Preach

Honesty

Integrity or honesty

Is always found in flavors three

First we, like shepherds, must not cry

“Wolf,” when we know it's a lie.

Flavor two honest is more complex

Social standing, business, family & sex.

Fifty shades of grey may alter

Vows made at boardroom or altar.

Poor pontificating Polonius did say:

"This above all, to thine own self be true

And it must follow, as the night to day

Thou can’st not prove false to any man".

Methinks he meant honest flavor three

Honest to self for you and for me.

“Excellence” to best all others who try

“Understand” if your brain will tell you why.

Pompous Pater

This poem reminds me of Polonius, a pompous 
Shakespearean character fond of long-winded speeches 
who came to a sad end in Hamlet Act 1 Sc 3. 

Do you want to lead the pack?
Be the best that you can be?
Set your goals and don't look back,
Power and riches don't come free.
Learn this message well, my son.
Work your tail off, stay the course.
Study hard till school is done.
Give your brain that inner force.

Many things define a man
Do you act responsibly?
Help out others when you can
Do you notice? Do you see?
Do you help jobs to get done?
Show your mettle, show you can
Face the challenge at a run
You can do it, you’re a man.

Look men always in the eyes,
Smiling is a good thing too.
Tell the truth, refrain from lies.
Always to yourself be true.
You may be smart or very wise
But hide the smart from others eyes.
Friendly talk can make a friend.
Hateful talk can friendship end.

PDQ

Painless death quick

Death fast and serene

By overdose morphine?

The United States Declaration of Independence states

That ”Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” creates

A right to choose for you and me.

It tells us that we are free

When legal decisions occur

To choose the path we prefer.

The same document (not a sequel)

States “All men are created equal.”

Now that I’m old and short of breath

 I think about the “Right to Death”.

We use medical drugs to treat the sick

Because drugs help them get well quick.

Death is the logical end point of sick

So let’s use drugs to help it be quick.

Killers get a “humane” demise,

Cattle are stunned between the eyes,

Even pets when old and sick

We can kill painlessly and quick.

No-one avoids death, not even a smidgeon

Moslem or Hindu or Christian religion

So when we get irreversibly sick

Give us the choice of a painless death quick.

PDQ

Painless death quick

Death fast and serene

By overdose morphine?

Superstitions

Does ectoplasm cling

On fiery dragon wing?

Is superman a sprite

Who changes shape each night?

Superstitious stuff

Some can’t get enough.

A witch may cast a hex

While wringing chicken necks.

A bloody vampire bat

Is scary to look at.

Superstitious stuff

Some can’t get enough.

Don’t pin your hope or faith

On alien or wraith.

Ghosts are a scary lot

Whether holy ones or not.

Superstitious stuff

Some can’t get enough.

Don’t pick a scrap with God

‘Cos he aint got no bod.

Zombies and pixies ping

Harpies and sirens sing.

Superstitious stuff

Some can’t get enough.

This growing boy naive

Was taught he should believe

In all these figures mythic,

By folks quite superstitchic.

Superstitious stuff

Some can’t get enough.

Fat Farm America

Song “God bless America” Irving Berlin Published 1918.

Fat farm America, Food gluttony

Every daytime, Work and playtime

Growing gross, adipose, you and me.

Fat farm America, High calorie

In the diners, In cruise liners

Eating home, eating out or at sea

Burgers king size, laced with French fries

Chocolate cake, egg and steak fricassee

Fat farm America, our bloated home

Fat farm America, our bloated home

God backs Winners

Religion for the masses,
Pump out the opium
Guns for gold the Church condones,
As long as it gets some.

Blessed are peacemakers,
But bless our army more
Though our lips may call for peace,
We send our sons to war

Both sides are praying just as hard,
God helps the one who wins
The winner writes the history
And blames the loser's sins.

The Health Game
(Song)

If you've cash in your till it's OK to get ill in America

Millions get wealth from the business of health in America

Your doctor is paid for each visit that's made in America.

So you're often referred to a second or third in America

The more tests you take the more money they make in America

Lots of urine and gore from the rich and the poor in America

And machines have the skill to tell you you're ill in America

Their numbers imply you will thrive or soon die in America

For each pain you describe there's a drug to prescribe in America

The scripts that they write don't cost doctors a mite in America

Costly drugs you must take to relieve ev'ry ache in America

And drug mills grow rich from each pimple and itch in America.

Condoms

Condoms worn for copulation

Stem the rise in population.

Also they prevent disease

Keep you safe from STD’s.

Black Strength.

Several hundred years ago

On the coast of Africa

Slavers took us from our homes

Squeezed us into tiny ships

Chained us in these crowded ships

Sailed across the mighty sea

Through the perils, storms and waves

Brought us to America.

Strength was needed to survive.

When the slave ships came to port

All our troubles started new

We were auctioned off as slaves

Pulled from parents, children, friends,

Sold to work the cotton fields,

Plow the soil and plant the seeds,

Pick the boll and pull the weeds,

Weak and sick folks up and died.

Strength was needed to survive.

Just a hundred years ago

After four long years of war

Yankee soldiers beat the South

Abra’m Lincoln burst our bonds.

We were freed but unemployed.

Since those days we’ve overcome

Many hates and many fears

Lynchings and a million tears.

Strength was needed to survive.

We’ve inherited this strength.

We are children of the strong.

Black is beautiful we know.

We excel in all the sports.

But our brawn is not enough,

We must exercise our brains.

Study business, science, art.

Work with others, not apart.

Strength by study to survive!

You Did It Yahweh

El, that ancient super god

For family fun stood pat.

His wife Asherah from her bod.,

Seventy sons begat.

El made each and every son

God of a nation small.

Isra-El was Yahweh's one

His turf and empire call.

Yahweh was a god real smart

P R his mission spread,

He was a gentle god with heart

Like herding sheep, he said.

Give or take some thousand years

Widespread was Yahweh's name

Outdoing Ash. and El's careers

The prophets spread his fame.

Then a preacher came along

Claimed Yahweh's son to be

But the locals did him wrong

They nailed him to a tree.

"Who is the true god?" people said

Yah father or Yah son.

Perhaps god is a ghost instead

We need to know which one.

Priests all met in conclave
But they could not agree
Until a clever curate said
"Why not blend all three".

His idea was quite bold

"Unite the three in one"

Hypostacy was sold

And Trinity was begun.

I’m not a flag waver.

I’m not a flag waver, it isn’t my way

I can’t sing The Star Spangled Banner all day.

Guns and parades and pep rallies I'd ban,

But I quite like it here in America, man.

I might have been raised in Britain or Greece,

There are other places to find love and peace,

With fewer flag wavers to rally the clan, 

Where folks are not red-blooded patriots, man.

A man who is born here is not free to choose,

His citizenship is his birthright to use.

Immigrants carefully study and plan,

We must pass a test to be citizens, man.

The laws of the land are the laws I obey,

The tax they demand is the tax that I pay.

Some things I can't like but others I can

And I quite like it here in America, man.

I don't need a speech on the Fourth of July,

Or clothing that's red, white or blue as the sky.

 Or picnic with hot dogs, French fries, suntan

Does that mean I can’t be a patriot, man?

When soldiers parade or the fireworks fly

The martial subtext is to serve, fight or die.

I’d prefer them to pass a strong handgun ban

But I quite like it here in America, man.

Respected and happy, where we live or die

Is not so important if we can get by

With family, love, home and friends in our clan

The life is quite good in America, man.

Before Invading Iraq

We were brought up to acknowledge the law

We’re made in God's image, both rich and poor

That all life is sacred and justice is blind

To bully is bad, but that mercy is kind

Blessed are peacemakers, children of God

This great land of ours, supreme superpower

It’s code of honor is strained at this hour

The people of nations whose friendship we buy

See our "motive" as greed, our "evidence" sly

Blessed are peacemakers, children of God

Texas is greater in size than Iraq

They won’t attack us, for we would strike back

They fight for their land, to Allah they’re loyal

We fight to help Israel and covet their oil.

Blessed are peacemakers, children of God

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and others

Proclaim loud and clear, that all men are brothers

That war, greed and evil we can overcome

So dance to the music, don’t march to the drum

Blessed are peacemakers, children of God

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