don’t think i have it in my heart to leave you
i really wish it wasn’t, but it’s true
i don’t know if i wanna be here
before i even say that, let’s just be clear
none of this is because of you
it’s just coincidence, i’m overdue
i didn’t mean to prolong my stay
i just wish you knew im not okay
Venezuela people felt powerless
for over twenty years
no one wanted to step up
until someone did
taking the risk of being jailed or killed
unsure of the outcome
but unwilling to be oppressed one more day
people saw this leader and took to the streets
demanding change, demanding justice
demanding a new outcome, a new Venezuela
one voice became many
Unwilling rose
At the entrance of the supermarket
a lone rose for sale in a vase
Yes, for sale, at a reduced price
she had been there all day long
and no one had been interested in purchase
Twelve hours in a vase takes a toll
as younger roses came,
moisty from the gardener care, they
had the youth she lacked
She had an advantage her petals
was fully on display
a gentleman came and bought her
she was pleased at first
until he demanded a reduction in her value
He got his wish
but she took revenge by wilting in his
buttonhole
I can never fully relish in anything good
I'm too afraid of it being ripped away from me
I'm always on the brink of it all
The almost almost almost.
Not open but not closed.
Not white but not black.
Not mine but.
You're broken and
your mom don't get it and
your dad don't want to and
your family don't see
that you lost your voice
someone took your choice
Your brother calls you a freak
he thinks you're too weak
he thinks there's something
you could have done but
there's only fight, flee or freeze
when the situation comes.
Your friends say you can't
rape the willing
but you weren't willing
and they don't see that
consent isn't given
just because you chat
And the law don't care
because to them you're
just a *****
probably asking for it
so they do little to nothing
and just ignore it
Your all alone now
and you wish the pain away
you just have to try and be brave
but the trauma just seems to stay
Willingly ignorant
Willfully ignorant
Unwillfully inignorant
Unwillfully informed
Not willingly informed
Not willingly inignorant
I grew up too fast
unwilling to toss
purple petals
though naturally
they drop
i don’t want to say goodbye
they’ve held me captivated
for a fortnight
from buds with sanguine leaves
proud with praise
to blossoming royal roses
though watered
autumn comes
like it does
for all terrestrials
winter tucks it into freeze frame
in the inner recesses of the mind
meaningful, yet
it dwarfs alongside the next periphery
i glance outside
to see the golden apogee
of late October
branches and boughs
still holding water
meaningful, yet…
10/25/2022
My response is diverse, because no two reasons are the same.
Some come from a king, and some from a dame.
Some are allergic, asthmatic, or worse.
I do not live in their body, do not carry their purse.
Their reasons live in apartments above their brain shelf.
They are drinking bourbon, and chasing a green house elf.
Their reasons are giggling and laughing with glee.
Chasing science around the corner, farther than I can see.
I hear excuses, and I wonder which ones are legit.
I’d like them all to be vaccinated, but I do not have a fit.
I do not try to convince them, because they know their own heart.
To listen to each other, is truly an incredible start.
Some try to convince me, thinking there is only their way.
When they do this, I recognize there is no reason to stay.
Their reasons hang on to their shoulders and shake a finger at me.
I run away as fast as I can, saying I am called away suddenly.
My response to one person might be an opposite response to another.
The reasons may vary completely from my father and mother.
I listen and learn, and try to be open minded and kind,
because the pandemic might kill them so it may be my last time.
Unwilling Participant
Out of the sky from a far away planet. Coming closer to home, near us. A piece of space dust belonging to an alien. An alien called Kevin with a bad attitude. He never wanted to be an alien nor go into space. Or be called Kevin. But was forced to at laser cannon point. Don't want to go, we'll fry your big alien balls. Climb aboard your space dust and fly away. His trip took many lifetimes. Finally he arrived. Totally pissed off. So the alien visiting earth, named Kevin, is an unwilling participant in furthering earthling and alien relations. Even though he has a bad attitude and hates space.
Picnic by Jimmy Boom Semtex
For want of full virtuous zeal oligarchs thrive
Against deserving clamor for brighter ideals;
And perennially trampled commoners groan
Under weight no inured villain distantly feels.
Bereft of real fighting energy better humans
Give in to the more determined aims to slay
Life's fairer side and reward villainy's titans;
Enabling winds that fuel evil's choking sway.
Vice is a flightless bird cast in wingless youth;
And his bold victims must know this total truth:
Kind men unwilling to act knit wing and plume
That latently promote all enemy gall and fume.
And culpable crime's not by commission alone,
But by hesitations to clip his spiraling webs too;
They're held to have fired with the outlaw’s gun,
Quiet eyes that see the victim thus cruelly gone.
Even much more to blame is the idle watcher,
Than cold-blooded hands that steal or torture.
Her soul feelings for him are all balled up inside
She cannot get out the words
She does not run
Yet she can hide
Here he comes again
The man she thought she had fantasized
Yet here he is in the flesh, the man of her dreams
That man
His soul feelings for her are all twisted in a knot
He dares not speak for he might be rebuffed
He passes her gently
Keeping his feelings inside
They pass each other every day for years
Neither speaking
For they both have such fears
When a "hello" is said at last,
Eyes are rapidly averted away
Neither staying to talk
Neither staying to play
That hello which could have been the start
Was simply another barb
To each of their hearts
One finally could not tolerate it
And moved away
Without explanation
They did not pass the next day.
I am an unwilling participant.
But it is inescapable.
An earthly evil.
Death would be preferable,
but no, it is taxes….
"We the unwilling
Led by the unqualified
To kill the unfortunate
Die for the ungrateful"
A motto of the troops
Who served in Vietnam
And wrote it on the back
Of a chrome Zippo lighter.
© Paul Warren Poetry
WHITHER dost thou farther, my child,
Of mindless ardor conceiv'd, my poor child;
For his moral poverty thou makest allowance,
And his social sanity thou losest thy chance.
A pity, a shame, alas! A careless passion!
Fractured as it seems; seemingly fractured gift,
A tragedy, an unborn name, alas! A careful execution!
Live as thou wish'd, and wish as thou live'd,
That th' morrow brings her morrow's grief.
Th' obvious fault is but a fault in obscurity,
Awaiting her devourer, th' deserv'd peace,
Ev'r restful, as she ought and thought to be.
Wellaway! Thine eyes, nose and limbs assumed,
Whither dost thou farther with an unwilling womb?
UNWILLING SUNDOWN
homeless sun
nuzzles unfriendly seas
dazzles gold
ruffled cloud
bully with thunder bolts
prods sun down
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