CliffSongs

  Bugs Meets the ICE Patrol   Uneducated, untrained and on the loose, Making their violence from any excuse. Fathead’s failures got him turning up the juice, Who signed up for these terms of abuse?   Let the icy stand where they are, Let’s confront them with the bizarre: Will they find a glitter bomb too far? And it seems fart spray soaks into Kevlar.   When they show up Can you hear the circus music play? Clown all of these clowns, Get them out of our way. Humor is greater than hate On any old day, Our smiles and our laughter Will win the day.   Want to un-camo a goon? How about some paint in a water balloon? They think they are so immune, Let’s see how they like being lampooned.   Maybe let the air from a tire, Maybe some dog shit in a bag on fire. Sign them all Wile E. Esquire, Turn their efforts comically haywire.   When they show up Can you hear the circus music play? Clown all of t...

  Republic Retrospection   Fading Fuhrer map selection, Minions try to slow defection. Old guard tries to skew detection, And bury unwise misdirection.   Today’s gesture of deception: Kosplay Kommandant projection: The brave bullies need protection! Another day of infection.   Is this how the Republic dies: With shocked silence and open eyes? Will you wave goodbye where the eagle flies? Is this how the Republic dies?   And the marching boys once so proud, All are masked, aren’t seen out loud. Oath-breakers, life-takers in shroud, False immunity they’re endowed.   Lady Justice scales corroded, The House minister that has toaded. Too long was this foreboded: The Lawless’ guns are now loaded.   Is this how the Republic dies: With shocked silence and open eyes? Will you wave goodbye as the eagle flies? Is this how the Republic dies?   Brutal boys disguising. Criminals comprising. Anne...

  Contest   Long dark and fear at the edges, He barely remembers the name. The sharp sword and ancient pledges, None but he left to quench the flame.   Sorcelor’s word and promise made, He must travel the unclean way. Grace deferred and the bounty paid, Of the final price, who can say?   Cold-hearted and a colder life, He chosen for the lack of heir. Bold martyr, he will face the strife, Though none maybe to mark him there.   Infernal rage, risen to burn, Who better to face reddened scourge? Last of his kind, his resolve stern, Will he earn the funeral dirge?   The foe before him, grown too bold, His reckoning draws to him near. No woe deters him, grown too cold, Battle beckoning without fear.   Icy veined, and his sword in hand, Red fury seems an overmatch. The burning bane, he makes his stand, What fee can his achievement catch?   The fiery clash, they now meet, Neither will stall...

  High Seat   I am stupid and pliable, I’m a little insane. I am corrupt and I’m liable, I get off on your pain. I make praise to dear leader, Look at him dewy-eyed, I throw him crayons for his reader, And repeat his hooey lies.   Just swallow our defenses, Do not trust your own senses, We are allowed these offenses, Say the robes on supreme benches. I am human incomplete, I am yet so hard to beat, I am a gimp that’s sitting In a Cabinet seat.   Well, I am a gimp in a Cabinet seat, I aim to see you stay under our feet. We don’t care if you all hit the street, We’ll take it all; you’ll take a backseat.   I am a toy and I’m a tool, My mind is not my own. I am a ploy and I am cruel, I will burn this your home. Have benefits been disrupted, For me there’s no effect. It’s just that I’m corrupted, And our foot is on your neck.   We say things so ridiculous, That you are getting so sick of us. ...

  Shots Fired   Shots fired, The assault begun, War in the streets of America. Pale house of Pennsylvania Avenue: You have given murder a pass, This bloodstain Cannot be covered in orange paint. You have made yourselves known, You have chosen.   Where can this path lead? You believe you can hide behind shameful action, Your shame is known, Your crimes shadow every move, You took the largest stage, And all eyes are on you.   Shots fired, The offensive launched, War on the populace of America. Homeland Insecurity, The lie is too bold, The murder too plain, You are too complicit, You display your colors, You have chosen.   Where does this road lead? You believe you can invert the story, The facts are known, The cameras captured every move, You lie at every stage, Too many eyes have been opened.   Shots fired, The onslaught commenced, War on the core of America. Correspondence and com...

  The Animal Cornered   An animal is cornered. It snarls and claws, Its defense is reflexive and desperate: The animal is cornered.   Is capture inevitable? It retreats to darker holes, Or to hide behind obscuring items, It will not abide capture…   The animal lashes out. It savages what is within reach, It tears at more as it rages, The animal is lashing out.   What damage may ensue? What thoughtless carnage supplied? The moment is the matter, Consequence is never considered.   The animal begins to rave. Illness long conquered its senses, All that is left is fear and fury, The animal is raving.   Survival of the torment it imagines is paramount, Reality is of its own design. Perspective is long lost, Fight or flight is what remains.   An animal is cornered. It bites and mauls, Its defense is reflexive and desperate: The animal is cornered.   What may tame the brute? ...

  Dreamless   Where do you go in deepest night? What phantasms there in your sight? What horrors found when your mind takes flight? What fears grip you in nightly rite?   Into darkness you descend, A hole that you can never mend. Into a darkness you descend, The place where you cannot pretend. Into your dark you descend, Dread the only dividend. Into the dark you descend, Where the empty never ends.   What you’ve stolen you must preserve, But you have been closely observed. It all just gets on your last nerve – The destination you deserve:   Into darkness you descend, A hole that you can never mend. Into a darkness you descend, The place where you cannot pretend. Into your dark you descend, Dread the only dividend. Into the dark you descend, Where the empty never ends.   In the belly of the beast you’ve ridden high, In the belly of the beast you’ve gotten by. In the belly of the beast do the ru...

  Stain   What once was tarnished Is now stained. What pride is there In petty aggression? What has been verified Beyond savage greed? How do we hold freedom aloft With our heel planted on the neck? What oily advantage have we procured? What ego has been stroked? What wickedness steered from? What wickedness performed? A spotty reputation Is now smeared with blood. Have we gained security? Or are we now more suspect? “We…” I do not recall sanctioning this aggression. I do not remember an appeal to Congress. “We.” Are we to be punished, Rebuked, Scorned, For the ambitions And the fears, Of one man, Soiled in spirit, Soiled in his very clothes. What pride is there in that? Will we accept his stain? Who among us has earned that mark? Who will willingly wear it? Who among us Has so little regard for themselves That they will allow the crimes of one man To brand us all? Our nation was tarnished, Yes, No...

  Course Correction.   A corrupt regime, Authoritarian and abusive. State media control and Crimes against humanity. Suspect elections, Opposition crushed out of hand. External political interference, Economic hardship in-country. A despot remaining in power Through means nefarious, Condemned by International Court, Are we to ignore all this? We must do what we do!   The good part is: Russia has oil.   So much that is wrong, We have the power to correct! How can they stand against our might? A mighty eagle are we that we may swoop in, Remove the tyrant, Make that far country our own! We will free the masses from oppressive rule! We will calm the waters disturbed! We will raise our banners high, We will drill deeply because:   Russia has oil.   Let the world rejoice! We will assert our justice! We will manage the situation! We will make ourselves known! We will step on some toes! Who w...

  The Price of a Meal   The dusted day drags, The parched pastures pass, Their parched people peer, None come this way, Yet he is now among them.   They will not accept him: He is Outside, He is Outland, He cannot know their troubles, None that have not lived them may.   They would drive him, Were it not for his bearing, Were it not for his sigil, And the weapons he carries – Those speak to worse troubles yet.   He seeks the inn, Little more than a brew-sell, Thought it speaks of lodge. He will be overcharged. He will be overcharged by all. Until.   It has not been a fortnight That the messenger arrived. Messenger, ha! A child! Sent by whom she would not say, She was not pressed for it, The fear on her spoke clear.   They had come: Rovers, rogues and robbers, Long were they tracked, Their path too uneven, Their targets too well chosen.   Flush with ill gain, They mel...