Slay Me

Lay me bare now with your words

carve my skin with your expression

if the truth be compromised,

serve me up your pretty lies.

I will crawl, intoxicated,

to sip your sonnets till I’m sated.

Hold me close, let your warmth linger,

breathe redemption for this sinner…

bring your light to quash this scourge

lay me bare now with your words.

© Ginny Brannan 2018

Safe Haven

Times were so much simpler then

the world so big and far away,

future bright and full of promise—

had our family, had our friends

no worries to get in the way.

But as we grew, our differences

rose more pronounced with each new day,

yet our core values still remained

beneath it all, the emphasis:

no matter what, we’d be okay.

Perhaps it is naïveté

to think that things could stay the same…

nestled safe in our cocoons

where outside world was kept at bay,

and innocents were not consumed.

But life, we learned, is not a game—

the moral values we once claimed

no longer deemed necessity;

coping skills, so long ingrained,

now lost inside complacency.

The darkness spreads now unconstrained,

our safety net has long been torn.

We can’t go back to where we were

but can’t continue in this vein

where daily shootings are the norm.

As NRA renews platform;

quotes amendments, seals their base,

how do we protect our children?

No safe haven from this maelstrom

so those “paid off” will not lose face.

Comes a time to stop discussing

before another school’s laid waste

words are nothing without change

until then there is no trusting.

Don’t forget now, we are watching

when vote comes you’ll be replaced.

© Ginny Brannan 2018

Another day, another school shooting. Thoughts and prayers, or voices and change. You decide. 

My love goes out to all the mothers, fathers, families and friends in Parkland who have had their hearts ripped out in this horrible massacre.

The Devils That You Know…

I’ve come to understand
the power that bullies have:

how they come to hold their sway.

By their own bravado they entice

those with low self-esteem.

By their swagger and their ego

they collect the like-minded.

With selective inclusion they encourage

the ones with no compass to follow their lead—

for their power lies in the masses,

and fostering their words and ideals in others

puts them ever higher on their own pedestal.

A bully is never wrong, and even if

they are, they’ll never admit it.

They twist the facts to suit their

narrative, in a place where lies reign as truth,

and truth becomes non-existent .

When perception is everything,

they must not be perceived as weak, and

so the elderly, the handicapped, anyone

with physical infirmity or even an ounce

of compassion becomes a free-range target.

When they speak, they speak in constant

repetition, peppering…hammering…

and so the brainwashing begins.

Who doesn’t want to be seen as confident?

Yet,  there is a difference between

being confident or pompously ignorant.

It’s no wonder that those

without a platform of their own

would be attracted to

such a larger-than-life personality,

whether they agree with them

or are just enamored by power and spectacle.

No matter who goes under in their wake

they no longer care, for they are riding high

on the wave of new found popularity.

I’ve known the power that vicious words create

when uttered from the mouth of someone who

thinks only of their standings with their peers

elevating themselves with malevolence and hate.

Self-proclaimed gods filled with delusion.

They forge ahead, while those who follow them

ride along on the coattails of the inept and ignorant,

trading their soul for just momentary illusion.

A bully shines like polished silver in the sun —

a visual trick to attract, a closer look reveals

something more akin to cheap tin.

A bully feeds off anger and resentment

with a dash of fear to retain

anyone who might dissent .

When the tipping point comes,

when the smoke clears and

all those mirrors disappear

the bully will never see he’s losing:

far too smug to admit his grasp has loosened

he’ll denigrate all who jump ship

with lies and insults of his own choosing.

I’ve come to understand the power of bullies

I’ve seen my share come and go—

those with a huge ego and

the words to stir the masses.

Their reign almost always passes

as dawn breaks to reveal the empty soul

of a narrow-minded power-tripper.

A few will have been turned by his reality

to create power trips of their own.

Many will recoil from their actions

and many will just walk away,

but most will scratch their heads in wonder

of how such person could hold sway.

© Ginny Brannan 2018

"...whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
   Epistle to Galations, 6:7 King James Version

I have seen my share of bullies...middle school, high school, in work, daily life, politics. Their power is gleaned from the ones that follow, either enthusiastically, or in silence that they never become a target of the bully's vicious attacks.  Karma is a bitch, and she always comes back to haunt them.

‘Substance’ Abuse

When something is changed

‘altered’ in any way,

the words rearranged

to suit the narrative of the teller,

where does the truth lie?

Each day another lesson learned.

When did

“truth, justice and the American way”

 become

lies, twitter rants, and news with a slant

The would-be leader sets his ax,

turns up the volume on alternative facts

trying to throw us off balance—

 I refuse to be swayed.

This dance is getting old;

 when is the music going to change?

© G.Brannan 2018

Survivor

Invisible,  unseen—

each cut to the bone,

 each sin unatoned.

Faded, yet never gone…

hunting us… haunting us

surfacing like a stain

even when clouds disappear

 and days render clear.

Still, what is to be gained

     by complaining?

Each is dealt a specific hand

—if you are still in the game

     then you’re already winning.

© Ginny Brannan 2018

Photo: C. Parant Appetite for Photos Used with Permission.

Sharing at with Hedgewitch over at Verse Escape for Friday 55. 

Catalyst

I wake up wondering what news

the night has brought, so fraught

with “He saids” “she saids.”

Forced to wait as the sides debate

trying to get their stories straight,

rehashing words until they dissipate

into yesterday’s news. And nothing changes.

Living in the shadow of the Night King

where a sunny day dawns colorless,

or at best faded, we’ve become ‘jaded.’

Congress has been invaded by “enablers”

pitting us all against each other.

Opposites with no attraction…

each side demanding action for

different reasons while stuck

in a state of permanent winter.

We mustn’t compromise as we

 seek the “Truth” that outshines the lies

so those who doubt will finally rise

to realize that we can do better than this.

Whatever hate lies in our hearts is fed

by chatter that eats away at all that matters.

until we become visceral, rabid;  infected

by the daily dose of kool-aid we have been

given to drink. Perhaps that is the plan, after all:

to make us all numb and uncaring,

unable to think for ourselves. A flock led

by wolves in sheep’s clothing.

We need to heed the call from within

that says “Enough!! Enough Already.”

We must start this new year with renewed determination

to save our nation from corruption, and daily disruption

that we might breath again, agree again, rise again.

 Make our words count. Make our voices heard.

 Rise up! Work together! Be the change!

©Ginny Brannan 2018

Trolling

Out of the cracks in the woodwork they pour

like cockroaches from the slums they come,

garbage feeders swarming the newspaper headlines.

Unable to separate sweetness from stench,

they invade everywhere, from swanky penthouse

to cottage, to poorest tenement, no discrimination.

They leave a track of dirt and distraction,

their words, twisted lies and destruction,

while trying to control the court of public opinion.

For most, just a sour taste on the tongue;

for some, becoming a festering infection,

‘blind eyes’ and ‘deaf ears’ two of the symptoms.

Tired of living in the wake of lies that compromise

our very existence.  Can a single dung beetle

be so powerful as to be above the law,

stuck in a track of deny and deflect, rejecting

common sense while his pile of shit gets bigger each day?

While sentinels and drones control his feed

we await the exterminators, those with the means

and determination to destroy this infestation…

Not an easy task, examining every crack

in the plaster, under each floorboard,

following pipelines for hidden trails,

leaving neither tile unexamined nor path ignored.

In a time of instant gratification it is a slow and tedious job…

too slow at times, but we need it done right:

no question unasked, no stone unturned,

as they take this affliction to task

Let the cockroach have the penthouse

let him troll through the night,

while others work to destroy this blight;

yet in doing so we must acknowledge it for what it is:

   a sad scar, a deep mar on our democracy,

        and a hard and very difficult lesson learned.

©Ginny Brannan 2018

"Some days you eat the bear, somedays the bear eats you." Feeling "consumed" by the constant barrage of Twitter-speak, lies and innuendo. Can't seem to get away, so attempting to write my way through once again.