Poetry is Good for America
We can try to be fair.
We will grab and hold fast.
We can be the first to care.
We will always be the last.
We will be a shining light.
We can push back on the caring.
We will light a candle in the night.
We can call kindness a red herring.
We can be the change we need.
We will revel in our leisure.
We can try to plant a seed.
We will pay for blood and treasure.
We can be a loving place.
We will cherish your dismay.
We can seek out good and grace.
We will look the other way.
No single drop of rain
Flooded out the dam,
Nor solitary driver
Created the traffic jam.
No weightless mountain snowflake,
Drifting on the breeze,
Caused the massive avalanche
That buried buildings and trees.
The stinging of a single fire ant
Though painful, heals quite fast,
But if a couple hundred sting you
You’ll likely breathe your last.
So it is in all endeavors
Both extraordinary and mundane
Moderation in our actions
Saves us suffering and pain.
And yet in the world of politics
It seems that time and again
Nations swing from left to right
Because someone has to win.
To capture minds and funding
Politicians talk in extremes,
When an introspective milk-toast moderation
Would be the governance of dreams.
I read a few
Of your poems today.
After I digest
Five poems
My gut tells my mind
Its opinion.