To campaign
in poetry
but govern
in prose
Words stretch
till breaking
integrity
blown
Promising
everything
sins
unconfessed
Bombast
and pander
the charlatans
— best
(The New Room: July, 2025)
I never said the fish was that big,
just long enough for your surprise.
Yes, the sky did fall down once -
though not in ways you've come upon.
The art of the little white lie
is a Trojan horse disguised
to catch your attention.
To trick you to pose or question
what you'd never otherwise ask.
The lie, error or mistake,
flips the mind to correction,
demanding reparation.
It works a treat for advertisers
lecturers, presenters, debaters and charlatans.
It begs the question, demeans the ask-er,
but masters the magician's
conjuring tricks of deception.
A fool takes the bait,
a wise one casts acting the fool.
Social media is a charade
A manic masquerade
Where charlatans peddle lies
And truth slowly dies
But you were led to the dance
And you thought you had a chance
So you either go ballistic
Or end up a statistic
Volatile times produce hostile rhymes
And television that glorifies crimes
We're taught to live shameless
And despite mistakes we're blameless
To them everything is a game
Laughing as you seek clout and fame
Those lives you see aren't real
But the devil made a deal
Instagram is full of posers
Facebook is full of hosers
Reality is your brochure
To disconnect and find closure
Don't be afraid of friction
As you escape the fiction
Social media is a charade
A manic masquerade
the puddles of a storm
in a wilderness of lies
~ I wonder, did cavemen
ever see themselves as
you or I can...
stumbling upon a still pond,
a prehistoric boudoir where
reflections are someone they've
never met
like puppies perplexed by
their own images?
is the image real, is it
friend/foe/truth/or deception?
a bear in the wilderness
destroys its own reflection
while we're lured by treachery
trusting the image of charlatans
polished by learned ignorance
~ in an epiphany of deceit...
When you have money
the world stops to listen
The content no matter
gratuity bound
The dollars indulgent
as charlatans glisten
Self-interest the mantra
— with greed to compound
(Septa R5 Train: January, 2025)
Reality, wow what a concept
lifes provable facts
those incontrovertible truths
things that stick out and not fall in the cracks
Its subject to interpretation you see
describing the elephant for the blind
this part the leg,
that a tail, this part a trunk!! Divine!
For reality takes an observer
to set itself in the track
if that tree fell in the woods with no one to hear
did it make a sound of a crack?
Without perception, it's all contention
if it ever existed at all
and we are all running around with vivid imaginations on ground
till incontrovertible evidence is found
See it, touch it, document away
till the item in question is in decay
or maybe even obliterated away
the observation itself causing the obliteration to stay
And so that was how faith was born
for people to believe in others known truths
we didn't have to experience it first hand
we just had to trust like a youth
And from that comes charlatans
who mangle that truth for cash
and make the world a caricature
and history rewritten despite past
With no firm understanding of what is
or firm understanding of what was
people lose their compass
and look to god above
chicanery rules
the day… charlatans and quacks…
carry us away...
“Poetry allows the poet to give vent to rage
and despair in words, instead of action.” ~ by poet
Oh, you don’t wanna know
what it would be like
if it wasn't for poetry.
Living this life would be unbearable,
The false preaching of the pompous priests
The false promises of the crooked politicians
The false hopes of the cheating charlatans.
Whenever I am disillusioned
and my heart aches at the wickedness of man,
I sit down to write poetry
to lessen the pain.
Looking at the wretched condition
of the downtrodden and
the hedonistic lifestyle of the affluent,
the pent-up rage in me is ever raring
to burst forth and burn the world down…
if it wasn’t for poetry!
Blue collared dice are tossed into fire lake.
Void of sevens and angels.
Heaven never seemed so far away-
Our collective innocents...
stuck on a glue strip of daddy's latest bad trip.
Hung from a bending nail of a crucifix.
Mommy's best friend is a smart phone.
It was never you.
Faith fled the scene long ago.
Long before the Cherry men screamed...
"Drop the amendment and your freedom to speak."
Never dream too deeply.
Nor venture beyond the froth of the breakers.
The small town doct0r slinks away from the oath..
Slinging baby #33 to the slag heap.
The alleyway glistening with bottlecaps.
Needles of indifference.
The only thing left in the garden are boom slangs and charlatans.
Hissing "it isn't as bad as it seems".
Before I became a worrier, a rebel, a Spartacus:
I remember listening to an orator on a city bus:
he criticized and enraged some arrogant characters;
he shouted harsh words to the deceiving charlatans,
exposing themselves as hallowed saints in a niche,
when they should have been thrown into a ditch!
Before I attempted to please others,
I realized how naive I was to offer praises:
I had one God to serve, not several gods
who took the appearance of pure divinity;
they had a shining halo over their heads...
ensuing much fear, accusing me of inequity!
Before I had a childish and overt personality,
I trusted anyone and laughed with anybody...
until their derision filled me up with anger;
I broke my connection, realizing it wasn't fair!
Before I diverged from the wrong and dangerous path,
I didn't recognize my naiveness, neither I felt bad vibes;
I helplessly fell into a deep ravine full of vicious vipers:
what spared me death was the laughter of Lady Macbeth!
Of all those enemies out to do you in.
Their hearts made of prideful rotting tin.
Evil souls will with pride, grandly triumph
Cry as you will, or in madness, harumph.
False gods on planet earth are nothing new.
Resentment, above all, you must eschew.
People, by insanity are so sucked in.
By inhumanity and its “popularity” din.
Honoring the devious, in shadows dishonorable.
Till one day, the charlatans will be no more!
At no human’s feet, fall prey to insane adoration.
Destructive souls living for their own glorification.
Be grateful to God, glorify not one human.
Be kind, but no person has God’s acumen!
1/8/2023
My knowledge of bankers is limited and esoteric.
They have a virtuosity of keeping a poker face no matter what.
Even during a robbery, they are to act as nonchalant charlatans.
Handing over vast amounts of loot, stereotypically including dye lot.
I did not realize how banks operate when I arrived as a newbie.
My inexperience and ineffectiveness was measureable.
I had not planned to land a bank job at all; I wanted to be a ballerina.
But having never danced or even worn a tutu, what are the odds?
I am on auditory alert this morning at my teller’s cage.
The guy behind the old lady I am serving has a stony glare.
I ask her about her son’s new plane’s rollout, to stretch time.
Justifying nothing, she explains about his psychological problems.
Prevention is better than waiting for a shot in the knee right?
The second the stony-faced soldier comes closer I pepper spray him.
In the eyes; he yelps like a surprised puppy!
The bank manager comes running over. And my job is over.
No worries. I have hated all four hours of this job any way.
Comedic contortionist claims clubfeet;
consider carefully, circus clowns cheat.
Chico chipped Carson City's carved concrete
clumsily chiseling cheap cardboard containers.
Charlatans can calm capitol complainers
confounding Congressional campaigners.
July 6, 2022
Charlatans and chameleons prancing in a country western dancing line
If Charlatans had stayed in place, all would have been quite fine
Charls are used to being devious, so they did underhanded things
Chameleons acted miffed and mad as the Charls began their swings.
Willie Nelson was singing in that crazy, wonderful offbeat way of his.
Charls were spreading rumors that were silly and caused a lot of fizz.
The chameleons were all angry now, and a riot started up in the bar.
No charlatans or chameleons are going to become a Broadway star.
Those who sermonize to demonstrate they hold a loftier moral tone
Are often charlatans; uncovered by a grubby image on smart-phone
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