Poetry
Photo by Ales Krivec
For Unsplash+
Winter solstice
Particularly at this time
I like to look out of the window
Tree branches cutting the picture into pieces
Hanging wires crisscrossing from the poles
The garage roof with its wall block the sight below
The color of the sky is hard to define
Maybe just say gray hue fills the frame
A hill afar, slanting to the east end,
There some houses sit silently, staring at me
All surfaces are topped with fine snow
This window now, a picture of black and white
It’ll be the shortest daylight of the year
But I vow
to paint a colorful picture after tonight.
This sleepy monotonic hibernal mood
Can’t stop me longing for looking out
though
In front of my desk stands a solid white wall
I
Stop my thought
Quit my work
Turn my head and
Fix my eyes
There
Is a view
A Cry
When most of the world is sleeping
There comes a secretive military operation
Bombing, firing, explosion, thundering helicopters
They are Invading a third world country
where the rich oil reserves are
In the midnight on the third day of the new year
The Dictator A kidnapped the Dictator B
According to the Dictator A, this is
for saving his country from Dictator B’s drug attacking
This Dictator A vows to make Venezuela great for once
Dictator A will run this precious land full of brown people
Dig out money from its rain forests or sea shores
Big Oil companies will come to refine all things oil
Wall Street will move in, bring Capitalism to gild
All materials, even the toilets.
How they become who they are
These dictators never read literature, they despise poetry
They listen to inner voices screaming “power” and “conquer”
They can’t perceive feelings in people’s soul
When one has no soul one can’t feel it and be touched
The only thing they know is possession, even through robbing
They think they are the smartest the greatest the most admired
They live in a gilded palace spending people’s tax money
They claim the country endow them to act like Christ and God
Whose names they exploit successfully
They understand religion is the right one
to manipulate people’s simple minds.
History provides all the lessons
Sadly, it doesn’t defeat bad human nature
Greed, vanity, envy, violence, selfishness, narcissism
Aggressors become leaders who are followed by the like.
I suppress my anger and deep sadness to deal with
What many call a victorial liberation of a low country
What many cheer for economic prosperity (stock boom)
What many applaud for no more migrants coming to steal
If only they could see hunger and desperation striking people
Witness a waste land used to house people’s lives
Breathe the stinky air made up with death and grief
If only they could taste the poisonous dust
They must
never worry about parents and offspring
Never fall down and get picked up
Never sing songs and dance with friends
Never hike miles to see sunrises
Never plant a tree or a garden
Never share homemade dishes with neighbors
Never help a stranger to find the way
Never give a bottle of water to a beggar
Of course they never did these tedious deeds
They chant a slogan honoring their patriotism
They want their western civilization restored
They plan to take over human being’s worth
They aim at the goal migrating to space
They march with the flag of Christianity
They say they are God sent who should rule
A robbery disguised as crushing villains
A bully crying being mugged
A liar screaming being cheated
A predator claiming being a victim
The school bully can grow into a grotesque monster
Our country is ruled by this kind
Followed by the same mind of the minority
The majority lost their power because
The highest court, the supreme
Decide the President, who becomes the first in this country
Can do whatever he wants
Thus a dictator A betrays our democracy
In the name of Make America Great Again
America under the Dictator A’s steer
Driving into the old filthy path of imperialism
Threatening other sovereignties
Cuba Canada Columbia Mexico Iran even Greenland
“You will be our next grab!”
The Dictator A and his minions cheer on
America the greatest will set international rules
America will unleash its super military power
Its nuclear weapon button is under the mad man’s finger tip
We never knew the most destructive history could repeat in our life time
We people, the kind ones who know the value of each human being
We must defeat this mad man and his cohort
Our children depend on us to fight back
Let’s go!
Should I Drop my Phone in this Pond
ICE officer gunned down a woman
In her car rushing away from the threat
The LEADERS on the screens
Righteous lips fluttering on their stern faces
Spitting condemnation: "domestic terrorist!”
Should just walk to the library in the sunlight
Snow has melted grass shoot is out
Make a phone call to Iris in California
How much green beans she has harvested.
Snow balls thrown to the police
Angry protesters are labeled “far left agitators.”
Flowers gather the wooden Cross pointing to the sky
She was Christian executing Jesus’s teaching
“Love your neighbors and the marginalized”
Now she is in heaven reporting the killing
To God and Jesus:
“The Cross wearing LEADERS killed YOU!”
“Hey, I am not mad at you!” She told the killer.
“Should I forgive him? God?” She asks.
Should really buy some chicken and peanut
Making Kong-Pao Chicken the dish everybody loves
Also my grandson’s favorite, honey chicken tender
I used to be worry-free
Should I drop my phone in this pond?
Invading Venezuela, getting their oil, stopping migrants
Threatening more countries by force
This LEADER said the only rule he follows
Is his own morality
Should knit a sweater for the baby grandson
Sew a jacket for the son-in-law
Take the drawing class
Resume my Japanese learning
YouTube political commentators 24 hours online
Bottomlessly scrolling New York Times
Congress agrees This Leader’s vetos for not to
Provide Colorado clean water, not to
Expand land reserved for the Miccosukee Tribe
Oh Jesus, my God:
I have lost my peace of mind
I just want to live a normal life
Not being angry all day every day
I just want my happiness back
Still many fun things I didn’t get to do
I should drop my phone in this pond
now