in an age that brings instant gratification
by hitting a button or two
we are perplexed that good medication
cannot be found in a month or two

patience is waning  so is dedication
after a month or two
no matter what the explanation
we start throwing a tantrum or two

in spite of our expectation
of a miracle or two
our desire for vaccination
may have to wait
for a year or two

relearning to be patient in this situation
may give us a headache or two
when we surmise that salvation
will not come
by hitting a button or two

a thousand apologies more will not
make spoken words unheard

the yellow viral elephant
is not the topic of these lines

I’d rather speak of precious things
we almost have forgotten
over the last few months

the sight of crystal mountain lakes
under blue summer skies

your lover’s eyes looking at you
mirroring shared desires

how refugees were lucky to escape
and build a new home elsewhere

how children with unbridled joy
learn how to use their favorite toy

the oceans undulating waves
always new shapes for our wondering eyes

how the new day reverberates
with the melodious song of birds

our world has beauty bountiful
just look at it

life on our globe has turned
truly ‘complificated’
and many struggle to maintain
a semblance of the ordinary
in our daily goings about town

face masks, regulations and prescriptions
have changed how we can interact
if we may at all
with each other, friends, family, or strangers

physical distancing may rise desire
for at least digital social closeness
yet in its wake
emotional remoteness seems to grow

hanging like a shadow over
occasional live meetings with old friends
children, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc.

we watch them with veiled suspicion
they somehow look a little less familiar
since we met them last time
who knows what they might carry

strangers watching strangers we have become
growing more alienated from each other

and now the numbers
are rising again
hospitals filling
ICUs getting sparse

it seems this virus actually is
a bit more dangerous than the common flu
no matter what irresponsible leaders
across the globe keep telling their citizens

against the advice of medical experts
despite almost
30 million infected
1 million dead
and hundreds of millions of jobless

encouraging their followers
to ignore safety instructions
making them believe it is OK again
to spread infections on parties and in discos
or massive election campaign events
continuing the vicious circle
… continuing …. continuing …. continuing...

the current occupier of the white house
is unable to lead the battle against the pandemic
sends unmarked secret police
    to push peaceful protesters into unmarked vans
lets police use tear gas and rubber bullets
    to clear a place for a photo-op before a church
    into which he has never set foot
    holding up a bible which he most likely never read
spreads birther lies about possible opponents

tries to defund the US postal service
    because he is afraid of mail-in votes
attempts to destroy anti-pollution laws
    that improve people’s health
wants to abolish Medicaid
tries to celebrate a wishy-washy peace agreement
    between UAE and Israel as his success
    throwing the Palestinians under the bus

    & cetera   & cetera   & cetera

all he has managed to do in three-and-a-half years
is destroy many achievements of his predecessors
destabilize world diplomatic alliances
insult longtime allies and cuddle up to authoritarian leaders
killing 170,000 {updated 300.000] Americans due to his lack of leadership
sending tens of millions into unemployment and joblessness
and blame everybody else in the world for his blatant incompetence

today the USA have lost all credit
among the global community
and left a vacuum
    China and Russia are racing to fill

make America great again?
the best cynical joke of the past 120 years

it is sadly obvious
you don't care about
Corona, or your people,
the unemployed, the jobless
the thousands of Americans you killed
with your procrastinating non-approach
to the most dangerous epidemic of the century

so - just get lost!!

the pandemic is endemic
that’s why it has its name
if you ignore all your medics
only you are to blame

for the deaths among your people
    the highest rate in the world
you sure made America great again
in disasters corruption unemployment
and mismanagement of a deadly crisis

out of misguided vanity
in times when simple sanity
would have sufficed
to save thousands of lives

do presidents get sentenced for mass ******?
if not
they SHOULD!!!

considering all the people
    we have lost throughout the years
          grandparents  parents  lovers uncles aunts
               if lucky   no children
    we know that our time to leave this world
    will come to pass eventually

         and yet
    as long as we feel full of life
    we prefer not to think of this too often
    borne by the vague conviction
    that the survivors of our family
    will bear the pain of loss
    as we did years ago
and live on

always blame others
for your own mistakes
this is exactly what it takes
to make America great again
ignore all medical advice
for over four months of pandemic
let hundredthirtythousand people die
and when infections shoot sky-high
blame all the mess on your chief medic
     to everyone but Donald Trump
    such sleight of hand would be too plump

but he’s obsessed with his campaigning
oblivious of the dangers he creates
risking that his remaining followers
may soon be knocking at the gates
     of hospitals without more space

     or of some otherworldly place

one cannot help start wondering
about some leaders' meandering
rather than take decisive measures
they pander to their selfish pleasures
claiming they are in full control
and never mind the rising toll
of deaths, infections, unemployed
during the crisis
                              they avoid
acknowledgment of actual danger
instead fan hate, divisiveness and anger
ignore all human suffering
but only aim at buffering
their own political survival

it seems high time for the arrival
of real statesmen who can stall
that deadly downward spiral
and save their nations
     from being driven
full speed into the wall

avoid military service
due to a bone spur
for which there is no evidence

have managed to tell
an average of 16.5 lies per day
since elected into office

slander possible opponents
and everybody else who
has a different opinion

divide their country
at a time when unity
were most desirable

sets police on peaceful protesters
just so they can pose for a photo-op
before a church flaunting a bible

but only for self-aggrandizement
    
     no prayer
     no empathy
for those who suffer most
    the victims of racist violence
    the thousands of deaths from the pandemic
        caused by his delayed actions
    the 20 millions of unemployed

people there are who
are simply too incompetent
to lead a country

the media endlessly repeat
a video with a white police officer
kneeling on a handcuffed black guy
who keeps saying “I can’t breathe”
until he dies

******* of violence
of the worst kind
makes you feel guilty
     like a ******
both repelled and fascinated

racist ****** perpetrated
     blatant
     in full sight
by one whose badge claims
he protect you from harm

outrageous

have I ever imagined
I would enter a bank
masked
asking for money

sie wurde
zum alltagsgegenstand
geliebt und gehaßt
zeichen schlechter zeiten
und beschränkungen

von manchen
    gleichmütig angenommen
    als neues mode accessoir
für andere
     ein bedrohliches symbol
     für vorschriften von oben
für viele
     nur ein notwendiges übel
    das wieder verschwinden wird

wir müssen sicherlich
unsere reflexe
beim anblick maskierter personen
überdenken

   zumindest in unseren breiten
   waren masken meist kennzeichen
   von banditen und räubern

nun tragen sie die guten
und die bösen nicht
aber … wie sicher können wir sein?

es ist eine ernste herausforderung
aus den bewegungen der augenbrauen zu ermessen
ob du einem freund begegnest

oder nicht

it has become
the daily accessory
hated and loved alike
sign of bad times
and limited mobility

by some
   equanimously accepted
   as yet another fashion piece
for others
   a threatening symbol
   of prescribed orders from above
for many
   just a necessary nuisance
    that will go away in time

we certainly need to change
our reflexes upon the sight
of persons masked

    before Corona
         at least in our latitudes
    masks were a sign of robbers and bandits

    now it’s the good guys who wear them
    the bad guys who don’t
    and … how can we be sure of that?

a real challenge to find out
just from the movement of the eyebrows
whether you face a friend
or not

burning rain forests
wild animals with shrinking space to live
growing air pollution
smog in major cities
more than 3,5 million deaths
     due to respiratory diseases
global warming
new insects and other beasties
    in the formerly cooler regions
extreme hurricanes  rainstorms  heatwaves
excessive use of fertilizers by agro-industries
bees are dying
blossoms are left unpollinated
biodiversity is in a flat spin
deserts keep growing globally
fossile fuels are still polluting the air
curious dolphins die in the water of the Thames

after so far hundreds of thousands died of Covid-19
it is high time to see the larger picture
to comprehend interactive phenomena

the pandemic brought earth a little recovery time
the waters have cleared
you can actually see fish in the canals of Venice
satellite pictures show clear air over metropolises

suggesting: the new normality after the pandemic
must be significantly different from the old one

do we really need hundreds of thousands to die?
does it need a virus for us to understand

that we need a different relationship to nature?!!

the days of the week
have lost their shapes
they are now septuplets
difficult to keep apart
melting into each other

an endless loop

mornings
     afternoons
                  nights
mornings
     afternoons
                   nights …

difficult to track time
clocks run in circles
history morphs to perpetual now

only the weather changes
nature remains unimpressed
      by our problems

there once was a beer named Corona
preferred by the youth with ‘persona’
they drank it with pride
but today they would hide
delight  has turned into a moaner

invisible
yet possibly deadly
it empties streets
makes us quarantine
cities  regions  nations
hits us unprepared
reminds us that pandemics
can also happen in our time

a few days ago I walked downtown
a strange quietness filled the air
made me react to noises and sounds
I had not even noticed
when streets were full with people and cars

     even the wail of distant ambulance sirens
     sounded louder and more ominous

I only saw occasional joggers
a few women airing their pet dogs
more bicycled food deliveries than usual

they hardly acknowledged my existence
glances did not meet
my friendly nods were rarely returned

we have all become solitary strangers
keeping their safe distance

Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.

shall we worry
about the future of the USA
when rich sponsors throw their money
not at the next generation candidates
     for the presidency
but to the septuagenarian male contenders
of whatever party?

I just watched
a documentary about
the first female winner
of the Nobel Peace Prize

      1905

      Bertha von Suttner

why is it

115 years later
still so difficult
to make peace?

all poetry is personal
some more than others

to just spread out your private feelings
     in your verse
may not be everyone's delight

but if you choose words
so that the many find their voices
    in your own
you may be lucky
to achieve all poets' dreams

your personal voice
becomes the public

when your president
     old friend of yours
pardons you even before
you are legally sentenced
for assorted crimes

what do you call that?

when I hear the godawful daily news
I really get the serious daily blues
dictators abound
democracy rarely found
and this also applies to the US

where are the times
when people could rely
     more or less
on what their leaders
     whom they had elected
spoke and did?

when there was yet no need
to fact-check every other sentence
of presidential self-appraisals
or denigrating tweets about opponents?

after three years of suffering
through all shenanigans of the most blatant kind
it seems that rudeness, ignorance, and lies
have quietly become accepted as new normal

we've learned that people we elected
     to fight for our cause
can say one thing
     and then the opposite
throw in a lie or two
and nobody complains
or votes them out of their coveted offices

in fact
thanks to the wonderful examples of our leaders
we now have learned to distrust everybody
even ourselves

eight billion plus of unreliables

fake election victory
fake president
fake impeachment trial
no decisive witness
fake acquittal

real crimes & misdemeanors
go unpunished

fake democracy?

I played with words
much like I fed the birds

    one morsel here
          another there

then suddenly became aware

they pulled together
     and made sense

have been a player ever since

comfortably relaxed
in front of a warming fireplace
somewhat in contemplation of the world
I recapitulate the day

but not too seriously

because the news over the internet
needs some deciphering and filtering
to figure out what’s really going on around the world
same for traditional media

reading through all the news
     the good and the bad
takes up most of my morning
      which I resent
I don't have so many mornings any more
       at my stage of advanced maturity …

I guess I am nostalgically
wishing for older days' simplicities
when one could understand
why certain people did say certain things
you knew the proper filters
to apply to sundry media and people

today it seems to me
that many politicians
say one thing now
      and just the opposite
      one minute later
or they ignore the questions
     and spout off on topics
      they prefer to sell

        and nobody complains
        about that ****** rhetoric

what kills democracy is just exactly
this erasure of trust and factuality
the relativization of all truths
reiterating lies and contradictions
until they sound like the new normal

this tends to make us think
that EVERYTHING in politics is ******
      not worth our vote

yet uncast votes are missed most bitterly

they make it possible
that radical minorities
can steal elections and then claim
they are the rightful leaders of the nation
with votes of less than 25 percent of the electorate
       and some gerrymandering

difficult times we live in

my wish for yet another year
    apart from all the usual
    of good health luck success and joy
is that the news become more elevating
inform us less about what's going wrong
foreground the positive
not only the sensational alarmist frightening

in short
provide a better balanced view of our world
to make it clear from what is seen and heard
that even though
room for improvement on the globe is plenty
we can do it

A HAPPY NEWS YEAR 2020

the annual gift-giving hectivities
in advent time
       when we are

            supposedly

      expecting the birth of our savior
defy traditional ideas
    of quiet meditation
drowning the sense of wonder
with relentless jingles for super discount sales
of things neither we
        nor anybody else
        really needs
even though they suggest we
        and whoever we give those goodies to
would be beyond  the moon

somehow
      Christ
       in spite of all this
gets born

for those advanced in years
a glance ino our closets may actually serve
as welcome help for oft eclectic memories

not worn for many years but well preserved
our clothing from the days of yore
can bring back memories of striking moments

events of great significance
     some of great joy amd pleasure
others of  horror pain disaster
       not remembered gladly

our lives as dressed for some significant occasions
pass review in the wardrobe reminiscent of

     the dress worn for the first date
            another one for graduation
     the first self-bought suit
            in which you had your dinner date

    the tights that made your male friends whistle
    that leather jacket in which you thought
             you looked like Elvis
    a wedding dress  
                a wedding suit
   dark dress and suit for funerals

your life's diversity all in one closet
for you to remember
     and maybe wonder
how you have lived so far
so long

the end is nigh -
IMPEACH!

I sit
   all by myself
   again
and look out
   down upon the streets
cigarette in hand
a glass of wine upon the table
love's sweet exhaustion lingering in my bones
   and smell upon my skin
feeling so young and yet somehow so old

a late night bus drones by
and takes strange people
   to their desired stops
in a city
where I know only few
that could say
  yes  
  it's him

a woman with unsteady midnight gait
secretly walks her dog
into the public park
   both little more than blurs
   of bluish white and brown
   in the half-shadow
   of forbidden bushes

a couple leans entwined
   forever in a parting kiss
   upon the doorstep
unmindful of the plane
   that comes in low and loud
   before the landing

why is it that these moments
   seem eternal and yet
I sense the rush of time go fast
   and pass me by
   and her
   who sleeps next door

and leave us lost among our memories
of what was lovely
   and so beautiful
   before

          *

I do enjoy to stretch my legs
upon the couch
watch TV, listen to the radio
make lists of things to do
on the next day
or read some book or magazine

I  wonder sometimes
    just a little bit
about achievements of the day

and also
for how long
this routine might continue

you think that everything
is under control

that you have planned with care
and great consideration

then suddenly
some miscommunication
plus incidental elements

throw in a solid wrench
that reveals
how fragile
the strands of finely woven plans
will always be

how dare you
discriminate against
those who have
escaped their death
and fought their way
to our land

how dare you
ridicule their pain and suffering
their loss and incapacity

HOW DARE YOU!!!

to leave your allies
who helped you achieve
your often-boasted victories

unprotected

against their well-known
overpowering enemy
is abominable betrayal

a crime most foul!

why is it
that this day weighs heavy on my mind
though nothing special has occurred
except the usual bad news
     of deaths and fighting and catastrophies
     greed and abominable politics

my private life is safe and fine
remote from all the global strife
it runs a fairly pleasant course
with just occasional disturbances

could that weigh heavily on my mind?

emojis we send
assuming images say more
than our words
make our feelings visual

they say
a picture says more
than a thousand words

yet often
words
inspire pictures

it is a lovely sunny summer day
and yet the atmosphere feels different

as if a chilling haze had cast a net
over the luscious green of nature
darkened the pond‘s bright sparkles
made flowers droop their faces to the ground
trees sway their branches somberly
people look strangely serious

I guess it is the news that reaches us
along the ether waves
feeds our mobile phones  tvs  and radios
all about deaths  corruption  wannabe dictators
catastrophies  lack of support

no wonder the views of our world
are rather solemn
even on the brightest days

at times I wonder
how to make best use of them

not sleep too long
so you don‘t find
your mornings are too short

structure your time
try not to get distracted
     too much by the morning news
     on mobile  TV  or pc

shop economically
    every third day   or so

remember your morning exercise
     your pills  your grocery list
     your medical appointments
     your telephone calls
     your social appointments
     & cetera

all that effort surely deserves  
a day on which I just sleep in
do none of the above
let gladly pass the day in all its glory

simply enjoy
an evening after no work well done

when we start our day
how it might end

whether we'll see
our loved ones again
after we say goodbye to them
in the morning

wheter the world
will kerp on turning
as we know it

we do not know

yet we asssume

a world built on asumptions
is the only one
we have

it seems that Trump  Johnson  and Putin
are not really free of that gluten
which  though it be healthy
tastes only for the wealthy
like something not to dispute on

if we could
be someone completely different

at least for a while

child to adult  woman to man
asylant to millionaire  president to farmer
human to animal or tree

or vice versa

we can imagine all this
in our phantasies and virtual worlds
yet we are missing essentials

to BE a mouse  a bear  a shark
a president  a film star  a tree
is to feel  think  sense  suffer
live in their alien worlds

maybe even understand

at least for a while

factual or fake
terse or sensationalist
trying to be as objective as possible
shamelessly partisan and polemic

or simply hate speech
esoteric remedies for all problems
cat videos and personal snapshots
on asocial networks

whether we believe it or not
it is difficult to avoid it
in our great age
of real-time digital information

the abundance of unreliables
is almost legendary    
     like hearsay in the Middle Ages
     when wandering minstrels
     spread the tidings
        more or less

a challenge to all people with brains
not yet oversaturated with daily trivia

to decide what to believe

doublecheck

do follow-ups

impervious to experts
untouched by suffering immigrants and workers
heaping vile insults onto all opponents
remarkably ruthless in praising himself
at every inappropriate occasion

a man only in love with his own self
of whom many hope
he'd soon follow
the story of Narcissus
to its classical end

how do I get to know this me?

ask my friends
     or enemies
who I know
     are biased one way or the other?

find myself in meditation
     with a guru
     or just with myself?

what if I discover
     there is more than one me
     that I have many selves?

must I accept
     all of them
or can I choose the ones
     I like best?

life is difficult ..

a whiff of green

promising to bring back
the god old coal mining jobs
drilling and fracking for oil
on federal land
loosening pollution standards

does not really jive
with sudden claims
to work for the purest air
and the best crystal clear water
of the whole world

yet another pathetic attempt
by a pathological liar
to make facts
fit his egomaniacal fictions

that whiff of fake green
does not smell good