parents are the last to know….

i held the door
for aunt bea
as we entered
our usual
new year’s day
restaurant
she smiled
and
said
i still
remember
the first time
your mother
was complimented
about
what a
gentleman
you were
with
such fine manners
once
she
had verified
that the woman
was indeed
discussing
her son
and
although
she
doubted
the woman’s sanity
she offered
a somewhat
confused
thank you
after
that event
she
always
believed
that
prayers
were
indeed
answered
since
she was certain
that
you still
hadn’t heard
a damn thing
she said

don’t forget who they were…

death wears away
the stone memories
of yesterday
when
parents
invincible
in our eyes
lived
magical lives
so we
hurried off
into
our own lives
never
really considering
theirs
had
an
end
and we
from our
naiveté
arise
staring
into
now vacant eyes
but
we must
recall
the vibrant souls
that defied
death
for so long
and
touch
once again
the hem
of humanity

dr seuss book burning…

 

digital decoupage cwmartin

i’m not certain
how it all began
but i’m guessing
it was just
a scam
but parents
from around
the land
came
because a man
said the books
should be banned
he held a bible
up in one hand
saying
the word
should be
the only
book
on a child’s nook
so
after a hearty breakfast
of green eggs
and ham
the mob
while children sobbed
stacked up
all the books
even the cat
in the hat
was set
on the pile
and
set them ablaze
in the morning haze
even tho
 i’ve tried
i’ll never
know why
perhaps he
misread
or was just
sick
in the head

nothing like a hard rain…

Image by David Wagner

my cousin
tommy and i
would go out
after a hard rain
at night
with old coffee cans
to collect
as many worms
as we could
for fishermen
our lights
exploring the landscape
probably better
than most snipers
scanning a battlefield
our goal
was not to kill anyone
but
just to collect
enough wiggling things
to buy
highly desired
baseball bubble gum cards
not
budgeted
by our parents
i think about it
every time it rains
as I drive
my beamer
towards
the beach

changing of the guard…

he tiptoed
into her room
staring at the angel
that had slept
all through the night
night after night
a smile almost
painted on her lips
he knelt down
and kissed her cheek
then crept to bed
almost
on cue
as he
closed his eyes
the child began to cry
his wife gave a sign
as the cries began
to resemble a banshee
on an irish moor
for it was
her week
to rock the cradle
and
his
to sleep

off the main drag…

 

his jazz guitar
seemed to sing
to them
a pied piper
of the neighborhood
so
they wandered
into his yard
mesmerized
by riffs of music
music
as foreign
as anything
they knew
they were
rockers
and these tunes
were from lost times
times when
folks sat
in garage bars
and their children
went searching for them
when something went wrong
heading down alley ways
looking  and listening
for the music
that released their parents
from the pain of society
and gave to them
a brief belief
that things could be
and
would be
fine
in the future
but now
the tunes
reminded the children
that things
have not
changed

the great wall of babel…

and they began to build
they made bricks with fire
and the bricks were  formed
from the human clay of children
and the children’s parents
so too did they use
any defender of a child
or savior in sacred text
cementing them together
with crushed bone mortar
which came from greed and lies
mixed with innocent blood
thick and dark as asphalt
to fuse the bonds of hate
that held each brick in place
for centuries
built by masons of war
who knew the secrets
of their trade
placing each brick
in a kiln of lies
then cured by human ignorance
so that each brick would withstand
the blows of truth
and couldn’t be chipped
by the sharp edge of knowledge
and the wall
still stands

with god so near…

Image Courtesy of Jade & Vlad

now
i ain’t
no religious scholar
so
what i say
may be all wrong
but
i was just flipping
through all those holy books
and
i couldn’t find
one damn thing
that said it was okay
to remove your neighbor’s landmarks
just to build more houses
for your family
or
to rape another man’s wife
war
or
no war
nor
could i find one word
that said
the killing of children
is justified
because you want to teach
their parents
a lesson
but
you being
so close to god and all
could
you
tell me
what
you
saw

 

 

 

to whom it may concern…

 

dear parent
parents
the financial officers
at budget and planning
have concluded
imprisonment of your child’s rapist
would place an inordinate burden on the state
please note that the average yearly cost
of such an action
would be 25,000 dollars
multiply that over a life-sentence
of the
accused
well as you can clearly see
life terms for this type of crime
are unreasonable
further meta-data analysis
indicates that monitoring the sex offender
over a similar period of time
would also be
well
quite costly in terms of financial factors
and
manpower hours
consider if you will that
the average cost of a traditional funeral
is approximately $7300
a cost
we would be more than willing
to provide
as a tax credit