Fashion

I wish I owned a kite-suit today
and a sizable ball of twine
I'd fly above the clouds of gray
to feel the warm sunshine,

the wind would whistle in my ears
much like the window sill
while I drift high beyond my fears
until I've had my fill--

I feel the urge with every gust
that lessens what I weigh
and now it has become a must
to make that suit today.

Consumerism

Learning
Earning
Burning
Yearning
Trending
Bending
Spending
Ending
Crying
Lying
Buying
Dying

(Repeat)

Division

Within I feel compassion
for the life that we profane
without I had to fashion
a defense I could sustain

and somewhere in the marrow
is a killing ground I fear
a line that's razor narrow
but where mercy is held dear

regardless of the malice
that gets mustered in the troops
I'll never hold the palace
when the enemy regroups

reconnaissance is futile
if there's nothing left to hide
but who becomes more brutal:
a pawn of fear or pride?

Unfazed

The moon was lightly lurking
in the clouds above my head
though it really wasn't working
to a doable degree
the prominence it shed
made it obvious to see
but I played along instead
with it's anonymity

for soon it will be waning
when the sun decides to rise
with bloody conquest staining
the dark horizon's heart
to dominate the skies
and play a vital part
while the moon begins to improvise
a brand new way to start.

Breaking News

Each day her smiling perky face
revives my TV screen
reminding us to bundle up
and keep our sidewalks clean

but as she talked today she told
a most disturbing tale
of homeless people on the street
where vicious winds prevail.

How two lost souls were lying down
in nothing but a coat
and how she dialed 911
a lump within her throat

and then she told us how the pair
refused all gestures made
exclaiming they could hold their own
without a bit of aid

they said that they were gone to find
a less congested spot
then trudged away into the snow
without a second thought.

The reporter droned but in her eyes
was pain she couldn't hide
I listened to her spiel nonplussed
and then switched off and cried.

Impartial

Please don't sit and primly pout
if his attitude made you feel cruddy
you're far from being singled out
for he hates everybody.

Satire

When it comes to grammar
I stammer
if mulling punctuation
hesitation
when dwelling on a dialect
I genuflect
but words are everything to me
ironically.

Stowaway

While going about my rounds today
I gave someone a ride
I never once went out of my way
so took it all in stride

the air was bitterly cold outside
my berth was nice and warm
and I gaped when I saw the speckled hide
upon their tiny form

most often seen when days are long
and typically astride
a flower, it seemed strangely wrong
but couldn't be denied

I set it down and watched it glide
across my slick veneer
while chuckling, content inside
that life will persevere

despite the fact that I've felt stuck
amidst a rising tide
for maybe now the Lady Luck
is finally on my side.

Domestication

Encirclement
(to some extent)
is seldom worth the effort spent

for every slat
condemns the cat
to never knowing where it's at.

Funding

Could they possibly be more smug
indulging in the heady drug
of toxic strength called fame
preferring to pursue acclaim
than try to help the poor
and huddled masses - whatever for?
Those whiners with the hunger pangs
should marvel at the bitchin' bangs
and gaudily elite attire
the flotus flaunts beside her sire
whose smile is so satisfied
as empty rhetoric is plied
he's clueless how reality sucks
Hey Barack, got twenty bucks?

Releasing

We have to learn to wait

can time accelerate?

to reap what has been sown

despite how much we moan

the seed will germinate

what greed will terminate

unless we can postpone

consuming needs to own.

Simulacrum

I fondly remember the semblance of joy
that naively filled me when I was a boy
until all the darkness I managed to find
when dealing with those I was told were my kind
which after repeated exposure began
to make me a wary excuse of a man
alert to the slightest insidious ploy
who fondly remembers a semblance of joy.

Reunion

I try not to delve overmuch
into pointless pursuits of the past
lamenting those foolhardy losses is such
a bummer, I'd much rather cast
my gaze on the future and things I can touch
the joys I can try to make last
or at least look back on contentedly
when gripped by occasional reverie.

A lifetime has passed since that day
when I wondered how great life would be
having no other reason to pray
than to thank the good Lord I was free
a person convinced he would find a way
to succeed to some kind of degree
and though it was all just a frivolous lie
I wish I could reunite with that guy.

Linear

There's always some kind of a line
we're constantly challenged to cross
or scraped through the dust to define
when facing a possible loss

or populated when we desire
to purchase a product we need
or clung to if threatened with dire
conclusions where someone may bleed

or dropped in the water to catch
competitors merely for sport
or placed in a poem one will hatch
if they are the wittier sort.

Something Stinks

Our future could be free
of crass cacophony
but beltway girls and boys
prefer to hear the noise
just listen and you'll see--

it's such a big morass
electric gets no pass
while all the heated air
they blow around down there
ensures a glut of gas.

All the Marbles

The earth is like a giant Aggie
begging for a roll
though only God could possibly comply
his faded blue jeans soft and baggy
bulging pockets full
with every star and planet in the sky.

Slab

Each crispy bite
is pure delight
until they have to pick a site

that's safe to slice
(did you say slice?)
is smoky flavor worth the price

we pay to clog
where platelets slog
with that which helped condemn the hog?

Weak

On Monday I'm moody
for soon I must face
an underpaid duty
in a pitiless place

by Tuesday I'm tepid
attuned to the trash
that tames the intrepid
with cufflinks of cash

then Wednesday gets weary
how much can one take
of lying while leery
who's real or fake

on Thursday I'm thinking
of starting anew
the habit of drinking
so I can pull through

and Friday is iffy
for nothing is done
and then in a jiffy
a new bout's begun.

Do or Die

Germ on a slide
right on the verge
anxious to hide
fighting the urge

prodded and poked
staying subdued
cheerily choked
so misconstrued

down to the nub
barely extant
flourish or flub
options are scant.

Nervy

One verse was blurry
beyond comprehension
the other was clearly
against apprehension
the caesura got surly
to ask for attention
and it was quite literally
teeming with tension.

Hysterical

I'm so out of shape
a squishy white grape
or a rubber-necked giraffe
that's covered each day
with a bit more gray
and all I can do is laugh.

I'm so unprepared
like a blooper that's aired
or a stuttering staff
that no one will ask
to manage one task
and all I can do is laugh.

I feel as upset
as a whale that can't bet
on a lopsided graph
whose data has skewed
as life has ensued
and all I can do is laugh.

Pseudologist

Every single word you speak
is just a dab of paint
to make the picture seem so chic
but all you do is taint

the canvas with your skillful lies
which makes it hard to see
beyond delusions you devise
with well accomplished glee.

Mad

Every bill is overdue
I owe much more than I am worth
if only I could sell this rue
accumulated since my birth
perhaps I could afford a few
indulgences of mirth

but I'm a plain old working fool
resigned to ever live in need
an unassuming fleshy tool
for those that profit off their greed
a microbe banished from the pool
by chlorine the acerbic bleed

there is no union to secure
a more accommodating wage
no agreement to insure
I'll really reach retirement age
but there's one thing completely pure
and that's my growing rage.

Reroute

I watched the jets depart
like lines upon a chart
and plotted in my heart

a better way to fly
that doesn't cloud the sky
with toxins we deny.

Unraveling

Two hours of pointlessness left
just to break even with bills
complacency quietly kills
the urge to examine the weft

which leads to a shuddering smash
that mars the impeccable weave
compelling a craftsman to grieve
as pride and impertinence clash

more harshly than one might presume
to tragically trigger a trend
of blindly accepting the end
when losses alarmingly loom.

Proliferate

The sun is grasping at the clouds,
attempting to pull itself up
it fringes them in golden-orange fire,
but roiling grayish nimbus shrouds
the sky just like a cup
of steamy yet attainable desire
requiring some effort to acquire.

By noon the sun had found a way
to scale the azure peak
ascending steadily through will alone
it got so hot it scorched the gray
and things weren't quite as bleak
which made it seem that aspirations sown
could see a day when they are fully grown.

Monarchy

The brambles are a brittle brood
once coronation has ensued
the crystals on their crowns are white
as dreams that new regimes incite
belying how their barbs will bite.

Foliation

He's locked inside a tiny room
his cubicle of gloom
deciding: should he laugh at doom
or sow his dreams to bloom?

The skirmish in his mind is brief
and not without some grief
but then he's bolstered by belief
and starts another leaf.

Charming

Words can't patch a hole
but they can fill your soul,
they'll never feed the poor
but they can stop a war,
they can't replenish earth
but they can state your worth
(though all that you might be
is shown nonverbally)
they'll never cure the flu
but they can heal me and you
by leaving us beguiled
like the love of an innocent child.

Loopy

Our orbits round a dying star
is how we have defined it
and then our careful slices are
the way we have refined it
enigmas of infinity
confound our comprehension
so endless circles seem to be
the clock of our convention.

Government

He wondered as the newest day began
if anything he did would matter much
his arbitrary ambition
had failed to foster fruition
without a pointed purpose or a plan
and now he worried if he needed such.

A revolution doesn't always end
the tyranny oppressing those that long
to break the bonds prohibiting
their courage from contributing
the mettle to improvingly amend
and keep their constitution going strong.