The great social experiment The revolutionary idea That we, the People, could form A more perfect Union Failed to uphold justice Protect domestic tranquility Provide for the common defense Abandoned the general welfare Incinerated the Blessings of Liberty For ourselves and our Posterity Two hundred and forty-eight years Was a good run, I suppose The hope to be governed by the people For the people For every eligible voice To enjoy the opportunity to be heard Was willfully eclipsed by the shadow of Kakistocratic - Technocratic - Plutocratic - White supremacist - Christian nationalist - Fascism Have we answered the question Whether societies of men Are really capable or not, Of establishing good government From reflection and choice Or have we proved They are destined to depend, For their political constitutions, On accident and force Or, dare I add, willful ignorance And deliberate, egotistical self-absorbance The fifty stars and thirteen stripes hang upside down In the hearts of the concerned citizenry While chaos, fear and greed reign unchecked Over the land that was never to have a sovereign With days cacophonous and nights despairingly bleak There is light from the resistance Those who risk to speak To share To shine light Onto the truth of the grift of the century Those who take serious their vow to uphold the Constitution Those who believe we hold these truths to be self-evident That all PEOPLE are created equal That they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights That among these are Life, Liberty, And the pursuit of Happiness Those people who do what they are able To take a stand however they can Because they hold fast to the American Dream And the dream of a better America Oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave Where we yearn to be free And we're tired of being brave
The enduring redwood is dead Meant to withstand Storm and fire and drought Heartwood rotted from within Disease and neglect Claimed their prize A reminder that Sometimes good things die
And so comes the end of the heaviest chapter The plot twisted dramatically In the hands of an unreliable narrator Linear time fractured Slowed Ran backward Perspectives shifted Creating more confusion than clarity
Muted colors of nostalgia dull recollections Emotional sharpness blunted The hollow ache of a long goodbye Completed with the deliberate placement Of an arch-ending period.
The next act begins with a page turn “THE NEXT CHAPTER” written atop it
May your holiday season be all you want and need May the returning sun shine warmly upon your path May your hearth ring with the sounds of laughter and merriment May the quiet season bring you respite May the new year make manifest abundance and unadulterated joy
I realize that this year’s Christmas Will be my first in decades without you That shatters me like a dropped ornament I wanted us to be a Hallmark holiday romantic comedy But we were, instead, a Nancy McKeon movie of the week This year is heavy with disappointment Like that of not finding that hoped for gift beneath the tree Or the disillusionment of learning Santa Is just your parents’ amateur slight of hand Or that moment in Love Actually when Emma Thompson Opens her gift to discover it's a Joni Mitchell CD Instead of the expensive necklace that Alan Rickman Bought for his sexy secretary instead of his loving wife You keep trying to gift me expired I love yous I let them fall to the ground like dry pine needles Christmas lights wear glimmering halos From the tears that well when the Carpenters croon Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas I will not hang your stocking Or buy you a well-considered gift I will, however, cast a Christmas wish For you to dream of better days As you nestle in an unfamiliar bed That old St. Nick blesses you With a better life ahead
I stand with Lady Hecate in her place of power The Great Crossroad The intersection of past and present Lessons and possibility She holds her lantern aloft Illuminating my options I can see that each step Each choice Leads to another nexus Another crossroad For life is a spiderweb of crossroads An infinite collection of choices Interconnecting to plot our life's course In this moment of perfect presence I breathe I reach out with my intuition With deep faith and trust I step forward Toward a future of my own choosing
The world quiets beneath a blanket of white Sounds are muffled Time slows There is no hurry here The landscape sleeps Stillness, like a spell Descends upon all things
My mind wanders about in this peace Leaving no footprints in the snow I am freed of my burdens Allowed to drift like a shade Below the frosted boughs Delighting in the joy of winter’s slumber
Words Wishes and Wisdom 