Month: April 2017

BROKEN SYSTEM

Posted on by artifiswords

I watched
While others
Ignored it
As politics became
A rich man’s game
Gaming the system
Taking away rights
And leaving only
Responsibilities
But not for them
They feed off us
Reward themselves
At our expense
Government of,
For and by the rich
Little people
Need not apply
The system is broken
Only two choices
Fix it or smash it
Don’t worry if the machine
Screams “TILT”
They didn’t
 

NOT IN THIS LIFETIME

Posted on by artifiswords

I heard them talking…
Of getting up to altitude
Then stepping into air
Seconds or moments
Of free fall…then
With the pull of the ripcord
Floating gently to earth…
But what if nothing happens,
If the chute doesn’t deploy?
You can feel your body flatten
Against this earthly coil…
I’m not afraid of such heights
2 miles up in a balloon was
Strange…not frightening
But I won’t jump out of
A perfectly good plane,
Not in this lifetime

EASY COME…EASY GO

Posted on by artifiswords

Easy come…easy go
Many say it…but
Is it really so?
I often question
The wisdom of things
We all say out of habit
Ask yourself…how hard it is
To banish grief…
Bad things come
Like frightful nightmares
If they come unexpected…so quickly
Shouldn’t they leave us the same way?
Maybe I’m weird…but I’m serious
Shouldn’t we think before we
Mouth silly platitudes?
 

WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?

Posted on by artifiswords

First an uncle took his family west
Another moved to a distant continent
One after another, the family moved
Always out of easy rich
Always more than
A simple day’s travel
Cousins, my only sister, then me
Like falling trees in forests…
Does your family still exist
When you only hear from them
Through Christmas greetings?
Many have departed to wherever
We go at the end…but is it only
Up to me to seek the ones who left?
It might be a wonderful reunion
But there’s always so much
On my plate…wondering now
Will any ever come back like I did?
 

THEY CAN’T UNDO THE EVIL

Posted on by artifiswords

A child
Not yet five
But what of the
Unspeakable horrors
Visited already
Upon her?
It’s enough to
Make you hate
The human race!
Thirty years later…
Will she ever be able
To overcome the damage
Done to her?
They can’t undo the evil
They did to her…
There’s a lot on her plate
 

ON THE TRAIN TO BARCELONA

Posted on by artifiswords

The train in Spain
Breaks mainly
On the plain…
That’s what I said
After it happened
On a hot day in August
As I chatted with a couple
From Copenhagen
 
My trip…a pilgrimage
A long-postponed
Viewing of a visionary…
Antoni Gaudí…the architect’s
Major works were there
Finally…to see them in person
 
On the long trek from Paris
Between the Spanish border
And my destination…
The train slowed…then stopped
Not another train to wait for
Just awaiting a fresh engine
I got the impression
It wasn’t an unusual event
But I’d go back
In a heartbeat
 

SO LATE

Posted on by artifiswords

Many calendars discarded
Not just pages turned…
And though I’ve done much
There’s a hole in my life
The longer I’ve lived
The more the disappointments
The greatest…and not in stature
That the great love I sought
Came up short…something missing
Passion won’t be forever denied
Though it’s so late in coming
It’s never too late to find
 

NO TIME TO PANIC

Posted on by artifiswords

The whoosh of
Double burners near
Told me I should
Fear a collision
A hot air balloon above
Misjudgment sent him
Down rapidly…out of control
Hoping he would miss the
Balloon below…mine
And then the impact…
I felt hot air over me as
His basket impacted fabric
Panic could have cost my life
Quick reaction my only salvation
Heavy application of heat to
Give me lift…but I knew
I was quaking in my boots
There’s a difference
Between panic and fear
Knowing what I 
Had to do
The solution…
The reason I’m still here
 

UNBELIEVABLE

Posted on by artifiswords

Long ago we heard
This Earth…our home
Is getting warmer…
And could/would become
A hazard to our wellbeing
If you knew there were ways
To avoid the destruction
Of your home…why would some
Pretend the problem
You can clearly see
Is naught to worry about
Not to be…
We put locks on doors
To keep out those
Who would do us harm
Why not a lock on all the mines
To keep the harm inside?
The danger…both real & here
The problem we need fear
Some refuse to open their eyes
Do they just not care
Or is there nothing living
Under their hair?
Either way…
It’s unbelievable