CliffSongs

The Unjust Today   Shuffling in, Darkly garbed, Sternly faced, Lastingly bought, The last word in justice, they… So it seems.   What mystic robes of office Confer upon such as these, Authority to thwart the will Of merely millions? Our numbers belie such sophistry.   Today the darkness descends, yes, Do not let it obscure the days yet come, The dawn breaks even through the clouds, This is but the last of night, The false deep dark absent even of moon, But the dawn comes.   What falseness perpetrated Can survive the fullness of the day coming? These unjust installed Make proclamation now, certainly, Their own deeds shall soon undo them, They live in the public eye, And we see them too clearly now.   Now let your memory grow long, Now keep the records close, Now let your resolve Become as stone beneath your feet, An anchor of will and purpose, Now fix your eye upon the goal: This cruelty shall...

  Falling for Vlad   On a visit to Moscow, I met with some debris. A body of evidence, some tumbling nominee. 11 floors, and sometimes more provide a guarantee, A leap of faith that shuts the mouth for eternity.   Take a dive into Russian history. It’s a swan’s song for you and Vlad and me. A window into your past, a flight you take for free, So, dive right in, according to the decree.   Now oligarchs and officials alike have balconies. Do the guardrails come up much past the knees? I’ll sit here on the sofa, no vistas I need to see. Now what was that? Oh yes, I’ll have some tea.   Take a dive into Russian history. It’s a swan’s song for you and Vlad and me. A window into your past, a flight you take for free, So, dive right in, according to the decree.   Perhaps you thought you had a story to tell, You don’t need to see the inside of a cell, I’ll pat you hard on the back and wish you well, It’s sad to learn h...

  Lost Chance   The music is wrong. It sears. It rends. This is a broken place. It has found you. Visions come in slices translucent – Scenes distorted by their own will. Mirages repeated a thousand times, Reflected in eyes that pierce the mind, Leaving behind sights of a you That has never been, And will always be. The air smells of unwritten books burning, Filled with incantations profane, Seeping into the skin unsaid, And fully realized. This is a broken place. A seething existence fouled with expectancy, An unwelcoming prepared of ash and intent, Made possible by sins imagined, By deeds undone, By preoccupation with the petty, By resolutions unfilled. This is the land of broken promise, Smoky and acidic, Cold and smoldering, A maze created in forgetfulness, A purgatory for the good-intentioned, For the occasionally steadfast. This is a broken place. You intend to get out, But that will always be the past, ...

  To Dance   The march performed at furious pace. Abruptly turns about-face. Yet some shame will not erase. Just who exactly was displaced?   Distractions carefully orchestrated, Newsfeeds are minutely curated. Secrets seen but understated, Expectations are soon deflated.   How they lead you through the dance. The music played not left to chance. The demons all sing on cue, The steps are all laid before you, Catching you all in circumstance.   Pretense slated in hallowed hall. Duplicity meant to enthrall, Discovery hoped to forestall, No hope to outlast the long haul.   Distractions carefully orchestrated, Newsfeeds are minutely curated. Peoples needs seen overrated, Expectations are soon deflated.   How they lead you through the dance. The music played not left to chance. The demons all sing on cue, The steps are all laid before you, Catching you all in circumstance.   Billionair...

  The Old Gods Wait   There was a day when, The Old Gods were wont to walk alongside. Lessons could be taught then, And these the Old Gods would provide.   Then we were too young, And in danger of causing our world distress. Then our Old Gods now unsung, Would task us our cruelty to redress.   Soon then knowledge grew, And lords of this world did we become. And our Gods did we review, And thought to remove from beneath their thumb.   So, we made some Gods anew, That could be made to accede to our whim. The Old Gods we said were through, Our memory of them is become dim.   But sometimes deep in the wood, Where the shadows are pleased to take form, Mighty figures are darkly stood, Still intent their children to warn.   These new Gods bend to our will. We are allowed our destruction and rapine. But in silent places dark and still, The Old Gods wait for us to return to their divine.   To ...

Because   The defendant waits. His suckers will save him. They owe him. Everyone owes him. Because.   A crime politicized. The way out. But he is who he is. Therefore, there is no crime because. Because.   “What about?”, he shouts. “What about?” They did it too. No one can prove it, but. They will believe. Because.   The lawyers won’t do the thing. They talk stupid at him. They better get smart. Smart like him. Because.   He better get on TV. That way he can explain. It’s all against him. It always has been. Because.   The defendant hears about more. There can’t be more. There will be more. He will need more lawyers. Because.   Cliff Lake 6/20/2023 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

  Saturday in Magadonia   The red hat doesn’t quite cover The thinning strands: Evidence of a failing virility He attempts to reclaim With misspelled invective And preposterous concoctions too dear. His device promises a future Free of all the wrong types, But the rainbows will not let him be. Blue and yellow flags proliferate, Hillary smiles smugly And damning tapes appear To end the crime family Only to blow away like smoke. Pillow-men make claims Promising evidence They never have. He salves the wounds with pictures That make claims he hasn’t written, That prove something Not entirely clear: Petty poisons. He accesses his account for the rage fix, An entertainment not allowed in public, Because being an asshole is frowned upon; Proof that they are the fascists. He is confronted with posts Unaddressed to him, Yet assault him with facts. His idol, a man of some few missteps, Must now meet consequences Unfairly ...

  O Bad Shepherd   Where have the tender congregations gone? Their pastors turn from shepherding, Seeking new powers not divine, But worldly and vile. Deceptions and distortions abound, Wrapped in syruped language: The sweet that eats the soul. Now there is a hollow in the flock And the hate is poured in; A fire that heats recklessly, Consuming reason. Now the gulf expands, Spite will now not suffice, Falsehood is become a tease. Malevolence and rancor, Both feeding and devouring, These are what is given Until the host is changed forever. A lunatic sycophant Forged from easy plastic, And just as pliant, And just as brittle. Numberless they count themselves, Staring into mirrors they themselves hung, Hearing the rebound of their own voice, And counting these companion. Ravenous now for sweeter meat, They are fed ever more corruption, More fetid, less nourishing, Malodorous and wormed, They grasp at these nuggets, ...

  Wrong Refrains   Yellowed scores and choppy sound bites, Singing half-facts almost in tune. The production in fuzzy focus, The players masked in smiles foul, The lyrics slide from mouths unmatching. The audience stirs restless and uneasy, Emotions played in strident tones. What music is this? What orchestration discordant? What demon conducts unseen? The melody lurches on Now loudly blared, Now playing muffled, Now whispered from everywhere. False tuning felt in the skin, The stories told twisted, Tortured, Tangled, Resonant with deception. Who will sing with the clarity required? Who will trumpet truth? Integrity rings as a bell, It cannot be mistaken in the cacophony, But cuts through with exactitude. Listen for those silvered tones unmistakable, Facts laid bare and unanswerable, And let your heart ease.   Cliff Lake 6/14/2023 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

We Children   As children we were, Naked beneath the canopied jungle, Hungry-eyed on the open plain, Searching for we knew not what. As children we learned, Mastering flame and field, We grew to be many, And named ourselves lord. As children we ruled, Administering beast and crop, And mostly, each other. Hard-eyed in our tribes, Searching for more than any other. As children we warred, Armored in front of the other, Angry-eyed in the formations, Searching for the advantage over the others. As children we are, Naked in our continued, expanding ignorance, Sad-eyed in the spiraling entropy, Searching for the way forward. As children we should be, Nakedly celebrating the world, Open-eyed and accepting, Searching for the joy found in all beings. We are yet children, We forget that too often.   Cliff Lake 6/12/2023 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

  But…   The Russians blew up a dam, The U.S. East Coast got smoked. I remembered to do my laundry today, But Donald John Trump is a traitor.   Marjorie couldn’t stop making up conspiracies. Gym couldn’t remember how the law works. The Red Sox took 2 out of 3 at Yankee Stadium, But Donald John Trump is a traitor.   Traitor is as traitor does, And traitor did 37 times. Traitor is what he is because, Traitor did 37 crimes… So far…   Lindsey couldn’t get the brown off his nose, Junior couldn’t stop waving his hands around. I made a soup from scratch tonight, But Donald John Trump is a traitor.   Lauren Boebert is dating a Muppet, Kevin McCarthy can’t find his balls. I may have had one too many coffees today, But Donald John Trump is a traitor.   Traitor is as traitor does, And traitor did 37 times. Traitor is what he is because, Traitor did 37 crimes… So far… Traitor did and traitor hid, ...

  A Reflection   See the quaking, shaking senator Sell candy-coated lies and butter email, See the cable news host him As he fumes in an act gone stale. See the House Rep spew disinfo, Retread canards are all he can muster, See them line up to be knocked down, Excuses falling flat, for all of their bluster.   Pay no attention to the misdirection, The logic comprised of imperfection, A result of reality disconnection, They have no facts, just a lot of deflection.   See the failing candidates Months ago shown the door, See the calls for retribution, And the pissy, hissy calls for war. See the keyboard warriors Arming themselves with all caps. See the defendant posting evidence, In preparation for his final collapse.   Pay no attention to the misdirection, The complaints comprised of disaffection, A result of reality disconnection, They have no facts, just a lot of deflection.   Why do they think he h...

  By the Numbers   He was there 4 years. He was the 45 th president. He has had 3 wives. He paid 130,000 dollars. He has 0 casinos. He can front 0 charities. He runs 0 universities. Can he count to 37?   He has 5 children. He sexually assaulted a woman. He owes her 5 million dollars. He needed 11,780 votes. He needed 270 electoral votes. He got 232 electoral votes. He has 0 credibility. But he has 37 counts.   He has 1 dead ex-wife. He has 1 coffin. He had more than 300 documents. He had an E8. He has a leak. He has at least 2 more cases. He has innumerable lawyers. He’s going to collect more than 37. By the numbers, His living quarters will be 10x10.   Cliff Lake 6/10/2023 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

The Spin   There is a cyclone spinning. It is right there before your eyes. It’s garish colors dim with repetition, The explosions and moans dull your ears. The words presented in myriad, Truth less valued than beer sales, Try to find the snippet that’s real. The search for the exotic widens, The quest of the infamous Is played out in avarice, Obscene and brazen, Titillating for dollars. So, they trot out the villain, Make exposed the clown, And when they can manage it, The combo package, the two-fer, The All-In-One: Some bumblefuck rampant, Sucking up tax dollars or shady contracts, Belching ratings. Is he caught? Or will he be set loose again By friends in high placement? The smoke never clears, It just moves down the coastline, Or settles in the editorials, Read and forgotten. Still the cyclone roils, Blowing out one issue In favor of ever more twisted flotsam Presented complete with audio, Served up in glaring HD, Be...

The Hail   Something calls. Not a whisper, no, More vague than that, More insistent, More seductive. It tantalizes. A sliver of lurid hues, Echoing uncanny themes, Misheard or once forgotten. Voices escape sighing, Their language less than familiar, More than foreign. A beckoning, Neither approaching, Nor refusing to leave, A crystalline fragment All too clear Yet too obscure. What happy madness this? What waking trance? Here it slips, Parading visions of another where, Another when, Another then. A chimera and a reality Stolen once, Forgotten always. A delirium, Or a lucidity abandoned? A summoning to the alter-life, Unanswered, It fades. What have you let go? What can you let go? Why don’t you let go?   Something calls…   Cliff Lake 6/6/2023 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023

  Small Talk   I only have this voice, Heard by only so many. Have I said anything so astute, Not already better said? Or is it that some things Require infinite repetition Being ignored in favor of complacence, Of convenience, Or contradicted with simple evasion? Still… I cannot be silent, I cannot comply through omission, Or the neglect of a too vast populace, Because the dangers are real, Because the dangers are ours, Because the dangers are near, Because we ourselves are dangerous. There it is. Me saying all of that again. I repeat myself too often. I will do so again. A pearl is made through irritation; At it’s center… A single grain of sand. So, my tiny voice will speak, So, I will say things I and others have spoken. So, I will tell you things You have already heard, Things you already understand, Things you and yours Still do little to nothing about. This voice is what I have… Heard only by so many. ...

  The Lure of Delirium   What’s wrong with being sane? I’ll tell you: Reality. There it is before you: All muddy and stinking of broken promises, A conglomeration of disappointments, Most of which are your own fucking fault. But other clarities swim into view: Matters not your own, But heart-rending and ugly: Starvation just miles down the road, Hidden perhaps by the more genteel, So as not to upset the children, Or their parents. Sanity allows one to understand, The vast wrongness of conflict - Wars propagated by ideology, Religion, Greed, Or born of madness. What lucidity clamors to comprehend The assault of innocence By contorted libido? Or the wholesale murder Of scores of people Committing the sin of shopping? In the face and fact of such things, How do I retain The soundness of my thoughts? Or does the actuality of being capable To envision and to speak of such things Evidence that I too am twisted - Far...

  Mechanism Schism   Waking one morning, you know you want answers, So, you’ve finally come to ask the taboo question: Who are the people pushing the buttons, Who’s got their hands on the controls? Where is the machine? Your circle of friends shake their heads like you’re crazy, Can some answers be found on a video channel? Does your social network take you to new grounds? Is one news purveyor more trusted than another? Is there a machine? Or maybe that new secret club spoken of in whispers. Names are thrown at you, mystic identities unknown. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain: You draw back the veil and there’s no one there. You can’t find the machine. They’ve played their sleight of hand within your mind, Fed you promise and conspiracy, spinning you in spirals, Dizzy with information that adds up to nothing, Until you give up this time and go to work in the morning, Which is where they wanted you all along. You’re in th...

  Bad Faith Boogie   It’s no secret there’s a secret pact Between the men with the money And the men in black, That every government is way off track, What you never had, you can’t take back.   Sift through the rumors, which ones are true? How can you know with all the news askew? The money changes hands right in front of you, Watching it gathered by the precious few…   And we watch them:   Running the governments, And ruining lives. Or Ruining the governments, And running lives. It takes all we got to hang on and survive… And I’m not sure there’s a difference, In how badly we get screwed. Because the name of the game is deprive.   The bought politicians are in on the game, They hem and they haw and point fingers in blame. Protection of rights they always claim, While they write up more laws to keep things just the same…   And we’re watching them:   Running the governments, And ruin...