Down And Out by Stephen Jarrell Williams

Out
on the rim
of the spinning city,
at home in my dizzy whirl,
licking my computer screen,
dust of many,
buzz of more, more, more...

All the toxic leaders
soaking in mega tubs,
my lifeblood keeping them afloat
with my fractured family
and bent self.

Southland weather promising fire
sticks burning like pretzels,
salt of the earth leaving a slight stain
down the middle of the street,
shame, shame, shame...

I don't want to die just yet,
wanting to squeeze it before the crash.

I wanted what others wanted,
lost sight of the everyday glow.

The system corrupting.
My toes in the stir.
Round and round,
we all fall
down.


Published in Shoots And Vines- December 2009

In A Dark Time by Stephen Jarrell Williams

In a dark time
within us and here,
we smooth ourselves over
with oil and gossip.

Beating our heels into the floor music,
paying more with less
awareness.

Whistling old songs
like they'll save us.

Give us that shot,
vaccine against swine
boiled in the underworld.

There's not enough
lighthouses to cast light over the dying sea.

The fires are burning California.

Where's the great Kennedy from yesterday?

Only Dylan still has a spark to share.

We should march for something...

We're in a vacuum of overpopulation,
soulless mass,
lost

in a dark time.



Published in protestpoems.org- September 2009