Lacerations

Gary Beck/Lacerations

 

Oglescope

The weather is still warm enough

for women to wear short skirts,

tight tops, bare midriffs,

a visual pleasure

for those who care to look,

soon to be removed

with the first chill of fall.

 

Ponderous Changes

In the 1830’s

Americans went west

for free land,

an independent life

without government,

other restrictions.

And they endured

different conditions,

drought, floods, hostile indians

whose land was stolen.

All for the sake of freedom.

In the 1930’s

life in America had changed

and more and more people

lived in towns and cities,

easier for government to control.

For a brief while the workers

had some hope to resist the bosses

who controlled the wealth,

the means of production.

But all too soon

the children of the union leaders

joined the children of the bosses

in identical comforts,

ending resistance to oligarchy.

 

Sickness

Across my country

the ill, sick, ailing, diseased

flock to doctors, clinics,

hospitals

hoping for a cure

of whatever plagues them

many treatable

except old age,

terminal disease

withdrawal from struggle.

 

Land of the Free

The land of the free

is bitterly divided

and reason has departed

from the warring parties,

no longer willing

to compromise,

so the wealthy do

as they always do,

still allowing some of us

the democratic illusion

of choosing our government,

while many of us

don’t realize the oligarchs

select our representatives,

obliging them

to serve their masters.

 

High Crimes

Homeless children suffer

more then other children

from lack of identity,

cast adrift

in an uncaring land

no fault of their own,

opportunity removed

despite the constitutional

guarantees of l, l,

the pursuit of h,

obliterated,

as we do less and less

for innocent victims.

 

‘Lacerations’ is an unpublished poetry collection that looks at the many injuries we incur, mentally, emotionally and physically as we strive to do better in this difficult life.