There was this (not that young) man named Brian
who went for an anti-racial buy-in
placed a BLM sign on his lawn
to show off his political brawn
and keeps it there while neighbors’ zeal dying
Adulation or hate, rarely now conversation
Political meltdown
Neo-fascist coup
by brashest clown
and well armed crew
In celeb adulation
incessantly we prate
rarely now conversation
but clichés hurled in hate
Occurs not by chance inequality
but by wilful sinister polity
Verse uplifting, up-shifting
A verse epigrammatic
steadily up-shifting
blows like wind anabatic
must ascend uplifting
Then abating in the punchline
prior narrative to untwine
On the Internet ceaselessly beset
But perhaps there’s no etiquette
(short of foulest epithet)
on the intrepid Internet
where we’re ceaselessly beset?
Please don’t shove your smartphone
so thoughtlessly in my face!
You tech-dazed, prompted clone
give me some space, show some grace!
But be it naive futility
to expect any civility?
Trying not to offer opinions unprompted!
Who would unprompted share
one’s fact-grounded opinions
let heart & mind laid bare
to cliché-spouting minions?
Would that not be to squander
what is for each quintessential
in a frivolous yonder
tangential to life essential?
Unless someone appears sincerely to ask
might we not prefer in a limelight to bask
… but will we lead a worthwhile life?
If we want to get along
mouth only the mundane
and if we want to belong
stray not in the arcane!
Let others spout their opinion
and just pretend to listen
Act the sycophantic minion
smile, best if our eyes glisten
Avoid these words to get along:
‘ascetic’ & ‘poetic’
Apply in order to belong:
‘athletic’ & ‘cosmetic’
Voice only the prosaic
like ‘we get warm by burning coal’
avoid ‘photovoltaic’
Above all do not bare our soul!
Thus we’ll evade some risk & strife
but will we lead a worthwhile life?
When the ego struts tall, the greater its fall
Posting on Internet’s boulder
our stale jokes from hapless heart
while little we care to shoulder
is neither kind, brave or smart
All wrapped around our own
with the ego puffed up tall
nonsense filling our phone
outrageous our naive gall
Oblivious & headstrong
quite heedless of our affliction
merely keeps muddling headlong
largely by lack of conviction
By all means, if we must, act the wag
but please, spare us being such a drag!
Wizened the wish to acquaint ourselves with self-restraint
To think before talking
would be way too burdensome
could cause awkward balking
stymie instant words from some
Freedom must not be infringed
let’s keep up incessant spurting!
Whatever notions unhinged
must not be found disconcerting!
Scant by now any wish to acquaint
ourselves with what smells of self-restraint
What blessed daily rite being able to write
Amidst proficiency flagging
easy slide in to anxiety
that shall blindly keep on nagging
in profligacy & piety
But able to write
albeit found as trite
blessed daily rite
Don’t worry won’t recite
while I’ve no urge to abscond
to write righteous rhymes Beyond
Up hill slowly I pedal lowly amidst a few drivers who verbally meddle
I regularly pedal up a steep, narrow, winding, two-way, two-lane road occasionally ‘causing’ drivers to wait due to oncoming traffic before passing me. Judging from some cars ‘riding my rear fender’ & the rare occasional driver’s remark or gesture perhaps I’m viewed by some drivers as an annoying traffic impediment? Others may perhaps be capable of ‘feeling my pain’ (here in aging legs & lungs), while by most ignored? So goes our human experience at large.
One irate driver yelling
“You’re obstructing traffic!”
on mission Cyclist Quelling
then adds gesture graphic
While another in civil quirk
rather cheers my modest pace
by affably calling “Good work!”
with welcomed patience & grace
Thus the human clash goes
between those empathetic
and those in restless throes
sounding off homiletic
Of course up to anyone exposed
to try act safely & stay composed