Best Reductions Poems
You have disregarded instructions
Thus claiming improper deductions
Send money by mail
And IF you should fail
Your paycheck will suffer reductions...
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax” - Albert Einstein
Submitted for: John Freeman’s contest
I love to find a bargain
As I search the New Year sales
I really could not live without
That pair of giant bright pink snails
I don’t know where I’ll put them
Everywhere is chock-a-block
But I know that I must have them
They’re reduced by such a lot
And over there
A rainbow chair
I have five more at home
But surely
I need just one more
To make a set
But can I get
The darn thing through my door
So I'd better get my skates on
For soon it will be gone
And then I see
The very thing
I’ve wanted all my life
I make a dash
I throw myself
With one almighty thrust
I am resolved to make it mine
Before her over there
A lady with bright ginger hair
I cannot let her have it
I push
I shove
I’m nearly there
Before her over there
A lady with bright ginger hair
For as I passed
I tripped her up
She fell upon her butt
Now she is down and out
I’ll reach it now
I have no doubt
For after all
its dog eat dog
Or words to that effect
And yet
I will return again
To be beguiled
To be enticed
With money off reductions
It's a bargain at the price
That something I can’t live without
At New Year sales
I’ll find no doubt…
10th January 2020
Contest Strand Choice 4
Sponsor Brian Strand
3rd Place
THE BLUE PLANET
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS
This beautiful blue planet that we call earth
No one really can confirm its origin or birth
Some declare it was shaped by a powerful being
Others state the result of a cosmic unveiling
It just seems to be a tiny body in limitless space
With the right conditions to beget the human race
Orbiting at the right distance from a giant star
Allowing flora and fauna to propel exemplar
Giant creatures once roamed the face of the earth
But a cataclysmic event caused their dearth
Doom for the giants was a boon for the small
Leaving crevices and oceans learning to crawl
And so after millions of years we arrive at now
We’ve nearly conquered the why and almost how
Yet we still have questions that surely remain
Is there a will to cease our destructive reign
The Danube was once blue now a brownish pink
The elusive snow leopard is nearly extinct
Most lakes, rivers and even the smallest rill
Are polluted with toxins and chemical spill
Fish caught in streams and canals are taboo
Not to be eaten too much mercury in them for you
Drinking water once availed from natural sources
Are now mostly dependent on commercial choices
The rainforests of Micronesia and the amazon
Sadly, in a hundred years they will all be gone
These sources of oxygen and absorbers of co 2
So essential in sustaining the me and the you
The trends are apocalyptic needing repress
Difficult decisions and actions may render success
Problems are exacerbated by human concentrations
Rapidly expanding and demanding, teeming populations
As resources erode and demand constantly increases
Harbingers of the agonies awaiting the human species
The answers are clear but politically unheard
Populations need reductions, a thinning of the herd
The hoopla of Christmas has come and gone
The checkbook for that spree is overdrawn
Lord, please have mercy on me
I can already foresee
To pay Uncle Sam my dog I must pawn
Outsourcing IRS I can't condone
They linked me up to Sierra Leone
I just could not comprehend
The guy on the other end
It was a nasty discourse on the phone
This year the IRS has bled me dry
May have to mortgage the house to comply
I've searched for more deductions
But find no more reductions
It hurts to laugh and I'm too old to cry
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Placed No. 6 in Carolyn Devonshire's "Taxing Times" Contest - Feb 2011
Voices of the silent whispers echo deeply disturbing fact
debates hold principle those with brains tear down structures
human rights ignored opening up a can of worms within morals
where truth is hidden away questions agenda
envelope of forgotten yesterdays sealed fate
Honour amongst thieves new world order social control
handshakes grasp secret societies revealing dark shades
cover ups underneath the veil careless actions endanger security
desert storm powered by the central bank hidden secrets leak oil
Where the so called elite are born without sin lawless diamonds
with their silver spoons attached empty vessels without moral right
classifies perfection untouchable agents of death
In the heart of a free man looking at the system
creating slavery cutting wages spying imprisoning freedom of choice
Applying pressure drones killing families
within a cloud of dust or inside evidence to support such horror actions
criminal murderers sitting in their offices should be banged to rights
leaving no place for hope or a just democracy strikes issues flawed
To fatten their purses behind the revolving doors open guess
Suffering begins with espionage
loveless pride exposing sheltered acts
dragging your heals security council protecting the vulnerable's need
instead liberal intelligence with your reductions clearly speak volumes
threatening the poorer field positions you without care
Royalty who profit from others pain hidden agendas lie
conspiracy theories can carry truth to the button
because something is hidden away under dressing why
we ask ourselves those not brainwashed
dirty arms deals laundering ill got money gains
The heads of states
they are clearly breaking the law
justice is so corrupt fact
every Joe soap knows
they only give us the partial truth
optic nerve cell centre brings up a live wire
They do not give a rats ****
who use uranium tipped enriched missals
poisoning the earth's crust stringing us along as peace keepers
arming terrorists is an act of war against peace makers
countless innocent have died at the hands of murderers
I sing songs to memories.
Some tunes triumphant,
like that of the pirate king.
Others be useless to bear.
Poems are effigies,
from reductions and shadows.
But sometimes the hand
is blessed by miracle.
And the verse more
perfect, proper, and true -
than any of you.
Far more true than the sun.
Even more true than death.
That poem moves the world.
One country some often say
Since banned firearms day
Is safer than the USA
There really is no truth in that
Mass shootings there rare before Act
Little or no change after... fact
Though mass murders no reductions
Some five plus killed on six occasions
Difference was no guns as weapons
Along with USA's mass shootings...
Other countries have mass stabbings
frequent car attacks and bombings
All countries have problems this we know
People with agendas gloss over for show
May 7, 2018
Abridged Alaska along the freezing Arctic edge
lives the ivory Polar Bear, a vigorous carnivore.
They enjoy eating the tough walrus, beluga
whales and seals. They can sniff out a seal’s den
up to a mile away. They only hunt and eat prey
every four to five days at a time.
Polar Bears are marine mammals spending time
on the ice, with thicker fur than any other bear.
The have layers of black blubber keeping them warm,
because those frigid temperatures can be rough!
When the snowy days begin to swarm, there’s
nothing colder than that Artic atmosphere.
Their flat feet are like oars for swimming and can
swim up to two hundred miles from land. They
have been known to swim up to six miles per hour
at any given time.
When they’re born they only weigh about one
pound and approximately twelve inches in length.
One of the tiniest mammals on earth, so intriguing
yet hard to comprehend.
Adult Polar Bears can grow almost ten feet from
nose to tail and weigh up to one thousand seven
hundred pounds.
Females can produce up to five litters in a lifetime;
the lowest of any mammal alive.
Mating season is late March through May, but sadly,
not all the cubs born can survive the climate.
These lazy bears rest up to twenty hours a day
for strength, yet do not hibernate like other bear species.
Polar bears are kindhearted yet persevere to survive.
They cool off by rolling around in the snow or
taking a dip in frigid waters. These adoring creatures
have no natural enemies, and have a soft and
delightful temperament.
Except females taking care of their cubs, Polar Bears
are mostly solitary mammals, enjoying daily life
by themselves.
Their lifespan can reach up to twenty-five years,
but they are still on the endangered species list.
How can we save the Polar Bears?
Polar Bears would benefit from reductions of
greenhouse gas emissions. Helping to reduce
climate change would help immensely. There are
only about twenty-five thousand Polar Bears left
in the world today.
May we all take care of the environment to
ensure the quality and quantity of these beautiful
animals.
Polar Bears Contest
December 4, 2017
The hoopla of the Holiday Season has now come and gone.
Cash in the bank to pay for that spree is nigh overdrawn!
Just when I thought I was free of serious financial strain,
A packet arrived from the IRS hintin' that its tax time again!
I'll bet the feller who wrote the instructions is still a-grinnin',
As we common folk try to figger it out with our heads a-spinnin'!
My learned wife is smarter than I but she couldn't help me any.
The consarned thing may as well have been written in Afghanistani!
Although the intricacies of the system I don't quite understand,
With my trusty abacus, records and sharpened pencil in hand,
I attack the puzzlin' task hopin' that I can prevail,
Preparin' it to their satisfaction thereby avoidin' jail!
Double checkin my figgers and searchin' for deductions,
I can find no legal way to come up with further reductions.
I stare in dismay at the 'Taxable Income' on line twenty-seven.
Alas, again this year there'll be no manna from heaven!
Even with astute pencil-whippin', withheld taxes come up short.
I may have to mortgage the house to send funds with my report!
Another tax year has ended and again they have bled me dry!
As Honest Abe once said, "It hurts to much to laugh and I'm too old to cry!"
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) All Rights Reserved
College Tuition Goes Up and Up
By Elton Camp
There is hardly any college that even tries
To find a way it can reasonably economize
With their plans it doesn’t seem it need fit
Because they have found a money-filled pit
If the college’s finances should get a bit rough
Then on students & parents they make it tough
Tuition and fees they will raise again this year
Also the next year, so reductions they never fear
They think there’s no limit to what folks will pay
It doesn’t bother them to treat students that way
So they try to see just how much they can get
No matter about student loans and crushing debt
They hire deans, secretaries and assistants galore
So they just have to charge ever more and more
Greedy professors demand always increasing pay
Lest, like a herd of angry jackasses they will bray
But students may decide it isn’t worth the cost
And then to the colleges, everything will be lost
We will then see a bunch of unemployed slobs
For without enough students they will have no jobs
Don't want to be reductionist
obeying only secularized rules
Would prefer to grow more
sacred inductionist
rediscovering golden win/win tools
For imagining
and re-membering
why win/win ancient relationships,
like space and time,
humane and divine
here and there
circle and square
pole and hole
purpose and goal
Feel more sacred
than win/lose dueling competitions
seem routinely dissonant
Despite StraightWhite Paternalistically Capitalist
secular indoctrination
disrespecting ecofeminist experiences
of resonantly resilient
compassionate relationship
elationships
Guiding sacred inductive curiosity
to restore eternal health and safety
sacred communions
within each reiterative communication
string through holonic communities
of resonantly cooperative freedoms
uniting wealth resilient experience
Lavishly conserving
future regenerators' trauma-healing
romantic re-memories
sacredly dramatic
peak and peaceful co-elationships
Replacing immigration threats
by Other cold colonizers
Restoring shared emigrant memories
warmer strengths
with cooperative
co-invested
mutually infested
creolizers.
What does it mean to you
to be loved
right here
where you live and breathe,
eat and occasionally shower?
What value would you give
our investments of mutual regard?
Do you know
you can love
and be loved
for and as who you are right now?
And for that sainted sinner
you inevitably will become,
and for all those you have been
since first I laid eyes on you,
and smelled you,
and listened for your still small
and large voices.
Love cannot be reduced
and confined
to just one tense,
or even two
with those we are committed to
and for;
And best spreads across
all four seasons
of sacred change.
Love is limited
only by mistrusting imagination,
WinLose dissonant assumption,
reductions of sacred organic integrity
to secular strategic mendacity,
deducted images distancing us
confining what I know and feel
for you and us up to now,
Not disregarding
or over-valuing
past and potential future
wealth for what feels safe for us today
to believe and hope,
our reviving health
tomorrow.
When winters hand out plastic bottled lemon juice
and grieving onions
too long endured,
I would like to trade some for limes
and grateful southern summer garlic
if you have those
to share.
Together
we might make lemon-lime local aid
and add community's basic bullion
for regenerate harvest
building stone multiculturing soup,
green vegetarian
and redmeat simmering stews.
When life hands us lemons
and FixIt unpeeling onions
Earth invites rebirthing us
to re-imagine all four seasons
and three tenses together
our re-creolizing cacophany
with restoring beverage
of healthy re-changing choice
for loving peace as resilient ecojustice.
Love of who and what,
when and where,
and why until just us again,
revisiting community polycultural outdoor worship
during summer health climax
And on through fall harvest,
and yet another inevitable winterish lemon
of creolizing discontent,
stuck inside
liturgical long-range extended family garden planning
plotting sun and water worshiping community love redevelopment,
global song and dance sacred restoration,
healthy-wealth of peace
As integrity of love
for WinWin organic choices
changing four-seasons from above
as below,
without
as within.
The hoopla of the Holiday Season has now come and gone.
Cash in the bank to pay for that spree is nigh overdrawn!
Just when I thought I was free from financial strain,
A packet arrived from the IRS hinting that it's tax time again!
I'll bet the feller who wrote the instructions is still grinning,
As we common folk try to figure it out with our brains a-spinning!
My learned wife is smarter than I but she couldn't help me any.
The consarned thing may as well have been written in Afghanistani!
Although the intracacies of the system I don't quite understand,
With my trusty calculator, records and sharpened pencil in hand,
I attack the puzzling task hoping that I can prevail,
Preparing it to their satisfaction, thereby avoiding jail!
Double checking my figures and searching for deductions,
I can find no legal way to come up with any further reductions.
I stare in dismay at the 'taxable income' on line twenty-seven!
Alas, again this year there'll be no manna from heaven!
With astute pencil-whipping, withheld taxes still come up short.
I may have to mortgage the house to send funds with my report!
Another tax year has ended and again they've bled my dry.
As Abe Lincoln said, "It hurts too much to laugh and I'm too old to cry!"
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Noiseless reductions
Are pounding on from within.
Will this never cease?
It is good to know what we resist,
but my best way of knowing
is by self and other showing
what we together
would more health wealthily
assist.
You might assume
the only way to effectively resist patriarchalism
is to fight.
Turns out,
fighting may be the surest way
to already have lost the battle,
and to continue losing
an ecofeminist war.
You might think the only possible way to win
is if all other players lose,
but what, then,
have we the OnePercent gained
toward healthy resilience
and safe peace on Earth?
You might assume the only way to gain power
is to compete
with surpassing strength
for economic and political victory.
I might guess another way to empower
is to cooperate
for healthier
sustainable flow-with
empowering enlightenment
more resonant in compassionate relationships
than suspiciously lacking robust
interdependent
communication networks.
As for patriarchalism,
probably far more erectile dysfunction
is the result of intentional economic neglect
than vindictive political abuse
and threats of war-mongering.
Experiential peace and beauty
and truth and trust messages
trying to break through LeftHemispheres
fascinated,
sometimes mystified,
by enigmatic
elliptical
sacred words,
scriptures,
messages
deep pre-historic passion feelings
Preferring win/win climate health Paradise
over win/lose ego/ecologically pathological risks,
chronically dissonant cognitive minds
at war with affective body issue
nerve tissues
bipolar stressed
As processed by Either/Or LeftHemisphere
dominantly StraightWhite monocultural
patriarchal not-listening
jumping to deduction
reductions
not able to hear inductive WholeEarth
interdependent EarthMother ReCreation,
over the sound and constant lights
of fossil-fueled degenerating
militantly industrialized
colonizing
bad karma energy
Instead,
our co-investments
in cooperative wealth systems
restore multicultural EarthJustice
AND
restory Earth's green peace
ecofeminist narrative
In which
we too often assume
the only way to effectively resist patriarchalism
is to fight.