CliffSongs

  A Farewell to Cowards   Capitulation? No. No, it is an abandonment. It is an abdication. It is cowardice. It is a desertion. We have been left to jackals and slavers, We have been allowed to be absorbed Into a diseased machine, We have been fed corruption, We have been led astray And face the precipice. Those charged with guardianship Have quit their posts, And have yielded to exploitation And extortion. This is the worst malfeasance, An insufferable discard of responsibility, A surrender of morals and duty, A defeat through payola. Such jobbery sickens me. Fearful of their survival, They have chosen poison. They will find themselves eating it daily. They will choke on their lack of vision, Their numbers dwindle as their venality grows, Their desperation as painful as the bruising of their knees, Let their long extinction event, Bring to them the suffering They have allowed to be foist on their subscribers. The ...

  Wichita Walkway   See the greenspaces collect their trash, A convenience unlooked for! Hidden beneath the arbor, One merely lets go, What could be easier? See the Styrofoam cups flower! Such a Quik Trip from the hand to the ground. See the plastic bags wander! Blown on the breezes as leaves From the trees they would smother. See the pop cans sparkle! Crushed underfoot by the manly. What exquisite reminders of carelessness. How the squirrels must envy our crafts! Perhaps they will nest In the discarded clothing items, yes? Perhaps the cardboard containers Were just what they needed. How fortunate is Nature, That we trash her freely, So that small creatures May make use of our poisons, Our detritus, Our ignorance. Perhaps if there were more walkways, We could stop recycling altogether! What a bright future is ours!   Cliff Lake 12/10/2024 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

  Hopalong Or X Marks the Splat   Meme department marionette, Clumsying your sodden bulk From one deterioration to the next, An unclever Benedict, Exposed and fish-white.   Ringside rollicker, A wayward child with the fidgets, Chided by an even bigger baby, You have the self-awareness Of a spilled beer.   Can you trust your new pals? Can they trust you? The entire bunch of you Have the collective attention span Of a bowl of steam.   Do you sycophant hard and often enough? Do you shut your mouth often enough? Do you drool appropriately in the mighty presence? Do you wear nose plugs? Do you fetch the Cokes now?   How long before the bros make the connection? How long before they make the correction? Malevolent magician: Captures a bluebird, And turns it into a turkey.   Your one foot vertical, How did you get so high? Once one has flown so lofty, There’s no place to go but down: ...

  Do   Look at that video! Hear the podcast! And read article after article after article, Only slightly altered in production. The regurgitated points, The echoed ideation, Rearranged per audience. The inane repetition. Amounting to little more than Digitally recorded superstition. I hear them talking. And him. And them. And that one over there. Borrowing each other’s phrases, Ideas, Repacked for streamed consumption, Preventing action. Politics as entertainment, As profit-generative, And the control mechanism it has always been. And I fell for it again. Given my penchant for information, It is likely That I will repeat that mistake: Sitting, Reading, Listening, Watching… Not doing. I want to do. I want us to do. If I only knew What the hell that thing Is supposed to be. What do we do? What do we do now? My great fear Is that we’ll keep asking that question And never come to an answer, Right o...

  A List Pondered   The “It’s too late now.” The “What have we done?” The “Are you kidding me?” The “I didn’t think he would…”   The insufferable pronouncements. The continuous lies. The trolling Cabinet picks: The sleight of hand.   The “It can’t happen here.” The “He doesn’t mean me.” The “But I have been loyal.” The “How did it come to this?”   The all-encompassing greed. The nagging inferiority. The insistent paranoia. The driving brutality.   The “How is this going so wrong?” The “Wait, what?” The “How did I not see?” The “What do we do now?”   The panting adulation. The faulting emulation. The fawning tyranny. The willing subservience.   The uneducated millions. The uneducated minions. The easily led. The easily duped.   The missed opportunity.   Cliff Lake 11/14/2024 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

20 Million Nothings – An Ode to Irresponsibility   The easy decision: Do nothing, Make no choice, Sit it out, And remain blameless. Such pretty lack of compassion! You have no responsibility to others, They make their own choices – Except when those choices are beyond their control. 2025 is here, And you helped to bring it. NO! I will not tolerate your dissemble! To wit: You have abandoned the care of the needy, The elderly, And those that cannot care for themselves. But really, is that your fault? What responsibility have you to they? Remember: you did nothing,   That was the choice, To choose… Nothing. And if the many are moved off this land, And the lettuce and the melons rot in the fields, Will you choose to dirty your hands? Or will you choose as you have: To do nothing. That way it will still remain Not your fault, right? Right? And when the raped child carries her child to term, You remain blameless, Fo...

  One at a Time   This is our last shot: The American Experiment is imperiled, Not just by an aggrieved would-be tyrant, Whose greed is exceeded only by his disdain, His indifference to the struggles of the common, His hatred of anything that does not exalt him. Though he seeming looms large… He is but the face of the menace. For we are imperiled by more: Sycophants of the martinet in high places and low, Bullies and treachers-in-waiting, Subservient to hatred and their twisted desires, Willing to havoc all in service to cruelty and domination. Betrayers of the trust they were born to, Saboteurs and slanderers, Snakes every one. Yet others are taking their shots, Outside influencers manic, For they sense the experiment in peril, And would lend their expertise in chaos, In disorder and disarray, Their own failures evident on the world stage, And would not learn anything from their mistakes, Unless it be how to educate our nation...

  Inferiority   And they will put on the black shirt, And they will polish their boots, And they will punish you, For their inferiority.   You don’t see them, Or you simply don’t notice, But they have seen you, And they’re not happy about it.   Maybe they live down the street, Maybe they’re a few cubicles over. Maybe their car isn’t as new, Maybe they didn’t get that promotion.   Maybe their golf game isn’t as good, Maybe they can’t stop eating all those calories. Maybe their kid can’t hit a curveball, Maybe you married their desperately secret love.   Does it matter what fuels their dark dreams? They have been slighted by your existence. They yearn for the day when they have the power, The day when they can cut loose on you, all legal-like.   And they will put on the black shirt, And they will polish their boots, And they will punish you, For their inferiority.   Who peers through th...

  Together   I don’t want to vote for rage and insult, So I won’t. I don’t want to vote for fear and hatred, So I won’t. I don’t want to vote for racism, I don’t want to vote for suspicion, I don’t want to vote for greed, I don’t want to vote for misogyny – And I won’t.   I am not voting to punish. I am not voting to justify. I am not voting to legitimize. I am not voting to rationalize. I want to vote for care, So I will. I want to vote for hope, So I will. I want to vote for humanity, I want to vote for empathy, I want to vote for understanding, I want to vote for inclusion – And I will.   I am voting for accountability. I am voting for reason. I am voting for sustainability. I am voting for justice.   I am voting for me, And I am voting for you. We are in this together, All of us… It is time to remember that, We are in this together.   Cliff Lake 10/8/2024 Copyright © Clifford ...

An Empty House   Hey Speaker Mike, Got enough likes From your social media stance? You do this fail, It could mean jail, If you keep up this Trumped-up dance.   Un-brown that nose, But the story goes, We all know who holds your leash. Thump that Bible, But you could be liable For not practicing what you preach.   Make the Dems look bad And ain’t it sad All the folks that are under water. Tell me lad, Do they know they’re had? That you led your lambs to the slaughter?   When the storm blows in, We will know your sin, We will count your cost in lives. When the storm goes out, It will leave no doubt You are just all shuck and jive.   You’re not saving face, You look a disgrace, If you don’t find a way to aid more. Do not choose loss, That man is not the boss, Time to do the job you’re paid for.   O Good Speaker, This can’t get bleaker, Better get yourself in action. Our patience is...

  To be Alive   What a stupid time to be alive, When it’s so easy to be killed By an agenda. An agenda that dictates That high-power weapons are easy to obtain So that they can kill you. It’s a stupid time to be alive When thoughts and prayers Are the best some can do, Instead of working toward the care A potential maniac should have received, But good cheap healthcare Is a socialist nightmare, And owning a gun is the cure To the monster under the bed, And is the weapon of choice For the one in the head. Such a stupid time to try to survive The industrial complex Affecting the bank accounts Of our leaders in a positive way While erasing their consciences. Their brazen loyalties To the better, faster, More certain means of terminus, Clearly defines their idea of The worth of The rest of us. They believe it is stupid for us to be alive, Though without us They don’t survive. So, the weapons get better, And the la...

  You Let It    You let it happen again. You made it happen again. Childhood bloodshed and there’s no end, You let it happen again.   Multi-score murderer at only 14, How did he get ahold of that 15? What have you got by way of explanation? Just some more sorry twisted machinations.   You let it happen again. You made it happen again. Childhood bloodshed and there’s no end, You let it happen again.   Complicit conservatives all in a row, Lapel lover, how low will you go? Don’t forget the prize Margie said, Will the last train out of Georgia bleed red?   You let it happen again. You made it happen again. Childhood bloodshed and there’s no end, You let it happen again.   NRA backdoor open to one and all, And it’s schoolchildren not House brats that take the fall. It’s not your bank accounts that are in the red, No, it’s the body count of the innocent dead.   You let it happen again...

  A Miracle Ear   Shots ring out in Butler, PA, News that too soon fades away, Don’t need no Fed investigation, That might include some negation.   What did the secret stooges serve? Underperforming in a skewed curve. It’s okay folks, nothing to see here, Focus on the Magic Man and his Miracle Ear!   What the hell was that full stop? Are we supposed to eat this slop? Whadda ya gonna tell us now? Whadda ya gonna tell the cops? Assassination attempts Don’t include photo ops.   Maybe he was a Republican, But he followed Christ and collected guns, Was he also Antifa, that isn’t clear, But look at New Jesus and his Miracle Ear!   What the hell was that full stop? Are we supposed to eat this slop? Whadda ya gonna tell us now? Whadda ya gonna tell the cops? Assassination attempts Don’t include photo ops.   So, let’s all be good Republicans, It’s over now, over and done. We don’t need no FBI aro...

  Sweet Affliction   Life can be a poor excuse for existence. But we continue without much resistance. Climbing and falling in the same direction. Never a moment for reflection.   Counting all the value you are given, Never counting all the time you’ve been driven: Understand that this is an infliction, Money is the sweetest addiction.   Buy a dream with an idea, Arbitrary value unclear. Now’s the time to get in gear, Before you can’t get there from here.   Buy a dream, there’s no contradiction, Just a concept, an immersive fiction. Watch us line up without conscription – Money is the heaviest addiction.   Buy a dream with an idea, Arbitrary value unclear. Now’s the time to get in gear, Before you can’t get there from here.   Where is it you think you’re going? Can’t get there without some coin. Want to eat? Or gird your loins? This scheme has got you by the groin.   Buy a dream with ...

  Secret Stones   Too long ago – They lived too long ago, Leaving puzzles, That cannot be hidden, And won’t be explained. Secret stones. Which overmaster, Or corporate titan, Or mystic majesties, Have read their mysteries? Pyramids scattered across the globe, Monoliths and megaliths on every continent, And none to know why. Why? How can such knowledge remain so dark, So hidden, On structures so large? See the sun! The winter solstice marked! The summer celebrated! The equinox noted and manifest! Cairns constructed, Quartz arrangements, Water guided, And walls erected to no purpose? Or purpose concealed? What knowledge needs sequestered? What arcane proficiency disturbs? Have mystic wisdoms been shrouded? What powers could be so shaken, Unless their power Rests solidly on clay, on sand, On whispers and innuendo, On occult nonsense dictated to slaves? What knowledge is stored in these giants, Too large to ...

  Governance   Paying the tax, what do you acquire? You have a voice, If you do not wish in fact To be a voice. Does your government work for you? Or do you work for them? How can you tell, Paying the tax.   Do you pay the tax? Are you paying your government? Who else may be? Who gets the value of their dollar spent? Who pays the government? Did you pay your tax?   Where is the governance? Who is that governance? Is it a paid position? Or is it purchased In the closeted room? Do you have access? Did you pay the tax?   Isn’t everyone taxed? Did they pay their tax? Did they pay in full? Did they pay less than is fair? Did they pay at all? Or did they pay a man? Where is that governance? And who are the governed? Did they pay a tax?     What is the governance? Where is the governance? Is it in the battered halls? Is it in the hands Of an old guard beleaguered? Is it in the...

  Missed Message   When the shouting is over, who will take cover, What will have been gained or lost? When the shooting is over, what will we discover? Who remains to count the cost? When the prayers have been spoken, whose eyes will be woken? Who is it that has been blessed? Is the thought just a token, and promises broken, Has anything real been addressed? Will there be real discourse, from verified source, Or are certain matters to be silent? Will we shout ‘til we’re hoarse, sanity endorse, Or is life to become much more violent? How much longer to wait, to set the thing straight, Or do we learn to be quick on the draw? Live by the sword, death is the reward, Don’t you know what it is you just saw? All the bully talk, do you walk the walk, Will you stand up against aggression? The violence must cease, don’t you know peace? Will you learn a little discretion? Will you not try, do you hasten to die? The truth cannot be more plain...

  Bad Paper   I read the news today to learn what I should think. But from the trusted paper there rose a horrid stink. The words I read were all a backwards view, How could mere common sense go so wildly askew?   A spiraling storyline was in front of me, A desperate attempt to quell choice would be. A machination cold and cruel, A backroom barter resulting in one man’s rule.   Couched in convo’s pleading sense, A thinly disguised corporate pretense. And on the TV, those talking heads, Repeated same and not a tear was shed.   Not a shot was fired, no bell tolled out, As the media the republic sold out. And then talked sports, the matter rested, But I say our resolve remains untested.   Let them talk, and convince themselves. For in my heart and yours, fierce spirit dwells. For my part, this try seems feeble, This land is governed of and by its people!   Let them try this odd foolish plan, Let them...

  4 July 2024   Today we celebrate our independence From the tyrannical and uncaring rule Of a minority of one. Until this week. On Monday, 1 July 2024, The Supreme Court of the United States of America Repealed freedom. They did so without fireworks, They did so without church bells, No town crier walked the village square, No mounted patriot rode through… Yet in spite of the lack of fanfare, An entire nation is transported back in time to the 18 th century. Is this how we “Make America Great Again”? By reverting to a time when: Women have no rights; they are subservient to the closest adult male, Regardless of that man’s temperament. Entire populations may be displaced, Because they have no guns. Disputes may be resolved in mortal combat, So long as all parties agree on time, place, and choice of weapon. One human may buy, sell, or own another human depending on skin coloration. Some, it seems, feel that these are the things t...

  Four Months   In broad daylight darkness has been cast, Old evil again obscures the light. Facing demons we thought were past, What hero comes to defend our plight? Mortal man, his hand itching with greed, Calls forth again perdition, Advancing desire before need, A destructive fire's ignition. And what of our lauded Fourth Estate? Once helping to hold power in check, Away from taxation hoping to skate, They have allowed the boot to press our neck. Four short months we have to us, No time have we to mourn! Four months to defeat treasonous, Four months left to forewarn! This darkness must not be an end, But rather it must be the call: Liberty is ours to defend, Heed the call! Now is your hour! Join together, now is the time! As one - to beat dark design, We can overcome this crime! Champions all, we’ll hold the line! A defense requiring one and all! Freedom has been our birthright! No one man should hold such power! Ge...