Poetry and Politics

Dear Starbucks

Violence is not a brick through your window

You have comprehensive insurance

Violence is an employee who can’t afford insurance

Violence is repetitive work that drains body and soul

Violence is your plastic aesthetic

Giving us pleasure in artificial nothingness

Violence is forcing a fake smile

And a ‘have a nice day’ from a heart that’s breaking

Violence is making just to enough to survive

Life support that barely keeps me alive

Violence is the numbing of the mind

Violence is the life sacrificed to you

I WISH I HAD A THOUSAND BRICKS

Last Gift

There are so many things you gave to me

A thousand gifts that set me free

Propelling me to the ocean of my creativity

So I could swim again

Down in the depths but now it’s dim again

Was it all just a dream?

Was it all just a game?

The Last Gift you gave me

Was the Gift of this pain

Get to know me as I get to know myself.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

Hello World. I have recently stepped back from Facebook and most social media. Because of specific circumstances and latent longings I’ve taken a break from the artificial distractions of life. Well, some of them at least.

With less distraction and more free time I’ve re-immersed myself in music and reading. I have more time to feel and hopefully process my emotions. I believe that one way I can do this constructively is through writing and poetry.

Feel free to join me on this inward journey. Maybe it will inspire you to do the same or give you tools to help you along the way. Cheers.

About Me

I am 35 years old and live in West Allis, WI, just west of Milwaukee. My background, I’m sure much like yours, is varied. I’ve been shaped by many things in life: Christianity, Music, Revolutionary Politics, and the hope of a better world.

I am a dreamer. A bit of an idealist. But the gravity of the hardships and struggles of life keep my feet on the ground. And the only way to struggle is with your feet on the ground.