On Election Results, 2012

The Gadsden Flag.  Image from Wikimedia Commons

When political charlatans

Divide and deceive the voters,

We all lose.

~~~ This poem was written both for the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads prompt of telling who won the election in 20 words or less and the Poetic Bloomings form prompt of writing a lune.

The Value of Freedom

The Declaration of Independence - John Trumball, 1819

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  From the United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

Fifty-six men
With pens on parchment
Changed the world,
Declaring their intention
To pursue an ideal
Of equality and freedom,
Knowing that failure
Would leave them branded
As traitorous cowards
Hanging in the public square,
Knowing that the cannons of war
Would destroy the lives
They had sacrificed to build,
But inaction would cost so much more.

Those fifty-six men of vision
Understood the value of freedom
And were willing to pay the price.
Do we still possess that courage,
The willingness to stand
In the face of tyranny
In defense of the values
Earned by blood and cannon
All those years ago?
Sacred honor is a concept
Forgotten by politicians
Masquerading as leaders,
Relegated to dusty books and epic movies,
Yet in the heart of the patriots
Spread across these United States,
The burning desire for freedom survives,
Just waiting for someone to fan the flames.


~~~  This poem was written in response to a prompt from Poetry Jam asking us to write about value and values.

The March of the Spin Doctors

The spin doctors march across the screen,  

Every channel pushing their own agenda

At the expense of the truth, 

Tossing sparks into the kindling 

Of dried out racial relations, 

Fanning the sacrificial flames, 

Tragedy’s ashes distilling humanity, 

Reducing the players in this drama 

To nothing more than empty symbolism…

Skittles, Arizona iced tea, and a hoodie.

Current Events (In Limerick Form)

A governor from Illinois,

Caught being a very bad boy,

Sent off on “vacation”

For incarceration,

And his stylist is now unemployed.

The Prez turned down the pipeline for oil,

And the voter’s blood started to boil.

As their gas prices rise,

There’s a fire in their eyes

As to fill their tanks, harder they toil.

Congress faces a huge budget gap

With spending they can’t seem to cap.

If they can’t plug that hole,

When we stand at the poll,

Let’s all give them an electoral slap.

Tea Party Ponderings

Gridlock in the government,
Adding to our discontent.
Discipline is now a joke.
Liberty goes up in smoke.

Tears of an Old Patriot

A patriot cries on heaven’s highest hill
And wonders if America remembers him still.
His nation, it seems, has lost its way,
A shining city plagued with urban decay.

Our people discouraged, the outlook looks bleak.
Our enemies see us as timid and weak.
The country is falling apart at the seams
As we witness the death of American dreams.

The government now is irreparably broken,
Ignoring the words that the people have spoken.
Our freedoms are fading, and some we have lost
For the sake of security, ignoring the cost.

He’s comforted knowing a new generation
Finds in his conservative stance, inspiration
To stand and continue to struggle, to fight
To protect precious liberty with all of their might.

He knows in his heart that our country’s best years
Are still yet to come, and he fights back his tears.
Let’s all come together and defend the Constitution.
The time is now here for a ballot-box revolution.

The Lesson Plan

When we are young
Parents and teachers
Promote our American opportunity,
Potential limited only by our imaginations.

“You can be a doctor.”
“You can be an astronaut.”
“You can even be President of the United States.”

(Unless, of course
You are a conservative…and a woman.)

Media Whore

Vicious graffiti
Aimed at a woman
Whose only crime
Is standing with the citizenry
While chasing her American dream,
Reported with glee
By those who prostitute the truth
In the dim red light of their cameras.