Poetry

tna photo

By

Norberto Franco Cisneros

From The Abyss, The Eagle Rises

In this tumultuous political climate

I find both parties irrelevant and obsolete

They do not speak to me and my families’ needs

Neither do these elites know the suffering we go through

Day after day we look for respite from the turmoil of war

Wrought against us and human kind

Their arguments for war aren’t compelling, they don’t persuade and

are not in the best interest of the American people

I cannot drink the Kool-Aid they serve in golden goblets

I cannot and never would

One speaker speaks with a deceptive facade

The other in hate and pseudo outrageous promises

We, the people, are in mental turmoil, confused in crises

The world is in calamity and chaos and they don’t care

They speak in tongues foreign to the human heart and spirit

Jeopardizing our national integrity

The Constitution is clear and doesn’t need to be re-interpreted

The Bill of Rights doesn’t have to be changed, just followed

The world is in serious flux, hazardously in danger

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are in danger of becoming irrelevant

The people in charge have jeopardized our national integrity

Forgetting the basic thread that ties us all

Humanity! The welfare of people is what life is about

Integrity is at its root, the heart continues to beat

Our life is not a valuable Royal Delft Blue Vase filled with fragrant gardenias

Nor the life the elite would dare to endure

We are not part of their extravagant life style, but

We do live in the last bastion of what

True democracy is striving to be, but

Quickly slipping away

Racing Towards Oblivion

Trustworthiness, respect, caring, fairness, charity of spirit, Integrity, benevolence and love

are important human characteristics and traits,

Why are they not practiced by Americans diligently?

“We are the best! We are number one!” They shout.

Which begs the question, “At what?” America is no longer number one at anything.

“Well, we won a gazillion gold medals in the Olympics.”

“Yes, but we didn’t win them all.”

Which still begs the question, “We’re number one at what?”

Where are we, really, in the world’s most important human issues?

We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 37th in Health Care,

49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in wages

No. 4 in labor force, No. 4 in exports…

So when you say we are #1, why perpetuate the fallacy? When it’s a lie.

Better to work from untruths towards truth than to believe our propaganda;

it’s insidious and not at all in America’s best interest.

We are riding on the back of Time.

Time which waits for no one racing into oblivion.

Norberto Franco Cisneros

My poems have been published in the following publications: Indiana University Journal Chiricu; Avocet Review (Avocet Press); Snow Jewel (Grey Sparrow Press); Ilumen (Mouthfeel Press/ Sam’s Dot Publishing) and several others, including e-zines, Black Petals, Ruhatish and have been a Featured Poet in Poetry Soup