Too Harsh For Pastels is an unpublished poetry collection that is concerned with the suffering and growing despair in our troubled society.
The captain reports
fuel tanks are full,
water tank topped off,
preparations made
for a day on the boat.
The chef reports
fresh caviar, lobsters,
a case of Dom Perignon.
My guests will be happy.
The Harbor Master reports
they’ve moved the smaller boats
to the other side of the marina,
so their noisy parties
won’t disturb us.
As long as I don’t look
at the shabby houses on the shore,
nothing will distract us
from another pleasant evening
on my mega-yacht,
“The Profit Margin”.
Conflicts arise
domestic and foreign
some husband and wife,
others clashing armies.
In a violent world
only degrees of difference
separate many of us
from primitive reactions,
sophisticated destruction.
The people of my land
are betrayed each day
by diligent servants
of the lords of profit
who do not care
if a child hungers
in the land of the free,
a veteran is abandoned
in the home of the brave,
an able-bodied worker
is callously discarded
in the land of opportunity,
regulated by the few
at the expense of the many,
until belief dwindles
in the promise of America.
Thunder and lightning
terrified all creatures
who quickly forgot,
except man
the cunning inventor
couldn’t accept
abnormal occurrences,
instead creating
animist systems
to explain
the lack of control
of the forces of nature.
The invention of agriculture,
another revolution
in the ascent of mankind,
changed the nature of existence,
hunting, gathering,
slowly replaced
by primitive farming,
setting the roles
of male/female
on an evolutionary path,
culminating
in the confusing present
where women are hunters,
and men resent gathering,
and are searching
for a new identity.