FEARMONGERING IN SPRINGFIELD

		“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs!”
		yelled Trump at his TV debate.
		What’s behind these demon tales?
		What fuels such baseless hate?

		It starts with an influx of workers
		back in 2017.
		Springfield factories no longer hummed.
		The town was in decline.

		Then came the Haitian immigrants
		to package food, work shifts
		in automotive machining plants.
		But new faces caused rifts.

		15,000 new faces
		riled up a Nazi group—
		this “Blood Tribe” marched with swastika flags
		and paramilitary troops
		
		to crash a jazz and blues event.
		Pointed guns at cars.
		Shouted, “Go back to Africa!”
		The Blood Tribe was at war.

		A spokesman told the City Council:
		stop hiring workers’ kin.
		“Crime and savagery will increase
		with every Haitian you bring in.”  *

		The speaker got kicked out. Next day,
		Springfield City Hall
		was closed because of bomb threats,
		and a school got threatening calls.

		Then, when a cat went missing,
		the scapegoating began.
		“They say those Haitians eat our pets.”
		Rumors wildly ran.

		Now schools are closed to keep kids safe.
		Bomb threats, fear, and hate
		menace Springfield’s peaceful town.
		Does this make America great?

		* Quote by Drake Berentz, aka, Nathaniel Higgins,
		reported by Stephen Starr in the Guardian, 9/14/2024

Scribbles

[Written at  a Boston-based writing group and included in Fleury's book "You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self"]


La vie

Ah, la douleur de la vie;
So sorrowful this life can be,
We live in a constant that is uncertainty,
Waiting to awaken each morning can be tiresome,
Waking from a nightmare can be winsome,
‘Til we see the dreadful daylight of reality!
Yearning to sleep;
Daring to wake;
What comes next?
Life is but a haste!


Bird Bath

The mockingbird emerged from its bath,
Singing while it sat on a raft,
Looking into the distant path,
And poised with some sass,
Swiftly flew off in a fit of wrath!


Insomnia

I dreamed I had insomnia
And birds of prey roamed
‘Round my sphere
My heart rhythm’s tachycardia
Abided in a bed of fear...
I dreamt I slept with insomnia
echoes of children
Resounded like nostalgia
My senses somewhat forlorn
Yearning for the years bygone
Wishing to wish away my melancholia
I dream of sleep
Awake I weep
I dreamt i prayed
My soul to keep
I fell asleep
Or so it seems
Wishing to weep
For my esteem
Alas to sleep
Perchance to dream...


What Place is This?

Surrounded by a shadowy grey environ,
Sitting cross-legged on some ground,
Looking up in a circular motion,
I wondered why there was no one else around...
Yearning to hear a sound;
Something has blurred my vision,
Suddenly I hear a pound,
Could thunder be a thing I found?!
Alas...The dawning of my wakening,
I am living in a cloud!!!



Jacques Stanley Fleury is a Haitian-American Poet, Author and Educator. He holds an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts and is currently pursuing graduate studies in the literary arts at Harvard University online. Once on the editing staff of The Watermark, a literary magazine at the University of Massachusetts, his first book Sparks in the Dark: A Lighter Shade of Blue, A Poetic Memoir was featured in and endorsed by the Boston Globe. His second book: It’s Always Sunrise Somewhere and Other Stories is a collection of short fictional stories dealing with the human condition as the characters navigate life’s foibles and was featured on Good Reads. His current book and hitherto magnum opus Chain Letter to America: The One Thing You Can Do to End Racism, A Collection of Essays, Fiction and Poetry Celebrating Multiculturalism explores social justice in America and his latest book, “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self”  along with all other previously mentioned titles are available at public libraries, The Harvard Book Store, Porter Square Books, The Grolier Bookshop, Goodreads, bookshop, Amazon etc…  His CD A Lighter Shade of Blue as a lyrics writer in collaboration with the neo-folk musical group Sweet Wednesday is available on Amazon, iTunes & Spotify to benefit Haitian charity St. Boniface.

Guilty Pleasure



He’s watching

The latest season

Of “Selling Sunset”

On Netflix,

One of 

His many

Guilty pleasures.




Taylor Dibbert is a writer, journalist, and poet in Washington, DC. “Rescue Dog,” his fifth book, was published in May.

War

Smile not exist

Happiness is stopped

Hungry stomach

Hungry soul

Enough

Tired from the bodies

That are afraid of their shadows

I would like to have a man who speaks truth

Who act

Who believes

In power of love

Words

Silence is not the answer

When Sun rise

Moon is a light that

Give birth

To our dreams

Action

We can only trust

When the reality

appears

We don’t need

so small minds

We are here

to believe

In our thoughts

And in our principles

When the miracle

is happening

Only Flour

Can give the solution

To a hungry mouth

Eva Petropoulou Lianou 

Poet, prose writer and official candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

(Collage of pasted illustrations of insects, birds, people walking, and plants)

I’M GOING TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE

A certain Marla Burla

Writes me an email telling me

She is writing to me on behalf of

“Skoll Funfation”

An American Foundation

Whose vision is to live in a sustainable world

Of peace and prosperity for all

Catalyzing transformative social change.

When she writes to me:

“When you receive this email

Be very happy

Because you have been selected

To receive 3,500,000 dollars.

Send me a postal address

And a savings account, or bank

So I can send it to you.”

I am not excited about this luck

Because I know it is a scam

Like any other

And that it is not the one who goes down

That goes down

But the one who falls.

I have answered her with these words:

-Prove that you are telling the truth

Send me, first, a courtesy gift

And I will give you the address

Of my bank account and a kiss.

After fifteen days

More or less

I received a package via Amazon

From Palo Alto, California

(That’s what the address said)

Containing a kilo of bottle caps

Of Tropical Torpedo beers

Dirty Bastard, Blackwoods, California

Anchor, Bud Light and Flying Dog

Which made me laugh a lot

Because I will have the photo of the players

From the Burgos Football Club

And those from the Huesca Sports Society

So that my grandchildren can have

A championship between them

And play in Gamonal, Rio Vena

And Barriada San Juan Bautista.

-Daniel de Culla