Here We Are in the Mid 2020s

                  Drop, bounce, roll, sleet against

window payne onto ledge

                   glaze covered cement walkway

naked, cold, lifeless 

                   in the creek bed, lights of the night sky

waver… dim… dark clouds roll above  

              large mounds of frozen dirt cover 

the terrain where once a forest 

                           stood

 now awaiting manmade woods of aluminum 

                         processed wood

In the distance a gilded age

                mansion stares down upon it all

as it once did onto the shacks in

                          the woods. 

Down in the swamp where a city rose from the muck and slime

winter’s freeze preserves the musky filthy odor, embeds itself

in the people who populate the large classical buildings that

sit atop.

Their hearts beat slower, body temperature lowers

as the rich get richer, poor get poorer, health care

abandoned and middle class dropping like sleet from

a winter storm. 

                                                               Downpours defrost the first layer of soil

                                                               dirty winter ice is washed away, crocus peaks

                                                               out to say hello. 

A

L

O

N

G

   The river, by sluices of canal, rapids of river,

meanders, then the rise of stone/rock as river

cuts through gorge, then lowhead dam. 

Thump… thump… thump of the cans

Revving… revving of the engine. Start – stop. 

One house to the next, pick em up throw in back

Toss onto the sidewalk. Miles upon miles of walking…

Hands calloused… bones ache… cold or hot

They are out there… snow or rain…. they are out there

Making just above a livable wage and the mayor says…

You make enough…maybe a few cents more. 

M

A

N

Y

Work two jobs to earn what one should pay,

Taking bus to bus to job to job at the chain pharmacy

First then the chain department store second 

16 hours a day to support a family, pay health care

Hear the king of the golden age that

Doesn’t exist except for the rich

Buy one doll, one coat you don’t need

Anymore than that…. Eats cake while

Others pull meals out of a can. 

We are here in the mid-2020s and it is cold and barren

ICE and Border Patrol run the country side abusing 

Migrants, abusing citizens in the name of the abuser in

Chief. A little man who chants

 gimme… gimme… gimme more.

It plays out… always attack the weak

your own people, another country 

surround yourself in gilded gold 

mock predecessors for your ego 

and of course, name buildings after 

yourself…. Never before done while in office. 

Cold…Cold…Callous…Cold 

Lawless

Without proper notice to the folks on Capitol Hill

                     BOMBS DROPED ON SOVERIGN NATION

Maduro kidnapped, removed from county.

                      OIL, OIL, OIL, OIL

Non warrior yells after the attack

S

Y

N

OPHANTS 

                  Praise him, how tough he is, actually say

He will dictate next move…………………

                     Juan Orlando Hernández

                        Juan Orlando Hernández

Pardoned just a month before

                    45 years sentence wiped out

                     45 tons of cocaine in the United States

Who is fooling who? 

Lawless

g emil reutter is a writer of poems and stories. He can be found at: https://gereutter.wordpress.com/about/