"THREAT TO DEMOCRACY"
Democracy has a different meaning
It depends on where you are leaning
There's always a cost for freedom
Your price is based on what you want to pay
People generally take life for granted
Never realizing that it's democracy
People should be gracious and show gratitude
The guidance and direction is the latitude
Your political stripes doesn't matter
Or will you simply say, pitter patter
If we lose our right to democracy
We will be at the mercy of a Dictator
Banning books and protecting crooks
Believe it or not, heading towards a government, one size fits all
Minority rules the majority, how does that make sense
People undecided on how to vote, stradling the fence
Making America great again, what a joke
Understand what's at stake and let them know that you spoke
Voice your concerns, using the ballot box to leave your vote
Things you take for granted, will no longer exist in this episode
The threat to democracy
Is accepting an autocracy
Idiocy, hipocrisy, conspiracy, illiteracy
The threat to democracy
Written by Floyd Neal
May 16, 2024
Inspiration for poem
A divided country
clutch them …
nourish them …
draw all to your being with
a lover’s hunger
the cosmos bears suns, innumerable
each a rarity of scintillation
unlike any other -
a macrocosm of nascency and
divine chaos
in a measure to rival every
pinch of dust that ever whirled
upon a whisper…
like the ache of fidelity,
each has its own bountiful awe
and who can know what
wonders lay in wait beyond the gleam?
they are not stars
they do not churn with fusion
nor do they bedazzle the heavens,
but they are just as precious -
despite the size or weave or breadth …
so treat them with
deference, regard and quiet consideration
for the big things are the little things
and the biggest of
all the small …
are moments.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, February 2, 2024
the only place one size fits all ~ is the main aisle of the shopping mall
well proportioned heavy or small ~ no pain in the neck if nine feet tall
Choosing Levi jeans
Can be a big decision
They are all different shapes
And sizes
That sometimes needs revision
Levi is a well-known brand of
This commodity
It is not one size fits all
That's not how they're supposed to be
Jeans are trendy and easy to wear
If you are particular
And buy an appropriate pair
You will want to wear them
Until they are threadbare
Quite different from genes
That we inherit from past
Some are so abhorrent
That makes others gasp
Professor Sumner Miller
Said, "Why is it so?"
Perhaps, Professor Julius
We will never know.
Tommy fell off his bike and broke his bum
When he set off to find a new one
Big, tall, or one size fits all
A man he met at the mall,
offered a new bum but for a large sum
Tommy looked here, there, and everywhere
Even the stores where they sold underwear
To venders who had his back
But his bum still had a huge crack!
Something was still wrong, how very unfair
His bum was so noisy it brought him shame
It made weird noises and he got the blame
Tooting, hooting, and squeaking
when anyone started speaking
His bum sounded like a video game
When he discovered he had the loudest,
his talent made Tommy the proudest,
A butt trumpeting bold,
better than a pot gold
His sound-system backside, the best!
Sonic blasts when Tommy bent over
He picked a perfect four-leaf clover
A gas that blew him away
well into St. Paddy’s Day
A blast heard from Dublin to Dover
I ponder the phrase, ponder the 'natural'.
There are an infinite number of ways to die
either tragically or macabrely comic,
countless ways to cash-in or cash-out.
Obituaries record ‘sad endings’ from natural causes,
peaceful age related slow-go.
Lingering, suffering, grinning in a dark room
just waiting...not so natural.
The deceased have no say of course
some step on garden rakes and die from a hole in the head,
some deliberately put a hole in their heads.
Death is a one size fits all phenom.
Natural? Maybe if natural is a clown car full of bull crap.
What's unnatural, what is a great blessing
is when the once living plant God in your heart
then depart on a cosmic greyhound
leaving you to ponder the unnatural aspects
of the ever-loving natural.
Faster than a precipitous squall, ivy spreads and climbs the wall. It's quarried a landlocked structure in Nepal. Through the cracks wails an ominous battlefield call. The preamble of turnacets tied tight by medics to stall as profanities ptyalise saturating gauze deep red with gall. Hanging the jaws in fascinated appall , rubberneckers congest the receiving friends' line snaking down the hall. Perturbation too thick to order from short to tall, the shoulders stacked by chaos wearing a one size fits all shawl. So barbwire a must install to tear then rake camouflaged skin off words that underneath crawl. To limit the insidious minifies the onslaught threatening to befall. Protecting the house sometimes requires merciless law taking only two at high noon to draw.
divide and conquer
one size fits all agenda
money to be made
***
The beauty of diversity..
All shall join hands..
Come together as humanity..
One size fits all..
It matters not what size one wears..
Differences in race and culture..
Is the epitome of universal love..
There exists no hierarchy..
As the beauty of diversity is unique..
The uniqueness is what sheds light on unity..
There is no better ..
There is no best..
All is equal..
All is one ..
All is the breath of life..
As each and every single life is precious..
As the melting pot is filled with blessings..
We are all sacred..
It matters not ..
Where one is born..
We are all born with the loving light of the Creator..
May all of our love and light ..
Bring forth peace and harmony..
All shall join hands..
Unity..
As we continue to come together as humanity..
Haiku is a form of concrete art
Comes in five by seven by five
One size fits all when measured
In a pink box next to the mushrooms
A poem can live long in the dark
Going off the cliff at ninety mph
In a yellow bus full of carrots
Strange becomes a way of life
Haiku is thinner than string theory
Lives in two thousand year old huts
In history, in a kimono, in flux
Calm waters drink deep thoughts
Wish they could dream of it
Bamboo holds river banks intact
Purple fish circle down through ripples
With nature they become one
Bumps in the water remember
Bamboo trees listen for the lotus call
Lost And Found - Haiku
twig snaps, lost leaf falls
captured, silent streams carry
river paths relax
I’m not interested in ‘pretty',
The television fantasy of reality,
Boxed up and bow-tied.
That pre-packaged, overpriced
Slice of life
Bought and sold by the pound
Of flesh,
That one-size-fits-all
(Except you)
Kind of beauty.
Give me flaws and faults,
Hills and valleys,
A crooked smile
And miles of interesting skin.
I don’t need made-up and maxed-out,
Sucked in or thinned down.
I want to see what’s real,
In all of its abstract
And unconventional glory:
Asymmetrical faces,
Lived-in bodies with scars
And traces of the story
Of someone who is just not quite right
For a modeling career.
I want to see the face behind the mask,
Natural-born,
Unadorned,
Non conformed.
Perfection is a myth,
Beauty is chaos.
t’s no easier when you’re older,
and no simpler when you’re young.
Neither one is particularly comforting
over the other – the questions
are the same size.
Empty spaces have no shelf life,
no sell-by date or deadline, just this
one-size-fits-all sensibility…
There’s no ‘right age’,
no countdown to expiration.
Time spent is precious.
‘Fully lived’ is an illusion.
Option D – none of the above;
either way it still hurts.
Don’t you dare tell me
it’s part of the plan
I’m failing to see.
Wish someone would
shut my eyes.
Drop cloth dreams
It has been found that given enough time
failure will find this destined loser
lurking in gallery tints
and watercolor fault lines
semi gloss replaced by flat
Painting abstract nothings
on a canvas made of words
Broken brushes stain the existing
balance with a voice that collects the remnants
speaking tarnished silver when silence should be golden
Pop art wastelands of dotted balloons
float above the ground where his face falls,
shamed and hidden, in plain sight
with eyes holding quarters of bygone years
melting clocks keep time with his idiocy
Impressionists laugh at his existence
in muted tone chuckles and turpentine snickers
Stretched on easels of dislodged glances
with splattered smocks tied in double knots
one size fits all
This palette of mixed memories
resting on mainstream notions, waits
for the end is sure to come
finding him alone with an empty imagination
and nothing but drop cloth dreams
6/1/17
For the JUNE PREMIERE CONTEST Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
Sometimes, things wear out.
Creating holes and gaps often complicating the simplest of things.
Sometimes love is a lot like socks.
Some are long, some are short.
Hell some even come up to the height of knees.
Some are bland. Some are colorful.
Baring the fruit of comforting something bare enough to be considered as precious.
Devilish things, socks.
Sometimes they create more problems than they are worth.
Coming apart at the seams,
Getting caught between your toes.
Constantly having to stop and readjust your shoe when no one is looking.
Or flat out just take your shoe off and fix it.
I thought I brought the right size.
Carefully reading the label,
Sometimes that one size fits all is just a lie.
In time all things wear.
Just don't be foolish enough to not enjoy the comfort of the simple things.
This at all isn't comparing you to a pair of socks, no not at all.
If ever I was to become overweight.
You'd be the pair of suspenders that hold my pants up when my belt can't fit anymore
I took a deep breath
And reached into the bag of my heart.
Before I exhaled.
I took a step in thought.
This gift I have for you, it's not like I have a receipt for it.
Hoping that you'll like the one size fits all kind of moment.
A gift straight from the heart in the promise of watching your face melt in anticipation.
A moment carefully thought out.
A moment I watched everything I thought would never find me.
Stare back at me and breathe life back into me.
Before I exhaled.
I retraced the step I took in mind and decided to give you the whole bag
Hoping you'd understand how much thought I put into giving you my heart
Without hesitation or pause, mindful that no matter what happens.
My heart will always be safe in your grasp
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