Long Legalese Poems

Layli Long Soldier speaks ...
Legalese: with lots of "Whereas"

Her Lakota people make other news in praying -
She really believes in prayer as resistance

Yes, "Indians" are so very different
But I have not read, ever, they fought...

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LIFE IN A SUITCASE

Crawling in the loft today, I found the suitcase.
Through a cobweb curtain, beneath a patina of dust
It lay.
Just where it’s lain for twenty years, full of memories of early days.
The suitcase.
The rusting...

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Can ‘Religious’ folk claim a connection with God
who refuse to condemn the cops’ stopping of those
(who refuse to obey), who retreat from police
at a walk (not a run), and get shot in the back
for this...

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A yellow notice on the gate with bold letterhead states
Noxious Weed Commission and then, in smaller red print, declares: 
Demand Notice to Remove Thistle.

This notice is a sudden smack behind the noggin. 
Bringing attention to a purple, spiky blossom 
on top of an orb wound tightly around a ball of seeds, 
swaying in the breeze and heeding this question:
What did you do?

To make the County use its bureaucratic might 
and declare thistle plants a blight, a public nuisance 
worthy of persecution.  And any resistance will cause 
an appearance before a judge who'll levy 
fines and imprisonment.
What did you do?

Shock begins to wane and reason filters into the brain;
this thistle, that goats devour like its a treat,
it explodes into a cotton suite that birds 
use to build a soft nest and squirrels 
a cozy den for all their kin.

Is...

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I, henceforth, known as the respirer, do
solemnly swear hereafter, to take you in,
in sufficient quantities to ensure 
continuation of the flesh's animation.

I additionally, do accede my heretofore,
essential need of your estimable service, 
and express my...

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OLD AND NEW 2 : BOARDROOM 


Jackal preyed on dimpled dolls
smiling gold on slender wrist
nosing down a slippery path
scowling schoolboy promoted
beyond his mediocre castle


Mammals sat on polished teak
coiffed moustaches, tonged peaks
feeding unclipped grapevines 
old words...

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The wish of growing boy it seems
Can never come true fast enough,
But then it does and yet somehow
You find yourself still wondering,
Amazed to find you hold the wheel.
But thoughts are gone you lack right stuff,
Past...

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I'm sick of mean minded people 
who prey on the weak and the old. 
Who use every rip-off trick in the book 
trying to turn crap into gold. 
They target the vulnerable in society, 
with...

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We all willingly give them the power 
every time we turn-on our TVs 
and absorb all their well-scripted comments 
entertained by disguised legalese 

Then we buy and we use all their products
fill their coffers with...

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Rules and regulations bring economic strangulation
   Policies and procedures serve the whims of weak leaders

Statutes and ordinances pave the road to subordinance  
   Hypotheses and theories render creativity weary

Laws and...

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There once was a clumsy attorney
Who wanted to go on a journey
     But lacking some grace
     He fell on his face
And soon was stretched out on a...

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