Join us every Monday night for drinks at the Daily Kos community political poetry club
Your own poetry is always welcome in the comments
Bongos, berets & turtle neck sweaters optional
The keypad is mightier than the sword
Four offering this week:
The first two almost wrote themselves after the comedy of the GOP Convention in Florida. Offered with no explanation, didn't seem to need any.
And then, with my connection to KosAbility, a dedication to those tireless folk who give up Wednesdays and Sundays to help those less fortunate than themselves. Never asking for anything in return and always available with a kind word, good advice and, when needed, money!
Last this week, pain is the Jester of Bad Jokes
Peace
CJ
Old Actor Forgets Lines
In a moment of senility
An actor known for roles
Best described as edgy
Violent, tough, no nonsense
Independent free thinker
Became, in full view of America,
A doddering, senile, caricature
Of the failed right wing past
Cause of war, poverty, racial hatred
Class warfare and true social unrest
Vituperative, insulting language
Directed in frothy streams at an empty
And innocent chair to the delight of
Cretinous brain-dead hooting white
Alligator brained feces slinging monsters
Such was the climax of the annual
Convention of the Flat Earth Society
Held in a violent summer storm this week
Where the intellectual elite of the right
Made plans for the violent overthrow of
Reason in all its manifestations
Fortunately for the rational world
And intelligent life everywhere
Human, or otherwise, on this blue ball
The armies of "faith before facts" have lost
All their dictionaries, resulting in
Calls to "go ahead punk make my day!"
And as he walked off stage
Did one see a hint of remorse
In that aged head for the scurrilous
Attack on a good man in the name
Of publicity for a new movie?
Pandering to the lizard brain
In the bubbles/spittle/froth
And alcoholic stupor of the
Broken tooth crowd beside
The polyester jump suiters
And the full Clevelands
With their overweight wives
As they pack the muu-muus
And matching shirts away
For another year
© CJ Campbell August 2012
Lizard Convention Meals
At the table to your right
The head reptile takes a bite
Of the glowing neck of white
And fleshy meat in plain sight
Of his plywood puppet running mate
Who solves all problems with a hard berate
Of those less fortunate than he. His hate
For himself reveals his secret inner fate
Feeding frenzy signal blasts “Begin”
Pandemonium ensues in raucous din
Bodies expand, explode, and thin
When eating one another becomes no sin
At last, the crocodilians look and stare
As aged snake harangues an empty chair
In a comedy (nay serious routine) where air
Becomes the enemy. At the Lizards' Fair.
© CJ Campbell September 2012
The New Horatios at the Bridge
(For A.E. Houseman)
An outnumbered band of ill-equipped veterans
Volunteer for duty on this fate deciding day
Where nurse and priest and blogger stand
Shoulder-locked in confident array
A quilter and her sister over there
Stand arrayed beside a kilted Scot
Mother/fighter for disabled rights. Care
They for those less able to go not
Where help is needed most. Look see
The bear arms locked with the math savant
Himself learning disabled. Many others to be
Mentioned in this army of care for human want
This bridge will hold, as with Horatio, until
Every soul is safe and help is an open offer
We can do no less, for if we don't fulfill
Our duty to our fellows, what more does life proffer?
© CJ Campbell September 2012
From Paul Simon this seems appropriate:
Pain Wins Again
Pain won last night in silent glee
Smirked through clenched teeth down on me
As I rolled and hunched these fractured bones
On a bed designed to make it known
That comfort will desert at any time
Whene'er I desire to write a simple rhyme
Or need to lay this weary head
On a deep accepting feather bed
Instead, pain comes, unbidden, fast
To snatch each moment into vast
Eternal pits of agony, despair
Leaves me gasping, gulping air
Unable to catch a deeper breath
Can life like this be worse than death?
© CJ Campbell September 2012