sad times indeed

my dad would often say
be the optimist
find the positive
within the negative

i've tried dad

unsuccessfully

fifteen years out

and the planet
is afire
worse than
my dark imagination

water wells

are not running
oil & gas wells
have pushed everything else
to the edge
an abyss
long
in the making

poverty is the

sole identifying
parameter
for what was once
called life

so many wars

the protagonists
haven't even named
them all

the democrat apparatchiks

still blame ralph nader
for speaking truth

the summer of love

is only a rerun
the creatives now
are all in it for the money

trees are afflicted

throwing up their offspring
leaves going directly
from green to dead

a particulate mask

is the new fashion
madison avenue
denies

leaving only

a throat
as a voice
as a statement
as a rant
as a blank sign
to be filled in
as quick as possible

--- e b bortz