chastise

personal invective rarely furthers one's cause
so before you use it...

pause

you can chastise without resorting
to language that ends up distorting your point
still those up in arms should bear in mind
racism and vulgarity aren't of a kind

out of joint though both may be
one vilifies systemically
the other, uncomplimentary
to one primary

indigence

the disparity alarming,
disconcerting and disarming
till despairing
I throw up my hands
unable to understand
the distance between
affluence and indigence
or how the ones
who hoard like dragons
then would blame
those with nothing
for the same
or attempt to reframe
their wealth as won not stole
when they dig a cavern
throw the others in
and attribute them the hole
deny them rope or ladders or
a surface they could climb
weigh them down with stones
and chide them for each rest
and then call them lazy
for not passing some imaginary test
that they themselves would fail
were they so oppressed

flummox

sun dappled and dazzled
we soak in the warmth
traveled through the inky black
the endless empty cold of space
to smile upon the life she made
and if we stop to think on it
the enormity would flummox
indeed, we grasp her truth no more
than toddlers do taxes
but we need not understand
a mother's hand to bask
in her glow as we grow

sacrosanct

loneliness pervades and
wisdom washes down the drain
and yet the echoes still remain
etched commandments on the brain
sacrosanct these memories
outlasting still the tangible
these half forgotten melodies
a murmured compline softly hummed
as day and deed both finally done

arrogate

my beliefs
I hold unto myself
I would not so presume
that they universal were
but laboriously learned
and dear to none but me
I dare not arrogate
my certainty
as to their veracity
but still one must
some presumption make
that a signpost is seen
by more than oneself
and so navigate
hoping to find
like-minded fellows
at a destination
as yet unknown

riposte

pointed words fly
as they spar
goodnatured seemingly
each riposte sparks anew
a thrust or parry
until one misplaced
sentiment misaligned
and blood drawn
wounds unchecked
may fester and force
a conclusion

homogeneous

they sit
in their rows
homogeneous
to the eye
but inside
a riot
a mess
with worlds
 and worlds
of difference
judge not
just by your eyes
or beautiful multiplicity
will pass you by

cajole

At some point, I'll stop waiting.

I'll cease to mollycoddle and cajole;

hoping that you'll see me.

I'll stop reaching out when you disappear,

like Patience sat waiting here

for your return...

for you to learn.
For me to learn.

At some point, I'll be gone.

Weary of waiting; I'll move on.

And someday, maybe, you'll notice

the empty space that once was

me.

petard

set the fuse and run
and from a distance
watch and wait
for the petard's retort
you find your sport
in dropping bombs
with aplomb and
laughing at the aftermath
you aim for mischievous
but settle for malicious
no low-key Loki
but a non-jokey Joker
you enjoy the destruction
you cause to occur

garrulous

would I were
tongue tied
instead
tongue tired
a wild horse
garrulous I gallop
across the silence
hooves pounding
out inanities
and whinnying
my wild theories
on those or that
or the other or these
with barely pause to breathe
so twitterpated am I
in your company

raillery

you, my youthful enemy
now, my dearest friend
how it happened, who can say
I cannot comprehend
hostility transformed
rivalry became raillery
and words and wit
no more to wound
my wounds instead they balm
it's you I turn to now
for laughter or for calm
the world is hard and often I
feel lonely or feel lost
bewildered and befuddled
and my heart tempest-tossed
but, brother mine,
you make me laugh
or cry along with me
it makes me oh, so happy
that you're my family

besot

discovery intoxicates like
christmas morning
jubilation
the gift
of anticipation
besots her brain
diminishing
past devastation
as she swims
in the sensation
of hopeful expectation

unfettered

a whiskey smile
sultry and sly
and I am lost
inhibition recedes
like the tide
fancy unfettered
by nimble fingers
and soft insistent kiss
rationale against
dissipated by this
moment of bliss

muliebrity

the world would have you wear a patch
to proclaim
pink for muliebrity
blue for virility

ignoring reality
the spectrum
of individuality

they want
to mark you
different or same
and label you thus

that's what they'd
have you do
to make things easier
for them, not you

winsome

i am not immune
to the winsome charm
of one conjured
out of memory
my whimsy to disarm
and long since passed
a ship that sailed
circling a port
without a pier
without a peer
and peering into the past
i find a laugh and smile here
in fantastical farce
from a face
fondly fixed in mind
from time and place
so far behind
that never sting
can wound me now
my awkward youth
has took its bow
and raised its head
surprised at who's
remained or fled
or then returned
& what once given
now seems earned

agress

oh, judge ye not
nor juggle stones
from lofty perch
in your glass homes
not to it born 
but twas distress
that led them here
so to agress

layman

magic born
in this
anticipation
before first kiss
the view atop
the ocean cliffs
the beating of
butterfly wings
the yellow warbler
as she sings
even the layman
can discern
divine within
summer's return

transpire

two hearts beat
in cheeky grin
or crooked smile
or angry eyebrows
in bowler hats
and scarves
and celery
and all require
to greater standards
that we aspire
whatever world
we find us in
our loyalty
is forged in fire
and if somehow
we found we've failed
or Doctor's situation dire
in sparkling miasma
that Doctor may
again transpire
and as new face
and form acquire
we, too, transform
our hope reborn 

nascent

within
it germinates
the nascent glow
from which
I hope
a flame will grow
fed by
the memory
of love
you once
felt for me
not hope, no more,
for your return
but that in another
love will burn
and glow
will grow
into a flame
from which
like phoenix
heart born
again

collaborate

a palette
of gray
the cool damp
of spring
collaborate
to paint your mood
into a dismal thing
but a cheeky bird
sings and your heart
swells with melody
conspiring
against atmosphere
to find the seed
of summer
inside

otiose

a grain

of sand inside

shell mind irritated

nacre coats the otiose

niggling of the thought

you can't release so

one can only hope

 for wisdom's

 pearl

slumgullion

America:

long called

a melting pot,

but we are not

and never

have been.

We are, instead,

a slumgullion.

A hearty stew

wherein combine

the ingredients;

and force of flavor

mellowed by time

until a singular 

dish derived

from both leftovers 

and new arrived.

jocose

this first/last date will be a one time show
not a last first date and here is how I know 
I mask anxiety by attempting jocularity
as if being quippy will make him like me
overwhelming the voice inside of my head
that's controlling my mouth instead
of my steady more logical side
the garrulous part wants to let it all ride
and takes me over like a jocose parasite
spouting one-liners at an open mic night
and bemused or bewildered my date's rictus grin
says they know where to end, if not to begin

menagerie

in carousel swirl
the magical menagerie
spins us round
to the sound of
harpsichord kisses
filling the air like
salt spray taffy
pulled and stretched by
the arms of summer
under a twirling sky
that's dancing along
to the carnival song

decimate

civility declines as vitriol rises
hard to know where to stand
on sands that shift into decline
of both reason and rhyme
sense and sensibility decimated by
the intractability of those
who see no difference
between debate and debasement
who mistake courtesy for self effacement
who disregard our shared humanity
seeing only us vs them or you vs me

remuneration

love is not love
with expectation
of remuneration
but merely
a transaction
though requited
in perfection
no less worthy
as gift given
without
reciprocation
for the journey
as important
as the destination

agonistic

to justify behavior abhorrent
he blames everyone but he
and tells and retells his story
until he believes
and deceives himself
so she demurs and withdraws
the agonistic array
knowing it wouldn't matter
what she could say
he, lacking empathy,
would never see it her way

flocculate

thoughts
like butterflies
flocculate and rise
before dispersing
in the skies
blown apart
to pollinate
hope flowers and
summer wishes
the nectar scent
distinguishes
the daydream
from the goal
the possible
from whimsical

beaucoup

the disconnect grows
every freaking day
so bigly
my brain hurts
the dissonance
knows no bounds
i am astounded
that anyone believes
with beaucoup bullshit
shouted on tv
and the memory
of a world before
the ALL CAPS
twitterwhore
so mundane
that following
it was a bore

palindrome

pour over words
hope for nuance i missed
but back to front
the same it reads
by palindrome
dismissed
palindrome by 
reads it same
the front to back
but missed i nuance
for hope
words over
pour

eventuate

all the plot lines come together
like strands braided into rope
on which your expectation hanged
and your anguish eventuated by
stupefaction and surprise
that decimation insufficient
and you wonder if it's wise
so many characters' demise
and you despair as this one
or that one that you love
disintegrates into air
but tomorrow you'll be back
to see it again
but from a different chair