why it sucks

water crackles in sunlight

tips of waves are cut like diamonds

gleaming. glinting. pulsing.

ducks and loons bobbing

their babies crying

cheep cheep cheep

i push pedals.

riding alongside the vliet.

i love it.

^{cross posted at Daily Kos}

i ride to the lake

hoping to see my favorite gang . . .

this great gaggle of geese

the brown couple always in front

then all the white ones

the rear is taken by an unlikely pair

they don’t look like any of the others

i see them in this formation

all the time

i head back

ah: around the bend

there’s a bernese mountain dog

behind wrought iron gates

i call “hey bubby”

he bounces over

i know he wishes he could

break out and go

bike riding with me

then i see the far side gang

a bunch of bulls in the field on the other side of the road

they’re a curious crew

looking at me from behind

the trees

oh. it sucks.

when i think of those

living

where bullets fly

and blood flows

where birds and rivers should be

it sucks.

that we are so simple minded

caught in the same traps

over and over again.

those of us, affluent YES YOU, ME

and so many of us haven’t a clue how

our decisions impact

no. how our decisions dictate the circumstances

of third world brothers and sisters

we buy plastic or cars and wipe out frogs. leave polar bears to drown.

trees caught in our treason. it sucks.

credit card companies raise rates.

didn’t we vote to stop this shit?

it sucks.

we. who the fuck are we anyway?

it sucks. because i don’t know.

i live day-to-day

i count one-by-one

i live like  tomorrow will be blown up

for a long time, i lived in unrest

years of sleep without rest

then i decided: i’m not part of “we”

i’m here. crying alone.

riding my bike, looking for joy

amidst the blood baths

around me

it sucks. because i love life.

living things. all of them.

and i don’t know how to make it better

for “we”

so i follow my own path.

fuck democrats. fuck health insurance.

fuck an energy bill that has nothing to do with

the birds i’ve come to love.

the tiny spiders brilliant every day, weaving webs

the snails leaving trails of silver

fuck the indoctrinated. and conventional thinkers.

fuck the “hidden rating” givers

and being banned

fuck the killers,

liars, and infected religious whackos

fuck the politicians like

the sagging limp Sanford… an agonizing exercise

of a fool. or maybe one who’s been fooled.

coming to life too late

in a bitter comedy of hypocrisy . . .

it sucks. that this world isn’t perfect.