whatever god is always wrong!

Remember: Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everyhere!

the self-styled trumpeteers of ethnic hate
wish to build fences
    close the gates
to keep out those who flee
from self-styled trumpeteers of religious hate
who, as it is,
claim to feel called to hold up
ancient teachings that are out of date
in modern democratic times
when neither chimes of church bells
nor the cries of muezzins
or any other servants of religion
rank higher than the people’s democratic vote

as we are told by the elected
trumpeteers of democratic nations

god and the state each get their share
in separate spheres
but do not mix

for me
those who dare violate this rule
just come across as desperate to solve
new problems with old words
look backward and believe
that when they sell regression
     garnished with some bows
it will be seen as progress
make people overlook that
     while they now may live by simple truths
they can no longer disagree
     without the fear of ****** harm

just let us speak out loud and clear
     against the self-styled trumpeteers' song

to **** in the name of whatever god
is always wrong

One for the NRA: Support your right to arm bears!

Be careful what you wish for - you may get it.