Oh, let us write of finer things
of stupid songs our leaders sing
perchance a word of climate’s rage
of private planes for traveling sage
or better yet the planets health
while stripping it of all its wealth
but nay, t’would seem a bit uncouth
we’re they to tell the friggin’ truth
for both the sun and moon abide
in lover’s quarrel o’er the tide
the bees are humming in their hives
while we plug in the cars we drive
If God had said “all men are equal”
I doubt that He’d enjoy this sequel
As both teams claim unyielding faith
they turn their backs on the homeless wraith
Unless, of course, there’s an I-phone near
And an edited clip that they can share
Why not stay home, stifle that shout
And in November…VOTE THEM OUT
Imagine if there was a brain station for souls
Plug in a rhyme magic would pop out no controls
With patience sooner or later
Writing thousand word essays
And the literary world would begin to explode
To see America in this place makes me weep,
when the only hope we have to spread our message.
Maybe to take up our arms and march through the street,
in an attempt to save ourselves from the wreckage.
They regulate all our thoughts and actions freely,
as they sell us diet colas and empty hope.
They can sell us our leaders just as easily,
when we traded our religion for their plug-in trope.
Who are those faceless men hiding in the shadow,
pushing the buttons to destroy all resistance?
Bring them forward to face us in the light and show,
why a corrupt Government deserves existence.
Step forward all true American loyalists,
take back the land of the free, the home of the brave.
Perhaps this might be the only chance we will get,
will it be liberty or a walk to the grave?
Repeated reincarnations reveal,
that on ensouling a new body-mind,
the truth of agape love, we cease to feel
and as we flounder about on earth blind,
we are caught in ego’s relentless bind.
Recognising this fact, how should we act,
since we are no longer by wisdom backed?
The optimal path is thought cessation,
requiring simply we cease to react,
nonchalant to outcomes and sensation.
All answers are within, so let’s begin
by becoming a witness to ourself,
in the flow of life, choosing to plug-in
but having no agenda in our shelf,
watching how fate pans out all by itself.
We’re not suggesting a phlegmatic stance
nor ceasing striving, leaving all to chance,
yet being still, in timeless time we learn
of how nodes within us joyfully prance,
as in fire of bliss, we willingly burn.
I'll take care of it, you just do what you do
I'll make sure everything's ready and working for you
You just prepare to sing and to play
And I'll get it all set so that you may
Simply show up, plug in, and then go
And mesmerize me, you do that you know?
My gifts are the songs you deliver with style
I just listen to you, eyes closed all the while
Experiencing joy, the kind only you bring
That quickens my pulserate whenever you sing
Ancient scribes scratch their quills
to a perfectly illiterate God;
so the words sometimes get ugly.
I plug-in my neuronal soul
try to say something not yet uttered,
not a scrambled re-hash,
from a dyslexic troubadour
or blind hurdy-gurdy man.
Let those ten hundred monkeys loose,
for in time they may find a meaning;
the trunks of wise elephants just may paint
the perfectly mathematical
score of a Bach fugue..
A virgin/whore dwells in the keyboard
her creamy petticoat is spotted
with blood and jism,
yet sometimes she will write sublime poetry
a thing both ugly and beautiful
for a wordless God.
Neurotechnology,
a gift or a bane
With thoughts simply neurons,
case structure our brains
Is humanity destined
to merely plug in
Will all beauty and truth
be a programmer’s whim
And what of our history
that starts to rewrite
Will all paradox suffer,
conversation contrite
From Plato to Sartre,
one thing is the same
The essence of man
—will a mystery remain
(St. David’s Pennsylvania: March, 2021)
Nobody plays a good game of checkers anymore,
Squared off like fierce, ruthless fiends
Hunched over, hypnotized by crowned kings
And heavy losses spent of jubilee
You can't plug in a checkerboard
Or marvel at the clink, clink, clink
Of counting blips against green bumpers,
Though a black can disappear like magic
Beneath a sweeping scarred and reddened hand.
Nobody plays a good game of checkers anymore.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Submitted to "Gems That Slipped Through the Cracks"
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
There's a spider on my ceiling
He's been sitting there all night
From the moment that I spotted him
He gave me quite a fright.
Even at the long off distance
He appears to be quite big
I've never really liked them
ever since I was a kid.
When I have to walk beneath him
I run quickly along the wall
I dare not walk beneath him
knowing my luck he would fall.
I yell up to my partner
"Get down here its bloody back!"
It cant be the same spider?
Because I sucked him up the Vac.
I rush into the kitchen
If the kids see him they'll freak
I drag out our old cleaner
And attachments with long reach
I drag them in the living room
plug in and then switch on.
Then I look up at the ceiling
And the bloody thing has gone!
written and composed by Mark Longson (c) 2018
If
Promising
Damning
Cleansing
Demeaning
100 possibilities
Some have past
Some remain
If
Some waste away over it
Some constantly pursue it
It's just a game of chance
Life is the lottery
And if is the raffle
If you're ready to play the game
Plug in, baby, it's a wild ride
If
If only I were better
If only I had done this
If only I had done that
If only it were 10 years ago
If only it were a nice day
If only they were still alive
If, if, if, if, if
If
It has no power
Unless you give it
Think not in if
Think in what is
Think in what will be
And you will be free
If only you let go
Trump's Solution:
Ignore pollution
Natural dilution
Our marine life has become plastic
The Japanese claim that is drastic
But Donald Trump said,
"That's over my head;
You know they're just being sarcastic!"
A fisherman on Lake Placid
Screamed that the water was acid
Then he fell in the drink
Like a plug in the sink
When he saw his worm go flaccid.
I'm pulling on a Mexican straw
Work is done, so I got outta Dodge
Now I'm happy to just lie here all day
Pulling on a Mexican straw
Life here is so slow
Don't know if I'll ever go
I am finally away from it all
Pulling on a Mexican straw
My glass sweats in the heat
It's a race to finish the drink
Lot's of time to lie here I think
Pulling on Mexican straws
The sun is baking bread
Lost all urge to get ahead
Doing nothing is such a ball
Pulling on a Mexican straw
Plugged in my '59 Plain Top
Playing like I'll never stop
No phone for making calls
I just keep pulling on Mexican straws
I'm pulling on a Mexican straw
There's no time to plug in the clock
I'm gonna stay here playing my Paul
And pull on a Mexican straw
Plug in, talk loud, have an espresso
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Our books thank you for your consideration
the spiritual dots connect, but an atheist would
Commit me for the conclusions I draw...
And why not?!
I'm losing my mind.
All of the incongruence makes sense...
All of the sense makes sense...
All of the coincidences flip my switch up, turning on
A chaos of mental illness and a cooperation
Of spiritual understandings inside the same second...
And counting...
To handle the plug in the socket,
There has to be a control of flow...
But there's an influx of energy out of wack
And it's testing the breaker
And I'm afraid it's gonna break me
All I can do is recommit and beg God for mercy.
...resist the desire to give synchronicity
Too much meaning,
But to ensure that I recognize the truth in spirit,
And place my hope in the honesty and sincerity of love
To redeem me from the train wreck tug of war
I have always had with the straight jacket
And the bottomless pit at my core.
I'm sorry,
it's not easy being my girl,
when I'm the kind of guy who gets lost,
in my own mind,
but you stay by me,
even though you say you have trouble,
finding me,
there has to be away,
or maybe a key,
for you to hold,
to plug-in,
and unlock me,
forget it,
I'll open the door myself,
I invite you in,
even though I'm afraid,
don't be afraid,
even if there is no light,
there's the sun,
and holding hands,
we will make way,
through the clutter in my home,
to the other side,
where we will find the light,
then we will see,
I'll see you and you'll see me.
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