Tag: politics

Go Fourth!


Double down on democracy, speak your mind, and honestly. Support a free press, and denounce those who’d silence

The Fourth Estate. A patriot is neither left nor right, but one who upholds the Constitution. Refuse to succumb

To the treachery of bluster and lies. We know better! Some have had their eyes clouded, others feel dismay,

Yet we are Americans. We believe in liberty, in justice, for ALL, and we will not be led astray by this sham of a leader.

A Long Way, Baby

I’ve come a long way, baby,
Still got a long way to go.
Every time I think I’m there,
I find myself laid low

Try to rise above the hate,
Ignore the arrows and slings.
They go low, I try going high,
But, damn, their insults sting.

These days of alternate truths,
Lies, if truth be told,
Just wear me out in spirit,
Got me feeling old

But I have come a long way
And I’ll keep traveling on
The road often will be rough
And I’ve got skills to hone.

Slimy Lies

Like multi jointed worms, oozing from the earth after a thunderous summer storm, slimy lies wend their way from

Dark places of hiding, feeding on hate and prejudice until the traction they gain propels them through the conscienceless

Oral orifices of greedy politicians. Alternative facts, misrepresentations, broken promises, all squirm from their tongues.

Lost in Time

Lost in Time

by Leslie Noyes

We scarcely notice the low-flying pterodactyls skimming inches above the trees nowadays.

Likewise, the roar of Tyrannosaurus Rex barely registers in our collective consciousness.

But we’ve begun to feel a change in the climate, colder winters, hotter summers, raging storms year ’round,

And the drums of war are heard pounding across oceans, and from our own great shores destruction rains down.

What have we lost in time? Our connections were severed when we fell through this warp in the universe.

Survival first, right? Despite the despot in the tree fort, we will carry on, only later to discover what we’ve lost.

On the Cusp

I’m on the cusp of nothing
Hanging on a thread,
Every day seems pregnant
With a certain kind of dread.

Headlines scream, portending
Tales of glee or maybe gloom,
Depending on one’s politics
Seen as bonus or as doom.

So here we stand in limbo
One foot toeing on the ledge,
While the other seeks purchase
Having fallen off the edge.

Excoriate

Excoriate is one of those wonderful words that comes close to being onomatopoeic, at least in my mind.


One cannot say excoriate without making the harsh, almost abrasive sound reminiscent of sandpaper on wood. The word is one I find myself using often these days, more for its secondary definition than its primary; although, I can make both work in this poem.

                          EXCORIATE

Come clean, down to the brass tacks with steel wool, superfine grit sandpaper, and elbow

Grease. We hold these truths to be self evident, you elitist bastards, that ALL humans

Equally created have an irrefutable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Try as you might you cannot scrub these words from the collective memory of this country.

Drinking Wine and Taking Stock

Drinking Wine and Taking Stock
By Leslie Noyes

It’s late on this cold Sunday night
My team is losing, and I’m taking stock
Who out there understands my plight
I drink wine and watch the clock.

Fake news, I’ve heard, is killing us
Our democracy barely surviving now
And while truth is worthy of a fuss
At present, veracity has bowed out.

Marches are planned, vigilance urged
I take heart in good people on my side
Senators on speed dial hopefully heard
The earnestness with which I cried.

Politics: What’s Words With Friends Got To Do With It?

The 2016 election was a soul sucker. It was like carrying a baby for nine months and after 36 hours of labor having the doctor announce, “Congratulations, it’s a full grown rattlesnake!” 

On the one hand, you’re glad it’s all over, while on the other hand you wonder how long it’ll be before your baby delivers the lethal bite. Ah! Good times. 


Thank goodness for diversions like Words With Friends. Currently I have 21 games in progress, and any time there’s a lull in the action I start another one. Right now, I don’t even care if I win or lose. It’s the distraction from current events that counts.

The president-elect names a white supremacist as his chief strategist and senior counselor? I find a way to play a word containing both z and v.

A woman who doesn’t support public schools is named Secretary of Education? No worries, I play “teazles” for 182 points, and I don’t care that I have no idea what it means!*

I hear that Trump is refusing to take security briefings? Ok, I cried, but then I went on to play “equinoxes” and temporarily forgot that we have elected a lightweight to the highest office in the free world.

Reality bites right now. I think I’ll go start another game.

*verb archaic: 

teazle 

1. raise a nap on (cloth) with or as if with teasels.