Using religious piety,
To spread hate in society,
Cancer masquerades, to destroy
Using every malignant ploy,
Spreading spite - feigning honesty,
Thriving well as a fallacy -
A wolf with warm deceptive eyes,
Charms one and all with its disguise.
Its rule is avid bigotry,
Feasting on the minority,
Spreading uncontrolled all-around,
All of compassion’s voice is drowned.
Breaking walls; tearing hearts apart;
Hateful seeds sown in every heart.
Muzzling dissent, playing a perilous game,
Fascism is this cancer’s treacherous name.
Copyright © by Crystal David John
They march like a circus of self appointed kings
Waving their gossip around like puppets on strings
They whisper my name like it’s top secret news
Buddy relax…I’m not Bigfoot in shoes
They huddle in corners with insider facts
Somehow their stories come up missing the facts
They talk like detectives with clues they invented
Solving the case of, “Im jealous but vented!”
They post little comments with bravery borrowed
Courage on loan due back by tomorrow
Roasting me in public with chest puffed bravado
Vanishing in person like where’s Waldo?
They act like professors of all about me
Skipping every class past Assumption 103
They major in drama with minors in snark
Graduating daily with honors in bark
Yellow saw me arrive here,
with trust and an open heart.
It never thought so many would walk away.
Yellow heard the whispers first,
before I even knew their names.
The stories kept changing on their own as they spread, and kept shifting.
Outside the doors, Yellow stood,
voices coming and going.
It waited there for someone
to just stop and look closer.
Yellow sat with me at night,
when sleep would not come near.
It knew some words leave wounds no one can see, but still feel.
Yellow still looks down the road
while people pass by without stopping.
It holds what I went through inside…
some days it gets too heavy to carry.
a little rice
a little water
time to boil
and start
the meal
I doze off
dog at my side
smoke fills
the house
smoke alarm
screams
the dog quivers
time
to open windows
turn on fans
erase signs
of my mistake
on a bright
summer day
sit outside
holding the dog
until the air clears
one blast
of siren
if in town
two
if out of town
I hope
no one notices
the smoke alarm
o how people [in a small town] can talk
Blame me if you really must,
curse my soul into God's dust.
Make a fist held way up high,
make fake tears whilst you cry.
Scream at me while you cuss,
call me out as treasonous.
Make believe it's all true,
pity contemptuously that's so you.
Tell my friends who you believe I am,
but they'll condemn you, amen!
God, he knows you all too well,
he has a good place for you to dwell.
revenge in a pill
gossip needs skill
conversations kill
from a deceitful shill
her hateful thrill
conversations kill
reputations to fill
lies spin in a mill
conversations kill
the following poem was written as part of an online poetry class assignment--to respond to the above image..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whispers curl like smoke,
lips brushing ears with poison~
a truth, bent and blurred.
The tongue's blade leaves no wound,
yet the heart bleeds in silence.
It only takes a little
Of a potent fear
To poison the well
As that fear grows
Into hate
Which infects
Everyone
Who drinks from it.
Sometimes
No matter how parched
It’s best
To just head on
And find something new
Something fresh.
(2/19/26)
defamatory accusations
not one sliver of truth
it took a huge bite out of his reputation
crippling his bid to become district court judge
his disappointment was tumultuous
he never knew the rumors were initiated by his mother
a small-minded, evil wicked woman
Lips'
Chaff and chatter, lying loose
Lips!
Gossip is a timid Wind—
That finds a broken Door—
And enters where the Hearth was warm
To make it cold once more—
It does not need a Sword or Flame—
It travels with a Look—
And leaves behind it only Ash—
Where Innocence once took—
They named the Child a Question Mark—
And wrote it in their Eyes—
As if a Cradle were a Crime—
Or Birth—an Apology—
But Shame is but a borrowed Coat
That never fits the Soul—
The Child wears Light more faithfully
Than all their whispered Coal—
Let Rumor keep its brittle Crown—
And reign in Narrow Air—
Truth walks—unnoticed—through the Room
And makes a Home—of There—
She looks like a sweetheart
but hides an ugly secret.
She chases down back-alley gossip
like an addict craving crack.
Her penchant for twisting truth
rivals her hunger for drama.
She’s hypocrite as they come
much like a venomous snake
who infiltrates without a trace.
She’s stealth with poisoned lips
wagging her wicked forked tongue.
We don’t suspect her strategy
while getting tangled in her web.
We’re blind to the ugliness
concealed behind her smile ~
vulnerable with our misguided trust.
She’s got no moral compass.
Betrayal is but a game.
Lineku: 3 stanzas 5-7-5 with 5 or 7 words in each line
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
They text,messages drown in furrows of soil irrigation,
Tittering rings hollow,filters hide what hearts should know,
I crawl past bogies,faces that mean nothing-
Modern Love is limping
They scroll endlessly,ghosted signals extinguished in flames,
Their faces lit by others' illusions,souls marooned,
Love needs medical aid
Their bosom are lumps of fat instead of human hearts,
Oaths deleted before we can see them,fade and gutter out,
Longing has download error,and desires lags-
Their sangomas miseducate them
#Sangomas---witchdoctors
Spreading ugly lies and gossip
You made a career of ruining lives
Many only happy to conspire
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I hear the way you talk
of your friends without end,
the gossip goes on non-stop,
about them and their men,
so vicious the things you say,
shock to see, candidly,
imagine what you must claim
about me, when you’re free…
Back it up,
take that sh-t elsewhere,
woman, I no longer care.
Pack it up,
The drama I’ll spare,
woman, I no longer care.
Eyes sparkle when thing go wrong,
like a beast set to feast,
all the chaos makes you strong,
that you seek, like a treat.
Relish when your friends get rough,
their beak-ups, you just love,
you can never get enough,
in your gut need this stuff.
Back it up,
take that sh-t elsewhere,
woman, I no longer care.
Pack it up,
the drama I’ll spare,
woman, I no longer care.
I see your words and lies
going around everywhere,
it makes you feel alive,
when all their mistakes you blare.
Makes you think you’re better,
your ego is a damn addict,
go peddle it online,
I have got no time for this.
Back it up,
take that sh-t elsewhere,
woman, I no longer care.
Pack it up,
the drama I’ll spare,
woman, I no longer care.
It will only end in despair.
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