WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

Poetry Potluck

photo courtesy of Getty Images

One Shot Wednesday

Walk with your head held high.

Walk with the fire of freedom in your eyes.

Walk to dispel the lies.

Walk with a vision of the basic right of self-determinism
 for all people.

Walk like a true patriot.

Walk in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.

Walk with your friends by your side.

Walk with your lover by your side.

Walk to stand side by side with the old and the young.

Walk to show the politicians you are coming

Walk to show the politicians what true democracy
sounds like: THUNDER!!!

Walk with these lyrics pounding in your brain:
Call out the instigator/because there's something in the air.

Walk to demonstrate that the TRUE power always lies with the PEOPLE.

Walk to demonstrate that the people have given too much of their power away.

Walk to demonstrate the sleeping giant has awakened.

Walk to demonstrate that the few will no longer dictate to the many.

Walk to demonstrate that government must be our servant, not our master.

Walk with these lyrics swirling in your head:
They come, they come/to build a wall between us/don't let them win!

Walk to bring the oppressors to their knees.

Walk to throw the bums out.

Walk to kick in the doors.

Walk to tear down the walls.

Walk to emblazon the walls with this slogan:
If not us, who? If not now, when?

Walk in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Walk in the spirit of the sixties.

Walk to end the abuse of power.

Walk to empower the powerless.

Walk to show that the masses will no longer be the asses.

Walk to the rallying cry of the trumpet.

Walk pledging no retreat.

Walk for the liberation of man.

Walk to bring sanity back to humanity.

Walk to honor the dreamers.

Walk to create the world in our own image.

Walk in the spirit of Gandhi.

Walk with the fervent prayer that revolutionaries
no longer become just like their oppressors.

PRYING EYES

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

And so we RUN

From each traffic and store surveillance lens

Far from every camera phone

Aimed like an accusation

RUN to this place that the hand

Of man has not despoiled--

Where the battle cry of

PUT UP A PARKING LOT

Is still just an echo in the distance

No one sees but us

And the wise old owl

Who won't tell

And the canny coyote

Who won't yell

And the man in the moon

Who has nothing to say

And won't betray

And still we wonder how it went

From this vague sense of being watched

To the everyday certainty of it

As the band plays: The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You

And time marches on

Away from prying eyes

You open your thighs

And the wind sighs

The stars bear witness

Though they are light years away

Streaming from a yesterday that still shines

But only in our minds

COMING OF AGE

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

Her name was Connie

and I thought I might be able to

steal my first real kiss

when one summer afternoon at Jake's house

she allowed his horny poodle named Charlie

to hump her leg

With words of encouragement like

COME ON CHARLIE...

YOU CAN DO IT...

THAT'S A GOOOOD BOY !

she urged him on

to the climactic moment of his life

When he threw in the towel

she called for one

That night in the back seat of Jake's car

I placed my mouth upon hers

awkwardly

not fitting exactly the way I figured it should

but our tongues made contact

the Eagle had landed

She must have known I'd never frenched before

but a guy's gotta start somewhere

and where better than a sixteen-year old woman of the world

who had kissed lots of guys

and fulfilled the fondest desire

of at least one poodle

THAT SAME GUY

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

Back in my little town

I never knew

a truly crazy person

back in my little town

there was the town bully

the town slut

the town eccentric

all harmless cartoon figures now

in a land obsessed

with violence

and war

just turn on the TV

and there he is

it's the same guy

DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

it's the SAME guy

day and night

night and day

spraying bullets

dealing indiscriminate death

tune in at eight tonight

to see him again

we've created him

and glorified him

with our dollars

plunked down at the movie theater

we've created him

with a power structure

that assures young people

it's okay

to kill for your country

but only at OUR direction

don't come back here

and try that shit

on your own

is it any wonder that

some get confused

and get it turned around

you know

you are already too far gone

when you pull that trigger

when you are just following orders

all insanity

of the highest order

the inmates

running the asylum

inciting us daily

from podiums

and radios blaring

the politics of division

and hatred

a nation coming apart

from within

fueled by excess

and greed

glowingly referred to as

The American Dream

yeah

just another mentally unbalanced dude

spraying lead at a shopping center

they said he was cold

emotionless

desensitized

as he went about his business

as everyone asks

WHO created him

and somewhere in the background

Michael Jackson sings

time to look at

the man in the mirror