day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY SEVEN

what are you proud of?

the nights are

are a wasteland of vodka and wine

in the mornings i walk it off

i pass so many homes with flags

sometimes it feels like i’m drowning

i’ve never owned anything with the flag on it

well…that’s not true

the fourth of july after 9/11

my mother bought me a u.s.a t-shirt

that i never wore

and threw away two years later

when i found it while packing to move

on my soberer mornings

or maybe it’s the i-might-still-be-a-little-bit-drunk ones

i want to knock on some patriot’s door

and ask them what’s the deal?

i want to say, hey, fellow citizen

what exactly is it that you are proud of?

what am i not getting from america that you are?

i’m sure they’ll say something

about freedom or liberty

or some other hypocritical crap

that doesn’t sound at all like willful ignorance

or they’ll do something so totally american

like threaten me with a gun

and chase me off their manicured-by-mexicans lawn

i’m willing to bet most of the people with flags

are white and old

and think they made it in this country

out of sheer drive and determination

but that might just be my prejudice showing

in truth

sometimes i wish i could walk around here at night

plucking their flags from their little lawns

and putting them all into a pile

in the middle of the street

set them on fire

and then stroll home humming the national anthem

while they all come out of their pretty homes

screaming and yelling and trying to put out the fire

of course

that’s if i can even remember the words to that stupid song

at this point.

--John Grochalski

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY SIX

Politics 103

The greedy
The takers
The abusers
The misusers
They forget we outnumber them
All we need to do is remember that
And act

--Steven B. Smith

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY FIVE

                                       Postcard from Harman WV

she wears camo skirt
british flag t-shirt
waits tables
busses and cooks
in a seven table
four calander restaurant
under the shadow
of a mountain
the woman
ahead pays, tips, says
you work hard
buy yrself something nice;
a gift from jesus

--Jason Baldinger

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY FOUR

Question

If Parrots
are smarter
than a
three year old
and gorillas
learn sign
language having
vocabularies
with hundreds
of words
if we
grow enough
to feed
the world
if computers
beat us
at chess
and give
speeches
to grad
students
if physicists
say God
is only
one equation
away from
being found
and the
next wars
will be
fought in
outer space
then why
are we
all just
standing here
waiting for
the sky
to fall
pretending
there is
nothing
we can
do?

--Matt Borczon

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY THREE

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP

When he stands alone,
if he ever does,
before the maid comes in,
or his aide brings in
his files of morning flattery,
if he ever looks
at his ageing body,
at the shriveled prick
beneath his bulging belly,
does he ever want
to put an end to it
with a pistol
from his gun nut sponsors?
Does he weep a little
and then sniff and straighten?
Does being the president
of the richest nation,
with the biggest army
on the planet
make him less afraid
that he’s a worthless shit?
And that every new day
reinforces it?

--Bruce Hodder

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY TWO

Politics 102

What's lower than a politician's morals?
You don't know?
Neither do I.

As for our unPresident
I don't think Little Donnie Chump's cables
are connected correctly.

There's utopia, dystopia, and dat topia.
Mistakes from the past
float through the glass
and bad dance.

--Steven B. Smith

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY ONE

red meat

america separates kids from parents

america puts kids in cages

america eats too much red meat

it watches too much television

america eats red meat for dinner

while it watches kids in cages on television

then it gets on its knees

and praises freedom and the love of god

before america wraps itself in the american flag

and puts its bullshit hypocritical self to bed.

--John Grochalski

                                                           

day FIVE HUNDRED and TWENTY

new leader guy

with fifty countries
we should have someone
who can represent us

to the world
who cares about
our needs

limited in power
subject to
the people

we started
the union thing
before Europe

we should
have a person
who cares

maybe one
of our
governors

can represent
our fifty
countries

and maybe we
could call the
countries states

but still each state
is an independent
country

this new
leader guy
or woman

should care
about us
and not himself

should be a
positive force
in the world

should strive
for peace
and not

attack
our
friends

not be
obsequious
to our enemies

he should at least
care about more
than how he looks


--Thomas R. Thomas

day FIVE HUNDRED and NINETEEN

DONALD TRUMP IS A RAPIST RACIST

                                Photography by John Grochalski

day FIVE HUNDRED and EIGHTEEN

Politics 101

Yes we have no problems

we have no problems today

since that slush fund stuff

is more than enough

to buy our final say

sooooooooo

we'll continue to gamble

and amble in ample gambols

because we know a man

who'll pay a man

to sway our yea or nay

though we stink of the sin

of shrink wrap within

and run from our women's dismay

but hey

that's okay

as long as pay continues the play

and belief in relief

enslaves what's beneath

we'll have no problems today

--Steven B. Smith

day FIVE HUNDRED and SEVENTEEN

OUCH!

                                            Photography by John Grochalski

day FIVE HUNDRED and SIXTEEN

Three Views of High Street

walking down High Street

after dinner, holding

hands and there’s a homeless

man and a passerby

he’s holding the homeless

man’s hand, eyes closed

saying a prayer

I want to say

god doesn’t exist

and I’m tired

of people thinking

thoughts and prayers

instead of direct action

is enough

we talk on the way

to a bar about

what a wreck

West Virginia has become

or always was

 it’s the coal operators

who’ve fucked this state

they’ve taken

huge fortunes on the backs

of broken workers, at the expense

of these states citizens

at the expense of this states

natural beauty.  you know

this is only state where

bombs we’re dropped

by the military on striking

miners, that was barely

one hundred years ago

later, in bed on the sixth

floor of what used to be a

fancy, now tawdry, hotel

we lie in bed, quiet talk

sirens flow constant

she says half serious

we should get married

so you have health insurance

I laugh almost a full minute

finally say if you throw in

your dental plan

I may consider it

she says, what is marriage

good for if not insurance

I say, I guess, but it’s fucked

we have to think that way

--Jason Baldinger

day FIVE HUNDRED and FIFTEEN

AWKWARD

world villain seems a poor fit

a history of tolerance

always a work in progress

landgrabs from the original inhabitants

centuries of slavery, decades of prejudice

still, the promise of liberty

liberal values, justice for all

free appropriate public education

a pretend lamp our acknowledgment

our beloved democracy

proving anyone can be president

even a tabloid tv star (you know who you are)

never one thought toward public service

in fact, against it!

nobody’s perfect

bombast only goes so far

our children at risk

I was a child

our country a hero

US, world villain

gonna take some getting used to

--Chuck Joy

day FIVE HUNDRED and FOURTEEN

election 2016 (revisited)

you hated her?

....you should've hated him more.

--John Grochalski

day FIVE HUNDRED and THIRTEEN

dangerous Myan woman
small as a child
illegal for entering

my country
fleeing thugs from
her country

crying in court
in her orange
jumpsuit

missing her baby
stolen from her
pleading forgiveness

for loving her child
for fearing death
for believing

my country
is better
than hers

--Thomas R. Thomas