Social Ills

Violence breeds like rabbits.
Hopping from neighborhood to
School ground then into homes.
Where children fear to sleep.

Endemic is a word, tears are real.
No solution outside the family, so
Stated elected cowards blow smoke.
Like blankets given to homeless men.

Warm for the night but then nothing,
This is how our magnificent culture,
Thousands of years cold, cheats us.
We look to the past ignoring duty.

Given the opportunity how many
Would we sweep under the rug to
Free our guilty eyes from knowing.
Blame the victim we become them.

Terror of thinking lays foundations
Which allow this lack of vision, this
Disability of consciousness and will.
Next time we will do better or not.

Silver needles dance upon waxen
Images of fornicating desperation.
Quietly she accepts her husbands
Daily demands on her existence.

Mother why are you crying?
She sighs but remains in silence.
Moving through her work like smoke,
Dragging along the surface of a lake.

Obscuring the surface unsubstantial.
Like Mount Saint Helen she bears the
Pressure of his nightly rage, quietly
Building the strength to erupt.

Go to the sitter’s tonight.
She’s in the kitchen making a meal.
Broken glass adds that homemade Touch,
ground finely to aid digestion

He eats then sits to watch the news.
Complaining of pains he falls down.
She sits on the floor crying softly.