(Photo: Daniela Paola Alchapar on Unsplash)
They took the temperature
Of the crowd,
And realized they could
Twist skeins of truth into
Great blobs of knotted lies,
Then sell
As remedy
To now a fevered mob,
A distorted gospel
Bloated with melodramatic
Sighs.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: Temperature in 37 words
(Photo: Paul Zoetemeijer on Unsplash)
They were drawn in, unsuspecting,
By tales of glory finally
Being restored,
From a manufactured time of
Old.
Then kept in even when doubting
To go on,
Stuck, as it were, in
The eye of a hate filled
Maelstrom.
Spun, they were,
In webs of lies.
To leave they would
Need to give up
Pretended lives.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Maelstrom in 56 words
(Photo: Molly Blackbird on Unsplash)
They say she gets to choose to be obedient, or face the consequences.
They say she gets to choose to accept her fault, or be blamed anyway.
She gets to chew on what she’d done. Even if it was done to her. It is still somehow her doing. Her consequence. Her crime. Her punishment.
She cradles what is left of her. Tucks it away. She will not be allowed to be. Or flee. Or seek a help. Or have a voice. Or make a choice. Not really.
It does not matter what she needs. It never did.
Her body just a vehicle for others’ machinations. An incubator for others’ agendas.
The growing despair is meant to put her in her place. Clip her wings. Keep her there.
She never mattered. No matter what words they pretended to say.
She gets to choose what they say she must do. Any other path is deemed a sin. A wrong she does.
She has no right to choose. They choose for her.
And if she dares seek freedom for herself, dares to try and claim back what is left of her body, she’ll be, to them, a killer.
For Linda’s SoCS prompt of chews/choose
(Photo: Intricate Explorer on Unsplash)
His chest pumped high
In disrespect
He struts
And spouts,
Magniloquent.
Follow his every word
They must,
Appease or face
Scathing wrath.
Bombastic peacock
Heading
Cult.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: Magniloquent in 26 words
Photo: Maria Teneva on Unsplash
He thinks himself a cavalier:
Aristocratic,
Well revered.
In fact he is
Just cavalier:
Disdainful
Petty
Quick to smear.
He thinks himself
A cavalier:
A man whose word all
Must adhere.
In truth he is
Just cavalier:
Dismissive
Hurtful
Full of sneer.
He thinks himself
A cavalier:
Someone for everyone
To cheer.
Yet he is
A racketeer,
And they want him
Out of here.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Cavalier in 64 words
Photo: Patrick Smith on Unsplash
He claims crises are never his doing.
He says none of what’s broken
Can be.
Not the harm.
Not the scams.
Not the spread of corruption,
Or growing alarm.
It is all others’
Fault.
Everyone else
Is bad.
If there’s pain
It’s the doing of fools
Who complain
And fake hardships besides.
Obdurate,
He mocks all
Who point out
Lies he told.
To him every word
From his mouth
Is pure gold.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Obdurate in 72 words
Photo: Franck V. on Unsplash
You are not welcome
Here,
With your
Contaminated fear.
You are not welcome
Here,
With words that hurt
And terms that mean to harm, divert,
Self-aggrandize, and
Smear.
There is a bigger risk
In hate
Than in keeping
Near.
You are not welcome
Here,
If you weaponize worry
To steer
Away from empathy,
Away from truth,
Away from the real challenges we share
As we ride great distances
On this one
Sphere.
Call this by its name.
Not by the rhetoric
Of racist,
Misinforming
Jeer.
Address it not in
Murky swamps
That deliberately
Throw mud into the
Gears.
Humanity is better
Than your insatiable need
To infect the
Atmosphere.
We’re on to you.
We see.
We hear.
We will hold steady to what
Matters.
We support the hardworking, factual and
Compassionately
Sincere.
But you?
You are not welcome
Here.
For Linda Hill’s SoCS writing prompt: Welcome
Photo: Zane Lee on Unsplash
“Quite simply,” she said,
“The very times when some in power
Are seeking to perplex you,
Are the times when you best make sure
That you are not at all confused.”
“For when what should be simple
Is deliberately made unclear,
And what’s logical is spun
Cheaply to cost dear,
It ought to signal your eyes
To remain widely open,
And your ears to insist on holding only
To the truth.”
She sighed and touched the blue print
Faded on her arm,
Seared like yesterday
In her heart and mind.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Challenge: Perplex in 90 words
Photo by Tookapic on Pexels.com
A trick elicits grins by design
But the smirks are clear sign
Of those who won’t admit
The high cost of deceit.
This post continues the blogging challenge in which Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, serves as inspiration a-la the “Daily Prompt.”
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