Poetry

Jeanne Menjoulet photo

 

By

Joe Balaz

 

 

 

Devils In Da Infield

 

 

Politicians at da capital

play like devils in da infield.

 

You gaddah hit home runs

ovah dose suckahs

 

and leave no doubt.

 

If you wuz hoping

foa wun bio sphere changing event

 

no be looking to dose guys.

 

Most of dem stay corrupt

just like da system dey monkey wit.

 

So if you not wun corporation

or one of dose lobbyists

 

den just roll your eyes

 

at all da tings

dose elected officials going do.

 

Dey wen make demselves elite

cause your vote wuz hijacked.

 

Good ting

we got investigative journalists

 

and persistent activists dough.

 

At least dey can try expose

all da shady moves

 

in da big shadow game.

 

As foa da devils in da infield

bothered by da pushback

 

nowadays dey really wish

dey could take away all da balls and bats

 

and keep you completely grounded

by sticking pitchforks into your cleats.

 

 

 

 

 

Unbelievable

 

 

Like any adah wise guy

yapping off da top of his head

 

he works hard at knowing nutting.

 

Seeing his subject mattah on da internet

he takes it as gospel

 

wen it could easily be fake news

created by fake people in da fake world.

 

Fact checking is wun good ting

if you just stick to da facts

 

cause den you going know

wat is wat.

 

His girlfriend no help da situation

 

by sending him moa suspect info

on her cellphone

 

dat she wen find on Facebook.

 

Fish stories

and high school football glories

 

at da neighborhood bar or barbershop

 

now stay replaced

by soap opera politics and religion

 

spreading on da worldwide web

like unstoppable wildfire.

 

Da Russians wen do it

 

helped by da Nigerians

who wuz working wit da French

 

while dey wuz consulting

wit da Chinese.

 

Dats wat dis latest report

is saying anyway

 

and it’s as reliable

as its unnamed sources.

 

Now he’s reading

wun breaking story

 

dat da Pope had illicit sex

wit wun Rohingya woman

 

while da holy man

wuz visiting Myanmar.

 

It’s so outrageous

dat it has to be true

 

cause everybody

is covering up someting.

 

Da newly informed dude

viewing all of dis

 

is whipped into wun heightened frenzy

and he’s exploding into anadah rant

 

cause wen you work hard

at knowing nutting

 

you going unknowing prove

dat even belief is unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Balaz

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai’i Creole English) and in American English. He edited Ho’omanoa: An Anthology of Contemporary Hawaiian Literature. Some of his recent Pidgin writing has appeared in Rattle, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Otoliths, and Hawai’i Review, among others. Balaz is an avid supporter of Hawaiian Islands Pidgin writing in the expanding context of World Literature. He presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.