Poem: Shadows

Shadows

Shadows are hiding places
Holding what wishes to remove
But also that which is boxed
Boxed into a corner
With no desire to be
Yet is
Is from neglect
Is from obsolescence
Is from fear
Is
And it is lonely in the shadows

Copyright SGW 2010

Poem: Demise

Demise

Flowers of a thousand blooms have fled
As Founder’s dream has split and bled
Where once laid rest a chalice glow
A garden dies; no one would sow

The people spoke of something bold
Yet shortly hence their fear took hold
As demagogues and selfish actors
Face frightened fools and whim reactors

People, people, your mindless voices
You do not learn of promised choices
Impatience points to no return
A country’s death you’ll soon discern

So hide within your slogan season
It lacks a depth; devoid all reason
The noise grows loud to drown the mind
You look to see you fell behind

Copyright SGW 2010

Poem: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Eternal the sunshine where spotless the mind

Nothing can injure what nothing can find

Erasing the sorrow; unfulfilling lament

Too much has been given, too much has been spent

Perchance for removal every schism and strain

The depth of the scarring that at once caused such pain

Forgetting the heartbreak, disappointment and loss

Remembrance is sadness we have all come across

So fresh from the suffering what memory designed

Eternal the sunshine where spotless the mind

Copyright SGW 2010

Footnote: Based on a re-watching of one of my favorite movies, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." The movie finds hope that the heart can overcome what we think we'd wish to forget. This poet is not so sure.

Poem: Diversionary Tactic

Diversionary Tactic

Used my pen as an excuse.
A poet, a poet, this man is a poet!
Off I went.
To wri .. eat the molten, chocolate cake.

Copyright SGW 2008

Poem: Below Surface

Below Surface

Fool myself
Calm within distraction
“Moments” await in the quiet

Given to reflection
Hopes offer a promise
But disappointments will linger

With words of believing
Mark possibilities
Yet truth reveals the remoteness

A reckoning awaits
Frozen by the weakness
Death is in an absence of faith

Copyright SGW 2007

Poem: Making Love

Making Love

Sitting together talking

Sharing unbroken vision

A peaceful meditation

Held hands in quiet moments

Hugs in joining, melt to one

Lying beside you naked

Building arousals, entwined

Back and forth of pleasuring

Deep breaths, rolling of bodies

Heartbeat to heartbeat; alive

Laughing with playful vigor

Your slender form upon me

Climactic embrace of joys

Lingering in connection

Then more and more and more still

Marveling over such depth

In the warmth of making love

Copyright SGW 2006

Poem: The Way The Mind Of A Right Wingnut "Thinks" However Many Facts Call Into Question Every Untruth They Attempt To Mindlessly Spread

The Way The Mind Of A Right Wingnut “Thinks” However Many Facts Call Into Question Every Untruth They Attempt To Mindlessly Spread

Marxism takeover
Communist plot
Destroying the nation
Fear of a lot

Suppressing religion
Obama’s a shill
Guvmint reaching
Jeremiah and Bill (Ayres)

Greenies are scheming
Queers run amuck
Death panels lurking
Immigrants? Fuck!

Drudge, FOX and Limbaugh
Feed us the fix
Pull off the curtain
Learn all the tricks

Sadly mistaken
Built upon lies
Right wingnut viewpoint
Seen with closed eyes

Copyright SGW 2009

It's Just Sex

Ok, that title will get hits for sure! I am referring to the Two Roads Theatre production written by Jeff Gould and directed by Rich Shaw, which I had the pleasure of seeing in Los Angeles recently.

I highly recommend this smart and sassy play on relationships, with a few twists. Gould has written some wonderful dialogue and most of the cast does a great job of taking those lines and putting comedic timing at the fore in bringing out the humor and perceptiveness within them. Particularly good are Tommy Hinkley, as Carl, the free-spirited, open-minded husband, of Kelly, played by Jackie Debatin. Both are on the mark throughout the play and exhibit strong chemistry. They are given great material, but it is up to them to deliver it, and deliver it they do.

Seth Peterson, as Greg, is a bit wooden, and Scott Klace seems slightly miscast as Phil, Joan's (Rebecca Staab) philandering husband.

The play explores infidelity, love, mid-life boredom, aspirations, and much more. It's Just Sex is well worth taking in. Two Roads Theatre is a small and quaint playhouse, with an apparently limited budget (they hand out pieces of chocolate before the show and the lobby is not much larger than a closet), but it provides a sense of closeness with the three couples involved in the emotional roller coaster that love and sex bring about.

In L.A.? Go see It's Just Sex.

Poem: Republicans

Republicans

Were elected to serve us, but serve us they won’t

Any offered solutions, their answer is don’t

Reforming of health care, the time is at hand

Stand as obstructers, to hell with a plan

Demagogue issues, deny, lie, mislead

The purpose is clearly representative greed

Speak for big business, insurers and rich

Pretend for the masses, than pull double-switch

Represented by FOX of that “fair-balanced” claim

The viewers are morons, the hosts are insane

Where fair is more fear and balance quite not

Republican bias is all that they’ve got

The Party of No, holding ‘nary a care

Twisting all answers, they mindlessly scare

The mess of their making, though they’ll never admit

Their leadership worthless, their agenda is shit

Copyright SGW 2009

Poem: Stirred

Stirred

Your curiosity and innocence dug too deep
Stirring the pot of memories
To worlds your faery-taled life can’t know
I place no blame

My cancer story pained you
But it is mine
And what I recalled was lost friends
Which led to lost loves
D
J

Then trials and tribulations beyond what I could ever expect of your comprehension
Abuses so dark
Scars too deep
Self-inflicted wounds

You cannot know
‘Fore you’ve never known
So this hornet’s nest is mine today
And I sit with all these stings

Copyright SGW 2009

Bobbyspeak

"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black."

Robert Kennedy 1968 in Indiana on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

Bobbyspeak

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance ..."

Robert Kennedy 1966

For All of the anti-Government, Teabagging, We Hate Socialists

I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:

I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.

I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.

I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.

I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

* Social Security

* Medicare/Medicaid

* State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)

* Police, Fire, and Emergency Services

* US Postal Service

* Roads and Highways

* Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)

* The US Railway System

* Public Subways and Metro Systems

* Public Bus and Lightrail Systems

* Rest Areas on Highways

* Sidewalks

* All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)

* Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)

* Public and State Universities and Colleges

* Public Primary and Secondary Schools

* Sesame Street

* Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children

* Public Museums

* Libraries

* Public Parks and Beaches

* State and National Parks

* Public Zoos

* Unemployment Insurance

* Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services

* Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)

* Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)

* Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)

* Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking

* Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies

* Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies

If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care

I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:

* Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History

* The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments

* The government-operated Statue of Liberty

* The Grand Canyon

* The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials

* The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery

* All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC

I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.

I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.

I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.

I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.

Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.

Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.

SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.

_____________ _________________________

Signed Printed Name/Town and State

Poem: Damn, It's God

Damn, It's God

God as musician is a curious picture.

Creator of lyrics as opposed to the scripture.

Plays a guitar, strumming notes to some song.

His tuning is perfect; His picking is strong.

Smooth in His style, with a finest detail;

Biblical storied, instrumental portrayal.

Perhaps He'd do covers. I could think of a few.

How cool would it be if Joan Osborne He'd do?

Invokes roused ovations. Sometimes heads bowed in deference.

Solo or band? One must wonder his preference.

Discover this artist who has growing appeal.

Damn, but it's God with his own record deal!

Copyright SGW 2005

Health Care Insurance Reform Truths

Ok, I know the astroturfers, right wingnuts and all FOX "News folks won't understand this, but for everyone else, these two charts give the debate some truth.