"Ego" by Stephen Jarrell Williams

EGO

None of us
saw
what the world was coming to

we had ideas and even visions
but
nothing like the slap and roar of the end

children no longer born
women no longer loved
sea and sky no longer blue

earth, wood, and stone
falling
on every man so full of himself.



Published in protestpoems.org- December 24, 2011

"You Shouldn't" by Stephen Jarrell Williams

You Shouldn’t

They say you shouldn’t

Antagonize the government

With their continuing expansion of the Patriot Act

Supplying sniper rifles to one-eyed Jacks

Marshall Law signs already printed up and stored

In vacant buildings outside of town and city

Row-after-row of thousands training

Strategically staged across the country

Containment forces with truck loads of body bags

NSA listening

Lists drawn

Odds are you’re on at least one page with an X

Easy now

Don’t panic

You use to think your body was God’s

But they’ll use it

After you’re shot and displayed like a ragdoll

Igniting you on TV

What a fire that will be

The news announcing nothing to worry about

Just a trash fire

Another trouble-maker dead

For everything is under control here at home

Smoke becoming our atmosphere.

Published in The Camel Saloon- January 2015