You can’t claim respect

by clinging to another’s

vision. You must find your own.

~

Looking back on it,

some folk are often confused

with respect to blind respect.

Time marches on, but

sometimes we poets misstep,

lose the beat, retreat.

~

And when we falter

we must, somehow, remember

to refrain from self-faulting.

Sudden summer rains

bring unexpected relief

from smoldering heat.

~

Though ephemeral,

who can’t appreciate this

respite from sultry weather.

How much smoke must rise

before deniers admit

that, somewhere, something’s burning?

~

It wasn’t only 

Nero who fiddled while Rome

burned – we are doing this too.

What lies ahead, we

don’t know. What we know is this:

where he goes, drama unfolds.

~

Some blame lightning rods

for drawing the lightning but

generators make current.

When there’s endless noise,

loudly signifying naught,

there may be a void of thought.

~

Sounds like you’ve been tuned

to Trump Broadcasting System.

Try switching channels.

How many times can

you cry fake news before they

carry you away?

~

Like That little boy,

oh so fond of crying “Wolf”,

when it’s real, you’re ignored.

One towering oak

can’t a healthy forest make;

No one thrives alone.

~

As Thich Naht Hanh says,

“we inter-are”. How well we’ll

grow when this we deeply know!

Let us listen to

the wind whisper secrets to

the trees – natural wisdom.

~

That’s a much better

whisper to which to attend

than hatred’s sharp scirocco.

When the “new normal”

begins to seem psychotic,

what is the best sane response?

~

Become abnormal

as fast as you can and join

with others marginalized.