What We Willingly Accept (+2)

Kurt Philip Behm

California loses its finest citizens

…acceptable losses

 

America loses its drug riddled youth

…acceptable losses

 

Texas loses its southern border

…acceptable losses

 

Our manufacturing base auctioned away

…acceptable losses

 

Native Peoples crying on reservations

…acceptable losses

 

The electorate abandoned and sold down the drain

…acceptable losses

 

Our finest and bravest fighting forever wars

…acceptable losses

 

Our schools now a swamp and our teachers inept

…acceptable losses

 

We talk to our smart phones and lose all connection

…acceptable losses

 

Our churches and synagogues bombed and attacked

…acceptable losses

 

Our freedom of speech now woke and maligned

…acceptable losses

 

The media profiting from rancor and division

…acceptable losses

 

Our allies mistrusting and looking askance

…acceptable losses

 

The dollar a symbol of greed and decay

…acceptable losses

 

The White House held captive by liars and fools

…acceptable losses

 

Our forefathers rage in eternities sleep

…acceptable losses

 

All shared common values rejected forever

…acceptable losses

 

A world without freedom leading the way

…our future in ashes

 

(The New Room: March, 2021)

 

 

A Borrowed Dream

 

I had you

once

before I lost you in a dream

A dream that I woke up

from

where you stayed beyond my grasp

 

Visiting me each

night

in the bartered hours of my sleep

Holding me beyond

hope

ever cradling my fear

 

Lending me back to

myself

inside this borrowed joy

Until the dawn reminds

again

—I had you once

 

(To Laura Nyro: March, 2021)

 

 

 

All, Or Nothing At All

 

I don’t limit who reads my verse,

only who I answer

 

Each word thick-skinned and armor-clad

all questions zero-sum

 

(To Nelson Riddle & Frank Sinatra: March, 2021)

 

 

  • Author: Kurt Philip Behm (Offline Offline)
  • Published: March 4th, 2021 10:39
  • Category: Unclassified
  • Views: 18
  • User favorite of this poem: Doggerel Dave.
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Comments4

  • Jerry Reynolds

    Good write, Kurt.

  • Doggerel Dave

    Went to town this time, Kurt.
    Apart from the implied approval of ‘fighting forever wars’ (wrong here?) for me I’ve found a clear statement of all that’s wrong with several so called advanced democracies (no names….)
    Thanks.

    • Kurt Philip Behm

      Thanks Dave. Yes, it's the opposite. We just passively accept these wars while brave men
      die—and for what?

      • Doggerel Dave

        Goes to my favourites.

      • 1 more comment

      • L. B. Mek

        'Our freedom of speech now woke and maligned
        …acceptable losses

        The media profiting from rancor and division
        …acceptable losses

        I don’t limit who reads my verse,
        only who I answer

        Each word thick-skinned and armor-clad
        all questions zero-sum

        I had you
        once
        before I lost you in a dream
        A dream that I woke up
        from
        where you stayed beyond my grasp'..
        Brilliant!
        (forgive me for daringly giving-in once-more, to my overzealous nature and rearranging your words my friend, I mean no disrespect, just a selfish indulgence of expression for my appreciation of your unquestionable brilliance!)
        thank you for choosing to share dear poet!

      • Kurt Philip Behm

        Very kind usual.

        Kurt



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