Howard Manser | + Follow Poet |
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Tyranny Counts the Ballots

“Never forget 
everything Hitler did 
in Germany was legal.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

drop by drop lady liberty bleeds
red on white and blue
common sense vexatious 
verboten spins askew 

“We can and we must 
write in the language 
which sows among the masses 
hate revulsion scorn and the like
toward those who disagree with us.” 
- Vladimir Lenin

yesterday is ever-present 
jarring brass voices carry it on 
high-pitched illustrations
shutter the light from daybreak’s dawn

futures refuse focused reflection
engineering a blinding bluff 
slick slogans snap fruitful echoes
crisp shrill voices retort rebuff

history passed to relegation 
forecasts foreshadowing
revolution commands sharp perspective 
voices interlaced with messaging 
 
proclamations masked in silence
druids among ruins sanitize
starry-eyed men moralize
reworded histories are harmonize 

lose not a bloodied head
resign yourself to running scared
la guillotine administers
justice swift and sweet
 
no man speaks of that not heard
or sees that left unread
bony fingers point with indigestion
at reflections of the living dead

attack the truth 
harangue and splay
dissect and display 
on an altar, the public tray

horizons pushed beyond the edge
driving a flying steel wedge
bait stains and fosters rot
grumbling boasts a rusting plot

lines crossed with grit and grime
rant and rave focused chime
call the blind to indict the slime
committing uncommitted crime
-
unspoken analysts said
les misérables are the walking dead
ill-bred still unread
they chant refrain mantra bred

rabid rabble inflame decay
peal mock alarms in disarray 
paint rant in shades of purulent grey
breeding vipers able to slay

party lines made me sick
venom fomented from every prick
poison struck acting quick
wounds fester in politic 

lesions dressed in Oleander
ooze toxin poised to pander
infected by casual candor
amplifies targeted slander 

headstrong, at school I played 
danced the dance and portrayed
sang the songs joined the throngs
the left was right to right the wrongs

truth died anonymously
sacrificed ceremoniously
falling prey to the knave
buried deep in an unmarked grave

snub the pundits chase them away
jerk their chains hold them at bay
once more and again today
cast off the chains unlock the fray 

false flags majestically planted
are true lies taken for granted
straw men hanged and effigies burned
a nation divided its citizens churned
courts upheld 
justice succumbs and expelled

“Those who cast ballots decide nothing
those who count ballots decide everything.”
- Josef Stalin

silhouettes set against the moon
marauding peril speaks to impending doom
through the mist, visualize
blood-red blazing vacant eyes
muscled henchmen, a Trojan horse
well-provisioned to run the course
--
prowlers target withering prey
actors draped in shades of grey
brandishing scythe blade and sheath
with hammer and sickle concealed beneath

cloaked in a promise and veiled deceit
the weak seek asylum in favored retreat
Quislings count the fallen heads
of wanton walking scurrilous dead
while wagons shadow and assassins ride
accommodating the cowards that hide

seeded slurs have demonized
principles a country crystallized 
free speech and the Bill of Rights
pay the price of appetites
to satiate carnal greed
with the need to watch others bleed

henchmen ride the roads once more
perhaps this time to my front door
should I allow and let him in
embrace sit down and dine with him
or capitulate with blinded eyes
to all the founders theorized

shall I prize their lives to live
knowing so little that I can give
to draw breath for another day
missing not what slips away

I sanctioned them to do their job
too messy was their rule by mob
my hands are clean, I’m satisfied
they passed the rules I ratified

Copyright © Howard Manser | Year Posted 2020

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