Just when you begin

to think reason might prevail,

His Majesty speaks.

~

And reminds us all

that, by gift, from his good friends,

the emperor has new clothes.

To the witless clown

who adorned my door handle

with that chewing gum, you suck.

~

Wonder what’s eating

that clown that he’d resort to

passing on his chew to you?

I may be old, but

I can see well enough to

recognize bullshit.

~

This bullshit diet

means to desensitize us

to the horseshit yet to come.

Always something new

toxic and mean~spirited

to keep them off their balance.

~

An old trick used by

power hungry tyrants to

distract and control.

The cats and I watch

the snow fall, content to be warm

and sitting inside.

~

And I go trudging

through the snowy woods chasing

a small dog bounding for birds.

Are some so hungry

for change they will consume

all this patent medicine?

~

Popping a pill for

an effortless fix always

has a huge appeal.

The quiet work of

introspection is not work

valued by those with loud mouths.

~

No one can be seen

to be working hard when all

the labor is internal.

Where has justice gone

when police assume a crime

driving by at fifty-nine?

~

Assumption became

fact to a mind resolved to

find his criminal quota.

Most admonishments

apply to admonishers

as well as the admonished.

~

That old rebuttal

we learned as kids still remains

true: “It takes one to know one.”.

Is being alarmed

same as being alarmist?

These days is there a difference?

~

An alarming fact

is, alarmist or not, we

hear those alarm bells ringing.

Yesterday we got

a three-in-one package from

Mother Nature: rain, sleet, snow.

~

 Weather’s trifecta

came in at 3 to 1 odds

and left us an even mess.

How can one believe

assertions of a salesman

when he’s got skin in the game?

~

Folks don’t try to sell

something unless they somehow

benefit from doing so.

This retired life

has me leaping tree to tree

like some adolescent squirrel.

~

Sounds like you leaped

into a nutty world, but

still can’t find the time to eat.

Cold and rainy days

such as this invite us to

settle in with a good book.

~

So, of course, I ‘rose

many hours before dawn

to cook a breakfast fundraiser.

This shotgun spraying

orders ever crazier;

hoping he can get some through.

~

His half-cocked approach

to governing matches his

lack of social skills.

I opened the door

for Knox. He stepped forward, but

turned back when he saw the rain.

~

That pre-dawn thunder

was Beggorah’s 411;

he burrowed under blankets.

Speaking of nature,

there are those who still believe

Man is, somehow, its master?

~

Some folks will ignore

all facts and experience

and insist they are in charge.

How did inclusion,

and the fellowship implied,

become such a dirty word?

~

When diversity

was made to mean “alien”

and, thus, something to be feared.

Nature has always

favored diversity, but

the unwise would outlaw it.

~

Unwise humans don’t

recognize that they too are

a part of nature.

How can all succeed

when so many are restrained

before they begin?

~

The ones who don’t think

to even ask that question

contribute to the problem.

With his web of lies

he’s guided by his totem

animal: spider.

~

On this we differ!

Spider webs are elegant.

His traps are clumsy and crude.

Do they not regret

their so callous disregard

as they bypass tangled wrecks?

~

They’re just following

the example set for them

by the man in the White House.

It’s never easy

to forget all of those things

which aren’t worth remembering

~

Yet there are those days

when we can’t remember where

we put the car keys.

If we placed tariffs

on lies, perhaps we’d hear less

from our president.

~

With this President’s

perfidious penchant?

Erase the National Debt!

In this ‘murica

swastika’s protected speech

but pride flags are illegal?

~

We find ourselves in

Trump country now where there is

freedom for some, but not all.

A plea for mercy

touched a nerve and ignited

 outrage in a heartless man.

~

Merciless leaders

will ignite more than outrage 

in their heartless power trip.