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Michael Pedretti Poem
The hummingbird
Came to feast on my vermilions
Filled my heart with joy ‘til
Pinkie rang the bell.
About the time all is well
A solution is in sight
The future looks bright,
Pinkie rings the bell.
Pinkie’s bell is not so loud
Sometimes it is silent — remember
At your church and school,
Work and neighborhood,
Family gathering and vacation,
Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas and reunion
When things looked too good,
Pinkie rang the bell.
Guns are everywhere
Killing more than cars
When Congress wants to act,
Pinkie rings the bell.
With a handicap of forty
Pinkie can defeat you
No matter how far under par
He plays the game.
We demanded universal healthcare
More times than I can recall —
Each time we came close,
Pinkie rang the bell.
Even though the score
Is three to three
And a winner must be had,
Pinkie rings the bell.
Pinkie’s bell
Rings so bolshily
It can say no to anything —
Completely stop the day.
Four hundred years of racist laws
Were about to be undone and
Segregation made taboo until
Pinkie rang the bell.
You can count on Pinkie at your golden anniversary
Centennial birthday, high school graduation and bar mitzvah
To be waiting in the wings for you to stumble
Before he rings the bell.
Phyllis Schlafly’s ring choked the ERA,
Andrew Jackson’s paved the Trail of Tears,
Jim Crow’s postponed equality,
Ronald Reagan’s blocked almost everything.
Countless treaties promised
Natives they could keep
What was already theirs, then
Pinkie rang the bell.
You may want infrastructure,
Women priests, and world peace;
Before progress can be had,
Pinkie rings the bell.
Never mind the struggle
Pinkie will be there —
Universal suffrage, gun control or parity;
Some say Mitch McConnell
Is the champion Pinkie of our time.
Can you count the times
His alarm was so loud we were blinded when
Pinkie rang the bell?
You and I may hope
For an improved tomorrow;
Have faith that man will do better, no matter —
Pinkie rings the bell.
Pinkie has his way so often
He believes he’s always right;
His followers know it too —
They provide the wall —
The naysayers have advantage
The sun is in our eyes
The courts are made of mud
The referee’s been bribed.
Copyright © Michael Pedretti | Year Posted 2025
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Details |
Michael Pedretti Poem
Faith demands we hope for
What cannot be true;
Hope insists we believe
In what will never be.
They are trickster twins
Commanding our allegiance,
Wishing us disappointment, despair and oblivion.
I prefer to trust my wits, sight and a little love.
Copyright © Michael Pedretti | Year Posted 2025
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Details |
Michael Pedretti Poem
I’m holding on really tight,
An avalanche gives no warning
Nor does a sinkhole.
The deer and the hunter
Have opposing objectives,
You’d think they would compromise.
I wake some nights holding my pillow so tight
It looks at me asking what’s wrong.
When I was young I was sure of tomorrow—
The moon secured the night; the sun lit the day.
Now I dread the demons of the night,
The brutes of the day.
Tomorrow promises a moonless night,
The sun imprisoned behind nimbus clouds,
I can no longer hide behind my thoughts —
Wish I could make rain clouds to get behind,
Cumulus to hang above my door
To let you know it’s fine to come in.
Nimbus would reign
Making the cotton balls in the sky
More stunning in their rarity.
I’ve been calling out to you
Words don’t come
You are not here
The train never stops.
Or is it even moving?
To breathe is enough,
I remind myself,
Hold on tight
Never know when a sinkhole
Will break away from the mountainside.
Sleep overtake nightmares
The moon won’t care
Sun burns a hole so small
I cannot imagine it.
God will return on a broomstick
Poetry come again
Clowns stop killing
Moon meet the sun in the sky;
I am holding on really tight,
Copyright © Michael Pedretti | Year Posted 2025
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