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Gem Stone Poem
In the 1920's labor had fights
Employers hired toughs, both sides ignored rights
Unions hired the Mafia, thought they’d be strong
The tactic was effective, but unwise and wrong.
The Mafia knew that beggars can’t choose
They made an offer the unions could not refuse
Took over, raided wages, extorted the boss
They made the gain, the workers the loss
In Mexico, cartels own a third of the land
Don’t run for office, you might die by their hand
In Russia and China, rulers solidify Mafia ties
Crime helps rulers, and liberty dies.
Cash for the ruthless, recently in the news
Iran paid European Mafias to kill Europe’s Jews
There's no stopping the wicked, they endlessly reach
These warning verses are but a stone on a beach
Your profile may be low, so you see no cause to arm
But get in their way, and then comes the harm
To take an example, I read this to my alarm
Not far from me, Hudson valley, bodies hidden in a farm.
Any tech that helps, bad guys seize the chance.
Like a drug that puts victims in a spellbound trance
That drug: 'devil's breath', will severely confuse.
So it and other drugs Columbia Mafia’s use
From the danger buffet, you can take your pick
Bad guys don't have to kill, they can make you sick
Harmful drugs aerosolized, blown to a face
Your life derailed, a crime with no trace.
So, the picture is this
Governments and Mafias give each other a kiss
Technology for both, that can control you
What a brave new world, nothing we can do.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2024
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Gem Stone Poem
I met an old man in Atlantic City, in a library by the shore
Through the glass, the ocean shimmered, he couldn't ask for more
He said he'd been retired since his wife had passed away
His kids scattered across the land, it was hard to fill the day
He spoke about Dobbs Ferry library, there sunset paints the sky
From balconies he watches as the Hudson drifts on by
Outside the Hudson Highlands library, a castle on the height
Inside, portraits, paneled wood, and windows with golden light.
[Chorus]
So he goes from town to town, in libraries he finds
So many worlds to enter, and peace to ease his mind
He explores the future and the past, the stories don't grow old
But me, I watch the TV sitcoms, letting time unfold
He liked the New Haven library, where the homeless sometimes sleep
The librarian wakes them gently, though it makes her heart weep
He's been to New York's grand palace, with lions at the gate
In Greenburgh a local sang Western songs, folks danced, it was great
[Chorus]
So he goes from town to town, in libraries he finds
Echoes of a world gone by, and peace to ease his mind
Myself, I watch old action movies, but suspense won't take a hold
Sometimes I feel lost, sometimes I feel cold.
[Bridge]
The Detroit Public Library gave him a pleasant surprise
The city has seen better days, but that place deserves a prize
Built with Vermont marble, Italian trim, a building meant to last
In front a River of Knowledge Mosaic that connects us with the past
I felt a bit of sorrow, his hobby made me fret
I said, "In Atlantic City, there's excitement you can get"
"Come with me," I told him, "There's a place that we can go"
He smiled and said, "No thank you, son, I'd rather take it slow"
[Chorus]
So he goes from town to town, in libraries he finds
So many worlds to enter, and peace to ease his mind
While I sit and watch the reruns, letting time pass by
He finds the temples of the past, a learning kind of high.
He said "I'll stay in these cathedrals of what we used to be
To each his own, before birds flown, on priorities we disagree"
He turned back to his book again, beneath the painted dome
And in that silent moment, I knew he'd found a home.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2024
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Gem Stone Poem
A madman pushed me off the track, lucky not much harm
I sat in the Hospital waiting room with just a broken arm.
They handed me a form to fill, 20 genders, 10 types of race -
I tore the sheet with my good arm and walked out of that place.
I walked past a park, a man dropped a syringe, gave me a stare
I walked past a crazy woman preaching to the air.
I walked past teens speaking to their phones but not each other.
Saw expressions I couldn’t read - an enemy or a brother?
I remembered the in-crowd whose moral sight was blind
I wanted to leave their dubious fads behind
I walked past the demonstrators, their justice leads to blood:
We may need a Noah's ark from the oncoming flood.
I walked along the Palisades, the river on my right.
I perked up because the old roads, the boat basins came in sight.
I jogged on the Long Path, crossing Bergen County, then Rockland too.
Turned inland and ended up in a children's petting zoo.
There were the black hats - Jews of a Hasidic sect.
I spoke with one woman; she looked at me with undeserved respect.
It was a change from the jaded people I often met
Wondered what the secret was, is a religious way correct?
Those Jews might not surf the internet, they might not watch TV.
And when they move en masse into a town they spark animosity.
But what struck me there was something clean and true.
As she pointed out the exotics in that petting zoo.
Since then I've been to Lancaster, where the Amish live an older way
That lifestyle has its drawbacks too, there are always shades of gray.
I've visited Salt Lake, where Mormons spurn drugs for recreation
A visitor described them as the handsomest in the nation.
I like my way of life, but other ways make me think
Do we really need social media, or drugs, an evening drink?
Would we be better people, if some things we didn't know?
Should we stand against the current, or go with culture's flow?
Do we really need the likes, the scroll that never ends?
Can we stop and read a while, or try to make real friends?
Can we set anchor in a place where lies don’t get through?
Can we cure our sick republic, retain what’s proven true?
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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Gem Stone Poem
Hear the flames crackle
Fall on your sword
Live like a Jackal
Die like a dog
The lion is weary
Hyenas dart and bite
Their laughing is eerie
He'll lose his last fight.
The vultures are circling
Eyes that see far
Their shadow is on you
Wherever you are.
Betrayal was easy
You were attracted to strife
You gambled with demons
And wagered my life
Now dust claims your legend
You can't make it whole
May hell give you welcome
for you the bell tolls
So hear the flames crackle
No lion saves you now
Live like a Jackal
Die like a dog
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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Gem Stone Poem
Paulo was Brazil’s most popular journalist, but the left did pursue
He told an American interviewer that the left there "hates you"
I found this a puzzle, I asked why, what did we do?
But hate has odd wellsprings, and I still have no clue.
Brigitte Gabriel lived in a pretty Lebanon town with a hilltop breeze
There were school plays, and churches, gardens and fruit trees
It was Christian then, Moslems next, Holy war came as fate
She wrote a book about what she learned, called "Because They Hate"
You might wonder why the title isn't WHY they hate?
But hate has its own logic, and the reasoning isn't straight
I learned some of this logic too, it has its own rules
You don't learn them in Hollywood, or in the schools.
The first rule is that weakness invites attack
You get friends in odd places, others stab your back
Second, the more baddies hurt you, they want to hurt you more
If you've already hit bottom you might ask what for?
Third if you end up acting the way they force
They even punish you for that, though they were the source
The victim argument of "what did I do to you"
Doesn't work at all, even when its true.
All this seems irrational, but some people produce hate
The way waterfalls turn turbines, and power generate
I read of one U.S. woman kidnapped, led in chains by evil men
She asked why, was told "because we hate you", same puzzle again.
I do believe there's a reason for everything
In some people a distorted brain is the bubbling spring
In others perhaps an ideology some fool did start
Maybe a moral divide in every heart.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2024
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Gem Stone Poem
Rolf was born in Wallertheim, in an optimistic year
Progress seemed to be everywhere, and not much to fear.
Then the reds took Russia, shook the world to the core
Millions killed when in power, a crime you can’t ignore
Drafted in World War One, every moment was a scare
French came at him in bright red uniforms, too visible, wasn’t fair
He claims he didn’t kill anyone; I wish I could believe
He was on the wrong side of that war, a past you can’t retrieve.
Under Weimar, the dollar was worth 4000 trillion marks
That kind of inflation destroys society, opens it to sharks.
Nazis got into power, took guns from all the Jews
Rolf threw his weapon in the Rhine, and his medals too.
He left grape vines behind, took his family out, down to the wire
They rode through Palestine, saw Jewish farms set on fire.
Then a letter came from the Reich, called Rolf to the reserve
We still have it, bureaucratic time lag, an ironic reminder to serve.
If Rolf had gone back, he would have been doomed
Into the maw of the gigantic bloodshed one more life consumed.
I met Rolf in Denver, a short, muscular guy
He even flipped me on my back, with a Judo move I didn’t spy.
I watched a rodeo with him, history was in arrest.
It's a strange thing, in one man, so much time compressed
I spoke with a great-aunt who had uncles in the Civil War
A great uncle told me he saw soldiers marching to fight the Boer.
He also fought in World War One, but on the English side
Showed me wounds in his arm, to fight was part of pride.
And now I use ChatGPT, and admire Space X
In me through memories so much history connects.
And yet I’m the black sheep, so many things went bad
I’m relieved these men never knew my saga, so dismal, and so sad.
I also look at the world, there is so much bad news:
Jihad in Africa, and in Holland a “hunt for the Jews”
China, Russia on the rise, the west has seen better days
Will we end that compressed window of history in a fiery blaze?
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2024
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Gem Stone Poem
He took a plane to Rapid City
Hoped the bike trip would be pretty
Took a cab to where the trail began—
He had the spark of a younger man.
Next day he cycled on the Mickelson Trail
Though he knew he was in a moving jail
Higher ups told us he must be kept down
If left alone, he'd gain a crown.
It wasn't fair that he be free
Breathing pure air, loving scenery
He had dissed our people, defied our creed
His attitude offended, more than his deed
We tracked him down, he had to fail
No free pass on the Mickelson Trail
No free bird, flying into the sky
We clip the wings of those who defy.
He got to a valley so pretty and green
I looked at his joy, I felt it obscene
In Buffalo land, I brought him low
No escaping our rules, no letting go.
Know that webs exist of every kind
You don't see the cords, but still they bind
Trip a wire, that's it for you
They don't care for your excuses, you can't argue
The cops won’t shield you, won’t take your side,
Your story ignored, or your story denied.
You’ve crossed a border few understand—
You're hunted now in Mafia Land.
There was a fellow with a note pinned to his chest
He lay in the street, the knife through his vest
He had offended a religion, but others die too
like a reporter who exposed crimes ugly but true.
So keep your head down, and try to conform
There are penalties if you stray from the norm
You walk a shaky bridge over a steep drop
Don't expect a parachute, not an angel, not a cop.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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Gem Stone Poem
We emerged from Grand Central Station,
Both ill, alarmed at our situation
Like two invaders, erupting forth
My twin went south, and I went North
I jaywalked reckless nearly hit by a car.
Then saw a bridge over the FDR
I wondered what price would be paid
On autopilot, I came on to the Esplanade
The pavement was wide, hexagonal tiled
The water was brilliant, turbulent wild
It mixed and whirled, restless and free
Yet ever drawn toward the devouring sea.
I got to the hospital, there was a nurse
She asked me questions from bad to worse
She seemed to have heard of my bad reputation
Briefly, I dreamt of Grand Central Station.
Then she asked me if I thought of self-harm
I said no, hoped she wouldn't push the alarm.
The doctor came, showed me the MRI
He flipped the sections, from my brain to my eye
We discussed options, if benign and if not
The biopsy would need x-rays to guide it to the spot
the tumor showed white, by the salivary gland
I turned white too, but stayed in command
Then I walked back, on the esplanade
Thinking life isn't fair, the price never paid
Was this all set in motion, when I made past mistakes?
Should I be angry or was it just the breaks?
Act of nature? Act of men? Either way
Life's river flows on, from the stream to the bay.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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Gem Stone Poem
I was new at the Jewish senior home
In the center garden I saw old man read a tome
I asked his name, to start a conversation,
"Marvin Klutznik", he replied, to my consternation.
I had paid so much to be in the place
The man I was speaking was a global disgrace
I felt like departing, but since not much life remained
I said to him: "Klutznik, you're forever shamed..."
I added, "How could you have been such a swine"
He said "Glad you asked, it took a long time
All these people saw a movie, none asked why
Its 65 years later, you're the first, what a guy!"
"Whoa" said I, "I saw this flick
You made an ass of yourself over a chick
It was disgusting, and we threw rice
You sow your oats; Jews pay the price.:
He said "As a child, my life was a mess
Lots of overeating, vast amounts of stress
I think my brain was damaged, I lacked all control
Any urge came along, and my body it stole."
"So I sank into the mire, but seemed to get out
I got control of all urges, but I still had doubt
Didn't see myself as a normal guy
sickening I know, looking back I want to cry
"But I shaped up, after all the self-destruction
Actually got handsome, but no thought of seduction
Impressed a nice girl, at least she seemed at the time
Went into a vanity dance, but vanity is no crime."
I growled at him: "you looked like a stripper on a pole
I don't feel sorry for you, I feel a black hole."
He shrugged - "I don't want mercy; I want you to hear
I had an urge to be weird, abnormal, that's clear
"But then, someone took a video
It took lots of hoots and insults, before I could know
The video went viral, took countries by storm
They called me the Hebe, they claimed this was the norm."
"Now here's the kicker, I shaped up, I really tried
As years went by, weirdnesses died
But the movie attracted a criminal crew
I spent 27 years trying to disclose what they do."
"They have drugs that affect your brain
They can amplify those urges, that I tried to refrain
They thought it would be funny to use drugs on me
Push a new puritan to an old insanity."
"They can spray drugs through the air,
My rights didn't matter, they really didn't care
They had "devil's breath" and that's just for a start
They perverted science, manipulation is their art."
"So I spent so many years, trying to warn
To tell people that underground was a raging storm
But I couldn't just grab a cop by the lapel
And tell him this truth, it was quite a hard sell."
"We meet here in this home, and I've told you what's real
Got it off my chest, a better way to feel."
"So" said I, "it seems you're crazy too."
He signed, "believe anything, except what's true"
He turned back to his book, and for a moment I thought
What I know about this guy, the behavior was caught
But it was still so crazy, a worldwide exposure
Maybe even this was true, a symmetrical closure
How could we save mankind from this place of old age,
Where regret fills the room, and guilt writes the page?
since harsh new science so easy to deny
And a diagnosis of madness is where truth goes to die.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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Gem Stone Poem
She gambled on you
She walked a bridge too far
You didn't feel it true
It was too high a bar
She could have tried talking
That way she would've known
Behind your infatuation
Real affection hadn't grown
She thought there was a bond
A mystical dream
But the wizard lost his wand
You were just a prop in the scene
She dreamed of a fire
You by her side
But love was a liar
Reason should guide.
She raised the stake
But gambling's a sin
with two eyes on the snake
The house has to win
Now it’s too late
To rewrite the part
She wagered on fate—
Then embittered her heart
I know we all get burnt
But I wish it hadn't gone so far
Lessons have to be learnt
Only Fate held the cards.
Copyright © Gem Stone | Year Posted 2025
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