Libelous, slanderous speech
singes the fuzz off of the peach
Gossip and tale-bearing crooked ears reach
no thanks to the mouth of the human leech…
Speech is God’s greatest gift to man
employed sparingly it can
Elevate us to the highest heights
sacred spaces of brilliant light
The Keeper of the candle has immortal trust.
Note anyone who has ever held the handle
on secrets - sparks in the mind all set to combust,
the Keeper of the candle.
Without the intention of libelous scandal,
without insinuation from the upper crust,
without indulgences, I removed my sandal.
Standing on holy ground, with a heavenly thrust,
spirit/soul conquered Satan, that covert vandal.
And immortality was proved by One who's just,
the Keeper of the Candle.
July 25, 2021
with a nod to Diane Chamberlain and her books
on the Keeper of the Light.
On the surface
you’re all sweetness and light
But ...
the truth is life isn't a game
and if I were to start digging
digging deeper than a gravediggers soiled shovel
I'd see through your libelous lies
which spread daily
like a cankerous carbuncle
Well honey
I’m shooting from the hip -
why can’t you simply sit on your fingers?
Just cut the crap
I’m through with your festering fallacies
get a life
and leave me to live mine in peace
THE CRAP SHOOT POETRY CONTEST Poetry Contest
Sponsored by John Lawless
4/29/19
Sty all your bodied waters
And libelous pretensions.
Hang leather headed juries
Beside some tethered eddies.
Drown me down
In new baptismal rivers.
Spread eagle me upon
Some granite black outcroppings.
And let my liver ribbon
From beaks of shadowed ravens.
Let my thigh bones
Fossil on the rocks.
Should I be buried under
When cliffs calf shuddered thunders,
No words of prayer be spoken
Just leave and let me be.
Pity the Poor Tobacco Companies
By Elton Camp
Oh, how much to be preferred was the former day
When government didn’t tell business what to say
With the regulations on ads the government’s givin’
It’s hard for honest cigarette sellers to make a livin’
Libelous scientific studies just keep on pouring out
On the safety of smoking to cast most serious doubt
Then the big government stuck its nose into things
And demands on advertising very unfairly brings
“You can’t advertise on TV or to kids anymore
For your unhealthy products we surely do abhor.”
Concern for free speech it showed most total lack
And required warnings be put right onto the pack
The audacity of such action can anyone believe
They have a right the trusting public to deceive
Tobacco smokers have a right to pollute the air
So about the rights of the sellers we should care
It’s not like they are producing illegal meth
To avoid exposure you can hold your breath
The Enchanted Foe
She lurks in the garments of fugitive empathy,
Her abode is the refuge of burdened and bleeding souls
She is the sojourner in the sanctuary of sorrowful hearts
Bewitching the bewildered and the bothered
Captivating the wounded and the confounded,
the baffled and the bereft
She saunters, seeking the soulful and the unsuspecting
She bathes, as the lids of wistful eyes,
welling with tears, lent by the old croc,
silver rain from the cloudy face of the pretentious;
blemished by invisible dirt
She craves the privy to your secrets
She is nourished by your misfortune;
of which she makes music,
grotesque but soothing to idle ears
Those who indulge her,
become music to idle ears
Her instrument is the tongue,
Supine and slyly wagging
Ever a friend in need,
never a friend in deed
Can’t help, but break aching hearts
She is the enchanted foe,
rich in libelous lyrics;
grisly but gripping
If her song delights your ears,
it is given, you are a chorus;
delighting idle ears
As the spirit and the flesh,
juxtaposed and jostling,
against each other,
the essence and the letter of the law,
so tussle.
Alas, when in application,
the letter of the law,
disregards the spirit of the law;
lawfully, the law becomes libelous,
operatively, the law becomes oppressive,
willfully, those who wield the might of the law,
become agents of oppression.
Unintentionally, the intent of the law is interred,
essentially, the essence of the law is tarnished.
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