The Devil's Hour

 

I try to chase disturbing thoughts

that want to dance inside my head—

You know, the ones that come to call

allowing you no rest at all?

That 3 am parade of hits

that pulls you from a fitful sleep…

The hauntings of the daylight hours

and uninvited afterthoughts–

postponed, till festering they arise

from the depths where they abide.

Once again, I close my eyes,

it seems that rest has taken leave.
I slowly watch the minutes pass

ever hopeful for reprieve

—another night with no relief.

© Ginny Brannan 2026

You are 'Here'

 

Who’d have thought that we’d be here

in this place of doubt and fear,
where laws are broken constantly

and hate spreads rampant, like disease

and nothing is exactly clear

Who’d have thought that we’d be here?

The happiness we used to feel

seems far away and so surreal.

We’re struggling to keep afloat;

I think we’ll need a bigger boat.
Who’d have thought that we’d be here,

led by cons and profiteers?

Yet I, for one, won’t give up hope;

for that would be a “slippery slope..”

I’ll stand my ground and persevere–

Yet who’d have thought that we’d be here?

© Ginny Brannan 2026

"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love." J.R,R. Tolkien

"Never be cruel,

Never be cowardly...

Remember hate is always foolish

Love is always wise

Always try to be nice,

but never fall to be kind."

—The 12th Dr. Who

Be Careful What You Wish For

 

Setting pen upon the page

thoughts a-jumble in my head

I cannot write for fear that you

will judge me by my simpleness,

the insufficient words I choose.

There is no ‘grandness’ in my speech

no eloquence from bygone years

no flowing lines inspiring awe

to elevate the common reader.

I fall somewhat short of Yeats

more Seussian in awkwardness.

The script inside this muddled brain

is clamoring for liberation,

yet just as fast as it arrives

it twice as quickly dissipates

inside of failed imagination. 

I will never soar to heights

with such a feeble grasp of words,

and there is little I can share

that won’t offend a finer writer

Guess that makes you the “better fool”

to entertain this hopeless mess

as an equal, or at best

a dalliance for entertainment.

Whatever reason that you choose

I feel it best that I disclose

you’re also here at my behest,

sharing your thoughts, unopposed

because you pique my interest.

              

Beware this humble scribe you see

for there is much that waits for thee.

© Ginny Brannan 2026

Democracy Dies in Silence

 

When push comes to shove, what will you choose

as you watch what is happening–don’t you care what we loose?

Content just to drift in a fog of complacency, 

won’t you stand up and fight for beloved democracy?

For the home of the brave and the land of the free?

Ceding and bleeding, with each day receding

into the hands of the oligarchy

who want to dismantle all that we’ve done;

stripping away all that we’ve earned

burning our rights...watch them burn, watch them burn.

In silence, too many hope for the best

believing perhaps this is only a test.

Make no mistake, this is a regime:

picking their targets undoing the seams

of the fabric that holds “We the people’” together.

No one said it would be easy to weather the storm.

to keep safe from those with intent to do  harm

What can we do with such limited choices?

Perhaps use our words, perhaps share our voices.

Perhaps do our best to protest the insanity,

while we still can speak out against targeted tyranny

and those unelected who shape all we do...

There are no real heroes,

  just me and just you.

© G.B 2025

About that River...

 

Today we were enlightened by a new discovery

what we heard conflicting with what many had believed–

in corroborating statements by those sworn to tell the truth

a tale began unfolding of a man we thought we knew.

The picture that it painted was indicative of crime

of payments and of cover-ups written over time

and with so plot twists, it boggled all our minds.

Defaming judge and jury, contra to his views

asserting his rebuttals, calling it “fake news”

and there amid such damning proof, so many in denial,

leaving me to question if they understood the trial?

And we are left to wonder, “How long can this go on?”

with such compelling evidence and proof that he’s done wrong...

exposing to the public what’s clearly plain to see,

that he has finally turned into his own worst enemy.

 

© GB 2024

Endurance Testing

 

nothing around me

nothing about me

nothing within me 

nothing to grasp

what to hold onto

when all else escapes me

nothing’s forthcoming

and nothing will last

I wait for an answer

and look to the heavens

but there is no inkling

to what is the key;

some say it’s God-sent

or comes from within us

my vessel is empty

there’s nothing to see.

there’s no light that shines

at the end of this tunnel

your words have no meaning

they’re just cursory.

alone on this path 

without rhyme or reason

that many have travelled

long before me

There must be some limit

some end to this testing

a way to deter it

some way to insure

that for all that we carry

and all that we’re put through

that we’ll be rewarded

for what we endure

 

© ginny brannan 2024

Against the Wind

 

I try to put my best foot forward

even when the skies are gray;

the darkness always reaching toward us

 

still all my best laid plans are thwarted.

I stumble trying to make headway

while trying to put my best foot forward

 

I doubt I’ll ever be rewarded

for even those we love betray;

the darkness always reaching toward us

 

each new strategy, aborted

our cards are dealt then cast away

while trying to put our best foot forward

 

the words I hear appear distorted,

spinning thoughts in disarray

—the darkness always reaching toward us

 

I do my best to be supportive

while you discourage and upbraid

I try to put my best foot forward

the darkness always reaching toward us.

 

© Ginny Brannan 2024

"I’m older now and still running against the wind"  Bob Seger

.

Day 17 NaPoWriMo 2024 prompt: A poem inspired by a piece of music. Can be used as title

Half Empty/Half Full

 

On those days when the glass is showing half empty

when all those around you are pulling you down–

and your troubles weigh heavy, you feel yourself sinking

then the current grabs hold and you’re sure you will drown.

So you wave the white flag, but nobody sees it

and you cry out for help but you can’t make a sound,

you’re spinning your wheels without any traction–

you’re treading in place and just can’t get things done.

The harder you’re working, the less you accomplish

and there’s always an order, another demand—

who gets the first dibs when there’s so much to do

whichever you choose is apt to be wrong;

and you’re doing your damndest to try to keep up

as another requestor wants instant response...

On these days when you’re drained and the glass is half empty

try to remember the wolves kept at bay

the demands that you’ve met, and the dragons you slew

that each thing accomplished is one less to do...

take a breath, take a moment, unwind and refuel:

half empty/half full...it’s all in the view.

 

© Ginny Brannan 2023

Ad Infinitum

The sum of the whole is less than all of its parts­–

it fades more with each passing hour, no rhyme

or reason. Maybe it’s the month, or the day, 

or just the way that time likes to slip away. 

No rest for the weary, nothing finds realization

as time folds in on us; completion calculated

by those whose expectations exceed our abilities.

Reality and insanity occupy the same timeline:

when it comes down to it, it’s all about time.

Time is not our friend. Only so many minutes in the day,

it’s always running away when there’s so much to do.

Everyone rushing to finish their tasks, no wonder

the days disappear, and nothing good lasts.

Another day, another dollar...more likely fifty cents,

after the taxes and bills are digested...

If this life is a test will we pass or fail?

I sit obsessing on the day that’s ahead

second-guessing the challenges yet to come

anticipating it to be the same as yesterday,

locked inside this loop of endless tedium.

 

© Ginny Brannan 2023 

Lost in Translation

 

So fast to pass judgment, so quick to criticize

whenever someone lives outside the confines of your norm—

how long before you realize all the ones you’ve victimized,

the many you have ostracized because they don’t conform?

You believe in black and white, day is day and night is night,

boys are boys and girls are girls and that's how it should be.

But we each see things differently,  I accept all equally

while you proclaim them ‘deviant,’ aberrant in your sight.

So quickly you embrace ideas that play to one another’s fears

never looking further than the lies that you dispense—

now someone I thought I knew shares his narrow point of view

reduced into a bigot who embraces ignorance.

 

© Ginny Brannan 2023

Tangled in the Rigging

 

 

“Don’t make waves” he’d always say, “Don’t rock the boat”…

 

We all make choices based on our beliefs

unveiling truth that’s hidden in the lies

study words, weighing what we know;

while wading through hypocrisy, deceit

in constant cycle: wash, rinse, and repeat.

And in due time, I’ve come to surmise

that neither ever will see eye to eye,

both of us trapped in the ropes and rigging,

of rehearsed rhetoric and politicking.

Until the hull is breached down to the core

we’re doomed to stay entrenched on different shores

and I will never swallow bait and lure;

so keep your fiction; I’ll take metaphor.

Ginny Brannan 2022

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

when this old world falls all to hell

and no one really gives a shit

the tired masses now rebel

but we’re expected not to quit

the bosses do as they see fit

while chaos down around us reigns

seems there’s no breaking free of it

another day begins again

© Ginny Brannan 2021