Best Entitlements Poems
I laugh out loud
every time I hear a politician say,
that the best way to enrich a black person's life,
is to give them a job
Give them some work to do
Labor is the way out of poverty ---
are you kidding me!
They got the nerve,
telling a black person in America
they need to work
Put the shoulder to the grinding wheel,
get to know the sweaty brow feel
Getting employed will solve most of
black people's problems, politicians say
Hard work will bring an honest dollar our way
But I got a problem
with that four-letter word: work
I am bold enough to speak for my people
on this urgent matter
Telling us we need to work some more,
in order for things to get better for us
No! We worked long enough
Four hundred years is a long enough time, don't you think
We been working ever since
we got off those slave ships that didn't sink
We worked hard
at keeping our eyes and voices low
We worked hard
at pretending that we're slow
We worked even harder
at grinning and gritting our teeth
But we worked the hardest
at not getting lynched on a tree
Listen to me:
This is the children of slaves reality,
the living in America experience
of feeling the societal lash daily
Of being looked down on,
of being spurned and frowned upon
Politicians say they helped us all they could,
that entitlements didn't do no good
And only work can get us to where we need to be ...
sounds a lot like old-time slavery to me
No! We worked long enough
Four hundred years is a long enough time, I would think
We been working ever since
we got off those slave ships that didn't sink
We worked hard
at not getting pecked to death by Jim Crow
We worked hard
at trying to survive under the poverty line below
We worked even harder
at not telling the oppressor everything we know
But we worked the hardest
at letting our unchained KKKourage show
Yes! We worked long enough ...
now it's time for us to rest
Will you pay us back for that?
If my sinful scars were hidden
and I could away my selfishness
if I could look on others as my brother
wrest away entitlements...
If true love meant sacrifice
freely given without regrets
if I could marvel at creation
revel in sweet jasmine’s scents...
If I could flee life’s great temptations
follow in the narrow path
if stumbling blocks of fear and anger
were swept away into the past...
Then I could look into the mirror
see what I was truly meant to be
an image bearer borne from heaven
a reflection of His majesty...
For in so loving others as myself
a higher calling I will heed
and finding freedom in the giving
only then my spirit will be free.
Written on 10/24/2018
A while back I left meaning
At the river bank of seeming
And gathered myself to trust
Dark and light
I learned how to fight
By giving my faith to LOVE
He took me deep and wide
Cleaning all I longed to hide
'Neath the sheath of TRUTH
The fire was roaring
And I began soaring
As the chains of deception were loosed
Down, up, over, under
The lightening struck and I felt HIS voice THUNDER
Shaking the foundation of my soul
I yielded to the push and pull
Wanting to be wise in spite of being a fool
To the world system of structured holes
For so long, my eyes were fixed
On the laying of the bricks
To see how it all works
The wrong tends to rise
In the systems we devise
.....quirks, quirks, and more quirks
What on earth made us believe
That we could keep what we receive
And do whatever it takes to ensure entitlements never leave
OUR FILTHY GRUBBY HANDS
UGH! I am so tired of the struggle
...I want, I need, I should have, I'm not happy with what I have
...........I should have alllllll I want, when I want it, and
....................GOD, you should want me to have it.
There! I said it!
So, if I continue with LOVE
I get the blessings others aren't aware of
Enjoying intimacy so deep my heart swells in capacity
Or, I can lay the struggle down
And try to keep all the temporal things I have found
In the accepted veracity
...of fallen men
Yesterday, the answer was clear
But today, my friend, I am here
In the thick red clay...that clings to my boots
Although I walk in peace
Matter tries to stick where the Spirit gives release
So I can allow enemies to believe they have valuable loot
....I worked hard to gain
No...it was given..and I will let it go.
Written by Trudy Schrader on 01-22-2019
So nice of you to mention
from your lofty Bully Pulpit
the bravery and sacrifice
of honor driven men.
Spewing verbose platitudes
that smell of self inclusion,
when pack straps, boots, and pistol belts
have never chaffed your skin.
The microphone before you there
will magnify your ego;
with bold, practiced inflection
you'll dispense your puffery.
Styled and dyed, your hair was
never sweat or helmet flattened,
your suit is by Brooks Brothers
and your tie is by committee.
You segregate your audience
and know them before speaking,
a patriot for veterans,
fear monger for the weak.
Quote the bible for the clergy;
they want to hear you pray,
and praise the second amendment
when you address the N. R. A.
Tell the minions "God will guide you,"
keep in step the righteous;
and rants against "entitlements"
plays well in wealthy homes.
Your conjured Muslim bogey men
sell billion dollar bombers;
while at the local high school
there's a bake sale to buy books.
Soul-are
Is my soul conscious at this time?
No further question marks in asking
as the query is itself the answer
tentative and playful statement
of intent of letting go solutions
to a problem which is not
The conscious soul
There is an ‘is’ somewhere
out there in there and
where they meet when
is and when they not
No definition and it is
at the point and time
the fleeting flowing moment
ever changing change
‘My’ is longing and belonging
when the meaning wanders
me in fragments wholeness
wonderment and expectation
pondering what’s mine
possessions baggage lightness
entitlements and freedom’s safety
When I am and not am and both
and stand and fall proceed
my journey un-arrested
‘Soul’ my essence source
alone conjoined the Universe
en-lived en-storied
told untold narration from within
without because of why
and how my circles spin
spiral radiate alive and morbid
mortal where the crossing
exit point and destination
questions not what there if now
is after momentary permanent
impermanence for ever lasting
going gone beheld in truth
‘Conscious’ of the contradictions
compliments of contemplation
complementing opposites and syntheses
polar angles sides perspectives
hidden exposed below the surface
and above the tidal mark
of scion’s collaborated offspring
consciousness of consciousness
transcendental comprehension
and awareness of what can
can not be understood
‘At’ where at when at
is lost and found and lost again
no at without the it and as and I
attending context inconsistent
alterations wrapped in time
location in perceptions
‘This’ that there is here
for now and when it is
and gone just when the past
has changed from present
to the future this and
present past and yet again
is what there is appraised
forgotten passed surpassed
uncommented in meditation
upon reflection feeling thought
‘Time’ so much so little just enough
and left beyond the time of time
when time has come will go and stay
forever when my consciousness
which was has gone
20th May 2016-05-16
Contest entered: Is your soul conscious at this time?
Marriage was intended to make babies
not statements!
Marriage is a covenant before God
not governments!
Marriage is a promise to family and future
not quick investments!
Marriage is sacrifice and hard work
not daily entertainments!
Marriage is a mortgage and college fund
not tax entitlements!
Marriage takes a Father & Mother for a child
not village managements!
Marriage is lived and enjoyed in private
not public amusements!
Marriage is between husband, wife and God
not life partner arrangements!
Emoticon Yellows
If I were rich, which is a crime
I could do anything I wished
Claim my rights and entitlements as “affluenza”
But I’m an ordinary cyberpunk
A regular yellow kind of guy
An emoticon with an attitude
Manscaping, sliding through life with a close shave
Cantankerous and bodacious all the time
In chillax style, riding the daily yellow bus
Dragging my portmanteaus box inside
And my delishful gal with me there
Clad in fashionable plarn
Irregardless of everything else
We rise above the sights and flee
Above the ancient vomitocious towns
And meld into each other’s grue calm eyes
Canoodling all the while
Smog passes with the night
Snark comments distract us
An anacronym word or two slips out
But we don’t care
We’re off to spend the affluenza check
Just to prove we can
(PORTMANTEAUS words: “PORTMANTEAUS Box” all contest entry listed words
+ "canoodling" - hugs and kisses and "cantankerous- old and feisty )
8/19/14 Portmanteaus Poetry Contest
Animal Farm
The youth of today; the ‘avant-garde’ of new lingo, lost words
‘Ennui’ of wisdom, with a blatant ‘cacophony’ of disrespect
‘Carte blanche’ entitlements pave a highway to absurdity
What once was ‘anomaly’, has become, a ‘bona fide’ threat
The ‘élan’ of our youth, self-absorbed with the screen
Their windows to the world encumbered only by a charge
The character constraints abbreviate a slang stream
As an Orwellian ‘déjà vu’, eighty-four is not far
But these ‘dilettantes” of tech, with an emoji style speak
Will never, understand; the ‘baroque’ of a poem, makes you weak
Contest: 10 Words, 10 Lines 2
Sponsor: Silent One
1/17/2018
Required Words:
-Anomaly
-Avant-garde
-Baroque
-Bona fide
-Cacophony
-Carte blanche
-Déjà vu
-Dilettante
-Élan
-Ennui
Paraded endlessly, this spectacle the Elephants know to be degrading,
And their counterparts from the sea , the Orcas, resist in captivity
By refusing to unfurl their proud dorsal fin, stings my eyes like a gnat
Lodged in my cortex, no amount of profit seems to dislodge.
Waking from my dream, I notice the old man waving to the crowd,
Gesturing wildly, as if warning of something no-one has yet seen.
Every evolution of Plybinium Quasar, the spectacle increases, with
Dogs leaping and biting at the air, and Neptunes, of disproportionate
Size, unable (or unwilling) to allow the pain to subside.
The viewing platform, constructed entirely of entitlements, teeters
Vicariously in the breeze, with the prominent attendees smiling, despite
Frostbite, inching up their extended promises.
Utilizing “light-track” technology, the time hoppers applaud
At pre-determined intervals, a strenuous exercise for sure,
Given the time restraints imposed by the counters in the Humbolt Quasar.
In this unfamiliar atmosphere, what clean air there is left to breathe
Smells pretty bad, like a cake frosted with sulfur.
01/10/11
9:46 pm
© All Rights Reserved
Once upon a solstice night
thou moon in perfect glory
hung an effervescent light
to tell a lonely story
A silhouette of pure white cotton
danced on the rain laden ground
her rhythm remembered of passion forgotten
as beauty seductively moved without sound
Fullest moon ah cricket symphonies
floating droves of firefly light
they found their muse by her solitary mystery
'twas a grandest moment in life
What good reason would an olive skinned maiden
In bare feet dance under solstice moon?
her feelings were larger than her life's narration
such grand imagination needs room
The only eyes that saw her that night
were the nocturnal creatures that prey
like men riding high upon entitlements right
fierce as time... as it's
slipping
away
She danced a wingless flutter
her hair like petals in the wind
like dreams laced with summer
her eyes were full of fire for the flint
To know the riddle of her soul
one must know the poets tune
examine her language without diminution
to know the ghost in the dance which she holds
Yes, once upon a solstice night
mesmerized by the lure of the moon
she left her tears upon her bed
and choose instead though alone... her dance with fate to resume
Never have put all my faith, in someone I've not met
but when it comes to Presidents, I had to hedge my bet
I listened, just to what was said, from the horses mouth
teleprompter easy read, what's from his heart went south
Everyone just turns away, because of who has spoken
the little "adlibs" at the end, are called a "trademark token"
It took awhile to readjust, not comfortable at first
waiting for the "Hope and Change", instead things just got worse
I don't put words in peoples mouths, news briefly passes by
hesitations, pauses too, just watch and you'll know why
His demeanor says it all, can't look you in the eye
like a child's hand in a cookie jar, caught in another lie
I voted Independent, just like I always do
"08" I said I'll take a chance, and vote for something new
Took a chance and voted once, against what's in my heart
hoping this would be the one, to give us a fresh start
Listened to the arguments, on both the Left and Right
checked my dwindling bank account, it's almost out of sight
Some people think I'm selfish now, look at the flag I've flown
it's odd I've no Entitlements, and pay for my own Phone
How do you let him off the hook, divided we now stand
his bitterness shows near and far, beyond the Rio Grand
If you don't agree with him, they say you're spewing hate
they won't sit down and talk it out, no common sense of late
People think they understand, compassion in their hearts
you have "yours", let them have "theirs", forget that "theirs is ours"
Try to remain civilized, and show them you do care
he seems to think we "owe the world", his way to make it fair
Redistribution of our wealth, the "Robin Hood" effect
give it to the "have-nots, their life is such a wreck
If you never worked for "it", believe me you're not owed
reason for the "Bridge Card"? We won't know we've been snowed
He's not alone you understand, "bad apple in the bunch"
I really think he tops the list, of course that's just a hunch
We can go back a lot of years, "W M D s" and more
his sights are set, it's "Tunnel Vision", to give away the "Store"
Bring them in, from down below, he'll smile and look away
knowing well, that all of them, are surely here to stay
A scary thought (you know it's true) he's letting ISIS in
his hope and change "America", he tries, but will not win.....
Hello!
Hello in there?
Can you feel me yet?...
Welcome to the United States of America!
The U-nited States began as an incubation site
for humane freedom and justice,
although our elders were a bit ahead of
non-violent communication therapy,
mind/body communion therapy,
so we have run into some long-term monoculturing problems
with linking up our justice walk
with our multicultural peace talk.
You have chosen to seed in what was our global hope
for incubating ecological economics.
I so hope you develop neither surprised nor disappointed
in the U.S. rebranding project,
now providing global laundry and enculturation services
for other would-be sub-optimizers
perpetually fascinated,
and distractedly entertained,
with anthro-centric adolescence,
devoid of sufficient ecological heart
to assure healthy root systems
for EarthTribe's potential grandchildren.
This U-benighted States of perpetual anthroprivileged greed
and monolithic egohubris,
now aspires to become Earth's monopolistic
Monocultural Laundry Service,
divesting of polycultural natural enrichment
to thoroughly trash the exciting high risk market
in anthro-centric extract-and-burn entitlements.
If you thought you had landed
within smooth warm womb
of old school not Zero-Sum
Win-Win Golden Rule Skin
in a Permacultural Game Theory
of regenerative life outcomes...
well,
good luck being born a polypathic alien
in this Oppositional Disordered political and racing-apart economic monoculture,
this DisUniting whitewashed policing State
of fear we could never have or become enough,
out to save the globe with arms of might
now that we have proven
how great we are with shooting down each other,
in our homes and on our streets.
Welcome, baby,
it's a not-so-brave old world
in our UBeNighted State.
American politicians are doing
what they always do
Making gunsmoke promises,
buttering up voter you
And the monkey chump voters
fall for it every time ...
banana peel slipping for the lying
When it comes down to choosing
between helping the rich or the poor,
politicians always gon leave open
the tax cut backdoor
Letting the wealthy grin lobbyist in;
and the powerless poor,
their frowning face,
gon always get the slammed shut front door
Politicians telling the desperate poor,
the gov’ment ain’t got the funding no more
Entitlements to ease poverty are all gone,
but subsidies to the rich is permanent strong
They got money for the guns, always
Military defense never loses a dime,
in fact, it always increases every budget time
But the butter money for the poor always melts away,
the gov’ment never got none in reserve for a rainy day
Guns and butter ... which domestic house
gets the revenue bacon,
Pentagon or Harlem?
Disillusioned voters already know the answer,
once their health care and welfare gets cut
They know which pot got the pork butt
Everybody should be more voter aware ...
that you don’t season saltpeter on the meat,
and you don’t cold butter the barrel of a gun
Otherwise the hot bullets burgers won’t taste sweet
when you bite into a sour, empty promise bun
The Peak is Really Lonely
When my mind I unlocked inside to go to places unknown
On the wings of poesy, when my quill hungered for more
And more lyrics churning between pun and spin, more
And more into spheres of membranes hitherto unknown
To my conscious mind I uncovered, and wrote things unknown.
Oh, if imagination charted my ways into future more and more,
Memory of my cells pulled me into the minds more and more
Of my ancient ancestors, down, down into times unknown.
But between future enticements and past entitlements lost
I my fleeting present, and began to live only in my writing;
Where am I?
What am I?
And why does my family feel lonely?
‘What a beautiful mind!’
‘What a beautiful head, he has lost!’
Their laments are so silent, so away, away;
Still biting, still smiting,
My psyche with love;
Slowly, slowly, I feel the truth;
The peak is really lonely.
ADVICE TO A YOUNG SOCIALIST
You’d better be good
You’d better not cry
You don’t get what you should
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus ain’t coming to town
The governments got
No gold Apple tree
It gets all of its pot
From you and from me
Santa Clause ain’t coming to town
Politicians in glee
Like to give things away
But for everything free
Someone else has to pay
Santa Clause ain’t coming to town
I know you feel entitled
To have everything you need
Provided by a welfare state
That the government decreed
But
You’d better not claim
More entitlements due
You’d better see plain
I’m telling you true
Santa Clause ain’t coming to town
So it’s time that you’ve grown
Responsibility
You better postpone
That next spending spree
Santa Clause ain’t coming to town
And it’s time that you knew
Though it may cause you strife
Father Christmas not true
No one owes you a life
Santa Clause ain’t coming to town
You think that it’s unfair that
Someone else has more than you
And a proxy act of plunder
Will purloin what you feel due
But you‘d better not whine
You’d better not pout
That you want to some of mine
In another handout
And there is no big list
Of goodies for you
Better try and exist
On what you yourself do
Sant Claus ain’t coming to town