THE VANISHING OF AMERICA

America disappeared

When no one was watching

Decades of petty politics

Smart phones

Seventy two inch T.V.s

Free porn

Can you blame them?

The nation under which

"In God We Trust"

Had been transformed

By a myriad of religions

Some ancient, some new

Mostly speaking of salvation

If you donated

Enough money

Her leadership devoted

To incessant back and forth

Bickering

Over the slightest attempts

At direction

Led the country into insolvency

While politicians from all parties

Lined their pockets

As the nation grew

Deeper in debt

Stores that had operated for years

Closed their doors

Factories and manufacturing

Moved overseas

Banks and markets kept alive

By intricate Ponzi schemes

Failed

Money ceased to exist

We lived off barter and trade

As best we could

Talks of open borders

Closed borders

We're now nothing more

Than cheap clichés

Uttered by a media

Unaware, oblivious

That people we're no longer

Listening

Brother Durl came by

One afternoon

With the last of his

Stash of Jack Daniel's

Raided from the Piggly Wiggly

Before they closed

Walking to the beach

Of what was no longer

The Gulf of America

A few survivors joined us

Watching the sun set

Into the horizon

Drinking in silence

We all understood

Truthfully,

We were lone witnesses

To the vanishing

Of America

All of us

Realizing

In that moment

It had been a long time coming.

TROPHY HUNTING

Did you see your reflection

In the eye of the animal

Dead

Before you

The folly of your ego

Led you to this place

Taking the life of an innocent

So you could assert your

Domination

And feel transformed

But there is no transformation

As you see yourself

In the reflection of this

Now dead eye

You will take its head

Mount it on the wall

Of your trophy room

For all your friends to see

You'll leave the body to rot

Where you killed it

Violating natures rule

Of eat what you take

You've taken much

Given back little

Your folly soars

With every kill

One day

The eyes that reflect

Your disgrace

Will judge you

When your death balances

The scales of justice

And your soul is mounted

For all to see.

RETRIBUTION

These are the nights

When sunsets roll across the sky

Like thunder roaring

In the dark of a storm

Leaving the weak

Frightened

The strong

Subdued

Lingering death

Pirouhuetting

Against the shadows

Of a civilization in decay

This is the way

The earth

Reclaims itself

Making itself whole

We had taken

Everything it had to give

And then taken more

The wisdom of life

Emptied

Our penitence

For our greed

Come due

Existence dancing

Flickering

Then vanishing

From our souls.

NURTURING

The cold is desolate

Bracing

Embers from yesterday's fires

Start new fires

Today

Warming

Giving comfort

Igniting wood

Cured for many seasons

Wood taken from trees

Blown over in storms

Carefully cut, split, stacked

Waiting their turn

To keep alive the cycle

Of yesterday's embers

Becoming today's fires

Bringing warmth to those

Understanding nature's cycles

Using its gifts

Giving their praise

Acknowledging

At all times

The cycle

That sustains.

DRIFTING
 

Do we dance Butoh

In defiance of this

Political regime

Peeling back transgressions

As one would open

A can of sardines

Finish this feast

Of absurdity

And return us home

A blood moon is rising

Malfeasance is no longer

Absolved

Pay the harbor master

Sundered though he might be

He is our only

Salvation

On this

Journey

For freedom.
 

FREE WATER

My head was on fire

Church bells were peeling

Loud and clear

But there wasn't a church in sight

And if there were

The good people who profited

From such tirades as religion

Were fast asleep

I was in a sleazy bar

Smelled like the latrine in a dream

Of urinals and white, crystalline pucks

That stench, you learn to crave it

Or you run from it

Screaming for redemption

I couldn't run from it

Wasn't able to if I could

I'd been dry for a couple weeks

Since Christmas

No gin, booze, smack

Fuck it

I was going to kill all the demons

2025 baby, time to get clean

So I savored the scent

Enjoyed it

Tossed a dime and a half

To a down and out pro

Far past her prime

But she was still out here hustling

Bless her heart

Coltrane, Adderley and Evans

Doing their things on the surprisingly

Gleaming jukebox

Doll cocks her head towards the music

Tells me it's her favorite trio

Thanks me for the cash

She's full of shit

But why blow a decent illusion?

I escape to a dim booth

Where night sweats can overcome me

Until some asshole wannabe gangster

Loudly states the country's gone to shit

Biden just awarded Clinton and Soros

The Presidential Medal of Freedom

Looks right at me

Wants to know what i think about that

I've got rivers of sweat running down my face

Shirt stuck to my flesh

Pretty sure someone just fired a canon

Into my ear

"Fuck you!," I scream to the wannabe gangster

"Shut the fuck up,

Miles is playing on the jukebox

And you're harshing my mellow"

The wannabe tries to play it off

Offers me a taste to help my situation

"My situation? It's 2025 and I need to

Transport back to the '70s when

Water was free and you had to pay

For porn"

The doll I slipped the dime and a half

Brings me a glass of water

"Here, hon, you hold on tight"

I look at the glass of water

It was free

Maybe this time is the time

Maybe, just maybe

"When again," I ask

"Was Christmas?"

She smiles a toothless smile

"Two weeks, hon, two weeks.

Did you know Orcas sometimes

Wear dead salmon as hats?"

I take a drink of free water

Clifford Brown and Max Roach

Come on the jukebox

And I realize

I am indeed

Fucked.