Colin's Stand

One of the reasons
I am a poet
Is the awful way humans
Treat other humans

Pushing for power
The crunch of repression
Meditating on cruelty
Leads to depression

Anger boils
In unfair toils
Even if I am getting mine

So if my bowing a knee gets to you
While singing a song about a flag
In need of rescue
Maybe your thoughts about freedom
Are constitutionally askew

If I can make a $billion
As a pigskin gladiator
And still identify with
My brothers eating Dehydrated potatas
Doesn't that make me a lover of my nation
And not one of its haters?!

If I can take a stand
When
I been dealt the talent hand
Where
Strength and speed are virtues
In land of the great distraction

And Me
Knowing
I am a Who
Part of the Action
The Main Attraction

Truth is
I been vilified
For taking the side
Of strangers
Who have been taken for a ride
Locked up and Boxed up
Cause he couldn't pay a lawyer
To plea the Ali-bi

And before you jump to conclusions
About my liberal bent
I am a dogface soldier
With three generations of family
Who when combat called
They went!

Therefore Colin
Have your say

I will continue to stand proud
As the Star Spangled Banner plays

But Then
I will take a knee my brother
Because the fight for justice
Is not done
And there are greater accomplishments
Than 5 super bowls won

Dying One Moment at a Time

Dying one moment at a time
In part for the words I rhyme

Don't want to live
In a no eye contact world
Gone are the days
When problems evaporated
With the kiss of a girl

The cost of my drink
Is dirty look
Gone are the days
When I got lost in a book

Breathing heavy
For no reason really
The  Eagles got it right
Just
Take It Easy

When I lose joy
I am often thinking stinky
There are souls close by
Who love and need me
The Beatles got it right
Whisper Words of Wisdom
Let It Be

My life is richer than the words I spin
But poetry can be the place
Where gratitude begins

Free Falling
Like Tom Petty
When he was strong
Artist die unexpectedly
Life ain't ever long

On the other side
You know
We still write songs

Comic Philosopher

Every comic is a philosopher
If you listen behind the laugh
Every preacher a rock star
If you give rock stars a pass

Boxed identity
Is not what makes a man
We are all more complicated
Then what we project first hand

We carry
The sad
The glad
The somewhat mad
In minds organized
Or a mess

Know for sure
Boxed identities
Always shade your best

So break out of the suit you've  sewn
If it hides your essential essence
What the world needs now
Is the courage of
Your manifested presence

Happy Columbus Day

Happy Columbus Day!

Who says Big Government doesn't work!
Today we celebrate sending a man West
Looking for a country that was East!
After bumping a continent  that was West
We called the people Indians....
That makes the Journey a success !

For everyone but Indians from the East !
And Indians in the West !
So now Indians in th West speak Spanish
And Indians from the East speak English

That is why is Big Government is the best!

Uncomfortably Numb

Uncomfortably numb with all I been seeing
Uncomfortably numb with all I been feeling

Bullets fly thru a Las Vegas night
Folks murdered in a fish bowl
To a lunatic's delight
Tired of waking up to the pain of dawn's light

What I thought was easy
Must be impossible
Removing hatred
Like simple obstacles

I still refuse to believe
Devil's unstoppable

How did we all fall this far!?
Neighbor loving neighbor
Must be too much

Are we devoid
Of wrestling from our heart
What makes us paranoid?

Thinking in herds
Instead of having brains that preserve
The dignity of our fellows
Above all that bellows

For division

By party
By nation
By tribes
By races

The most miserable of men
Can see everything but God's image
In human faces

If it ain't about the guns
Then a forest fire doesn't start with a spark
But I guess that was divisive
So let's stick to the human heart

Gotta judge
Cause God hates sin
But judgement begins in His house
So, It is the church's sin
That we should douse

God's man in office
What a joy
An exploitive casino owner
Who treats women like toys

He is a racist
What a joke
A successful businessman from NYC???!
If he were a jackass instead of an elephant
We would be reading about
His racial intergration and forthright dignity

My contradictory stanzas
Are against the rules
You have to pick a side
Those are the rules

What has that gotten us
But rhetoric that kills
A population addicted
To much more than pills

To the bastards that destroy our nation
Because you hate the masses
When we think
Let's have a conversation
We both need a drink!

Two Dreams

Basking in the comfort 

Of two pleasant dreams

The First Dream

Professionally affirmed 

Like Mr. Gardener from Being There

An idiot savant speaking wisdom to the air

How or why I got there 

I didn't really care

Not in charge of a nation but 

A Renaissance city

I will figure out tomorrow 

The budget's nitty gritty

Pensions protected

Because some one should get them

Next day maybe I'll understand 

Why the old are neglected

Sly as a fox 

Gentle as a dove

Every competence 

Comes from the Lord above

Taking the mic 

Should be easy 

On any stage today

Sound bites are all we require

In this attention distracted age

You think with so little to say

We wouldn't be demanding our own way

But jealous about advantage 

Is the cry of the day

The second dream 

Very different from the first

I was in an Islamic land

When a school aged girl took my hand

She introduced me to her scruffy bearded Dad

And her plump smiling Mom

The quietness of their abode 

As soft as a sparrow's song

High vaulted ceiling 

Moved the tranquility along 

The unexpected hospitality 

On a travelling vacation

Had nothing to do with my status 

Or station

I was only a man travelling alone

Invited but custom and kindness

To the sacredness of their home

Don't know why I am so far from home

Don't know why I am traveling alone 

All I knew was the coffee was hot

And in that moment I was enjoying my spot

Eating with a precious family from a common pot

Their interest was only in the essential me

Not in an image to be projected and seen

Somewhere between a public idiot savant

And the private man eating from a common pot

I hope I find neighbors and friends

Making an earth a place

Where the reality of my days 

Meet the dreams of my nights