Scorched
moss
remnant
speck of dust,
dainty dot matchbox
plume ex tiny chaser light chain,
dried out moist field, drought a wretched blight, habitat woe,
as wide sweep venal mindsets purge swathe after swathe of candle fly inbred impish glint,
they feeble bugs, leaf strewn dwellers whose twinkle once power charmed tree tops, lush pastures, putrid logs, harmless to the touch, dodging worldly brass nerve,
warm-hearted watchers for the environment who pose not the remotest threat of even miniscule proportions, now diminishing landscape feature, they atrophy, sag, shrivel, wither, languish, a pointless premature death
________________
Wars and conflicts are raging all around the world. We all talk about loss of commerce and trade, of shortages and inflation, and occasionally loss of human life. But who talks of the sufferings of innocent animals clubbed under collateral damage?
_________________________
Pray tell me where hast my home gone,
Asks a kitten left all alone
In a subdued terrified moan.
Syria to sequestered Sudan,
From Ukraine to war-torn Iran,
Animals endure wars inhumane.
Men’s weapons of war smothered have
Their habitats, lives gone to grave,
Innocent creatures to deprave--
All whilst we discuss price of oil
And from human-life loss recoil,
Few think of these beasts so loyal.
Violence’ far from deemed banal
Whilst joy of profit’s gone carnal
And lifestyle all around venal.
The greatness of a nation, said
Gandhi, depends heart over head
On how animals are treated.
Poor pets were killed in World War Two
Lots of beasts in World War One too,
In current wars? We’ve not a clue.
____________________________
Happenings | 03.04.2026 | humans, animals, violence, war, Tercet
From Washington D.C. is launched an attack
against a venal South America communist
While in Seattle, WA a North American communist
is sworn into office as the city’s mayor
I hear that Seattle residents voted in a middle-aged woman
whose parent still help her with her rent payments
And in NYC, a man with no record of achievement whatsoever
Zero Zohran – now Mayor of America’s largest city
What a hoot! But America can’t have it both ways.
If we are going communist, we’ll have to free Madura
FAT CHANCE OF THAT!
People of demise, with an undeserved fate, like a defeated dream,
With dead dinosaurs, my eternity embroidered by extended time.
May new beings be born from the manure of life, all at once,
Identifiable in the ecology of the world, sometimes alive-alive.
The emotion of the sun, an immense mirror in which we lose ourselves,
I, the animalistic poet, reflecting God in verses that burn.
Blinding us in all things, our gazes are strange shards,
My words deceitful, vinous, full of bubble-poems, oceans.
Feeding hungry thoughts, wrapped in vain hopes,
For I have died formally, before my time, in empty days.
To the venal criminals, secretly scolding life's partners,
Covering the sunken graves under the impenetrable rain.
Under the rain's immensity, measurable, we catch ourselves in a dance,
The supposed heroes, pure sources of lightning, with pale color,
Bringing from the horizon the languid light, the extinguished dusk,
The humanity in me and in him, balancing the dawns in dreams.
Beloved, the night tilts the balance of dawns that intoxicate us,
In the paradox of life, where light and darkness get drunk.
Hyperbole hubris
Venal penal
Avarice abyss
Bucolic tonic?
Ironic…sardonic
Or
Vitriolic bliss mate!
Mendacious salacious
Algorithm schism
Audacious outrageous
Vicarious or nefarious
Whatever geography
Clever hagiography
Moderate.. no berate
Generate..venerate hate
Casting various sordid spells
Schadenfreude morbid void
Everlasting..well..it sells well (swell)
But
Despotism urges Nepotism
Surges of Plutocracy
Merges with scourges of Kleptocracy
Purges meritocracy...dirges of Democracy
So
Resist narcissists trysts
Reminisces.. enlighten..persists
Sagacious benevolent gracious times
Redolent without malicious vicious
Murky mucky malevolent mists
IV.
It used to be expected that
you not care about race,
just treat all people like people,
things were better that way.
But that posed a problem for some,
most of them on the left,
without these victim narratives
people would not elect
them into positions of power,
and that they could not stand,
to lose power when addicted
destroys a venal man.
So they go to all their cronies,
media, academics,
have them gin up some sophistry,
cover for their bullsh-t,
start screaming your identity
is all tied to your skin,
call it ‘critical race theory,’
while I just call it sin.
Teach kids that this is what makes them,
get them to parrot the rage,
what we should expect from a party
that fought a war to keep slaves?
That’s how much they want their office,
built segregation anew,
see the evil and don’t forget
What was taken from you.
Thoughts regurgitated though repugnant,
coil of self loathing tightens its noose,
venal thoughts a fragmented whisper,
to sabotage, undermine, disrupt,
one’s frail ego under siege,
wounded whisper n as barbed wire plume,
internal bleeding one must staunch,
if only gumption triumphed,
vacuous a notion one brazenly floats,
inane virus of the mordant gibe,
its origin welded to an anonymity,
so vast in its remit,
defying bold attempt at confrontation,
acid laden cut deep within,
over trivial and flimsy oversight,
imagined stain, partial blind slip,
transgression not worthy of indictment,
court proceeding deep welt juror,
nodding in consensual conspiracy,
wounded mutter, wounded sibilant sigh,
homespun crime against oneself
I slide and heave with gaunt brittle bones,
along this pitch fume-filled black tunnel ,
twisting, rolling, writhing in a sea of tar,
vapours hot and sticky taunt my nose,
as thoughts of orange-red sunsets,
coral pink lagoons, dream scene blue,
moon shadow are my visual anchor,
catalyst to daylight freedom quest.
here I am scrawny skeletal innocent,
squeezed like toothpaste from a tube,
into a world of pulsing urban metros,
Big Brother cameras snoop on sight,
prying eye, CCTV cadre choker.
wolves in human form fly a kite.
venal dormant czars censor skylines,
concrete jungle watchtowers scar heavens.
has this earnest gumption-driven fugitive,
swopped one form of jailer for another
Posted : 6th March 2022
alliterisen
Righteous refuge, our Father's planned pledge,
"Hope has endless safe sanctuary in Me."
Heaven's hope, eternal Eden.
Perdition's plot is the devil's delight;
Satan sets no strict standards.
Many mad, pompous pooh-bahs may find
vanity vaunts a venal vista.
November 5, 2021
contest: Alliterisen - 7 Lines Poetry Contest
sponsor: Joseph May
S A N C T U A R Y
S Sadly for all pompous pooh-bahs S
A arrogance vaunts a venal vista, A
N no hope for an infinite heaven. N
C Can contempt claim one’s logic? C
T Tyrants are blind to afterthought T
U Undoubtedly, Satan is their guru; U
A alas, ageless abyss, his “utopia." A
R Refuge is promised from our Father, R
Y "You have in God, a safe sanctuary." Y
S A N C T U A R Y
November 5, 2021
Restless ghostly night,
whilst full moon hangs bright
drench in yellow with fright.
The hour of All Hallow's Eve
has chimed like a venal thieve;
all in wild frenzy they leave.
A shrill whistle in the distance
behest by spirits persistence
and wicked witches on broom assistance.
Those brave to be out in the dark,
stumble in their steps they mark,
as lanterns in trembling fingers spark.
Twilight soul into burnt cinder
shadows and ghost linger,
as cowering frightened dogs whimper.
Luminously yellow eyes blaze,
of the alluring vampire's gaze,
in the dark a hypnotic maze.
Goblins, gnomes, and black fairies
dance around blood-red berries;
a chilling ritual mummeries.
Standing in the moonlight there,
a few feet from toadstools; a pixie pair,
merry tricksters everywhere.
Waxen daylight creeps across the sky,
arise a yawn from sneaking dawn nigh.
Gone, in a wink All Hallow's Eve cunning and sly
10/25/2021
Children Story
A rejoicing heart is full of gladness
Singing mirthful songs of joy and peace
Casting away the doldrums of sadness
Granting the soul a brand new lease
Loving the sounds of mellow chimes
Vibrant tones of symphonic voices
The melodic flow of pastoral rhymes
Beautiful chords of musical choices
A rejoicing heart finds blessings within
Knows the meaning of inner serenity
Looks beyond the daily taint of venal sin
Shares the inner rapturous symphony
With others, and grows the expansive role
That nurtures and magnifies the soul.
"Who am I?
Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask,
but on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of my dramatis persona.
Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran,
cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.
This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished.
However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
LOL,.. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V."
.. from the movie, V For Vendetta
There was confusion
no one seemed to be content
to leave the settling dust
to come to rest
and wish that somehow
he had just confessed.
And yet they plodded on
in hindsight’s quest
invited him as an
unwanted guest
demanding
that he do
his level best
empty all his pockets
at their behest.
But there was trouble
in the searches scope
of parsing every word
in venal hope
the papers that they drew
could then be sent
once they figured out
The Imp Each Meant.
John G. Lawless
©12/8/2019
BOUGAINVILLEA CITY
The city that enjoyed the floral name
Is now a transformed spectre of its past
A semi-graced decline has changed its mien
Like comely lady reaching certain age
But still today the Bougainvillea blooms
'Bougainvillea City' blossoms would abound
In graceful streets of affluence and pride
Bank halls baroque attested wealth enjoyed
But last days of boom brought vanity and fall
Yet still today the Bougainvillea blooms
Venal rulers chose antiquity disdain
Deflowered many an elegant urban scene
Tasteless vulgar outcrops broke the symmetry
Yet there remains a fading lustre at its heart
And still today the Bougainvillea blooms
With graceful flaming blossoms that conceal
Sharp prickles that will pierce unwary skin
To match the scarlet petals that abound
On streets and gardens riverside and verge
Yes still today the Bougainvillea blooms
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