Chris Wallace chuckles as Rome burns.

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-30T14_20_45-07_00

Time’s up
If you’re not part of the one percent you’re screwed
That’s what the powers that be want us to believe, but I’ll never accept that virus infected telegram

Talk over us, interrupt us and do everything you can to break our spirits and we’ll still come out on top because we have right on our side and your might will only get you so far
Take away our healthcare, a woman’s right to choose and still we’ll beat you in the end because we are the rising sun while your sun has set eons ago

I’ve never understood why minorities have anything to do with the GOP when they could care less about anyone who isn’t white and ready to carry a burning torch through the claustrophobic cornfields
Also don’t get why people who don’t have a lot of money are republicans when it’s been proven over and over again that nothing trickles down but rainwater and the tears of a misbegotten savior
My heart bleeds for you, but not because I’m a liberal. My heart bleeds for anyone who pretends they’re something they’re not and continues to come up short as an honorable parade passes you by

The clock’s face is all scrunched up
Watching this first debate was like pulling out my own toenails and feeding them to the invisible pigeons in my head
Our spirits mustn’t be broken by this clown because there’s still work to be done and a whole lot of grievances that must be sorted out before the dawn breaks and the darkness goes back from whence it came.

Charles Cicirella
9/30/2020

No Knock Warrant (For Breonna Taylor)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-25T18_18_50-07_00

Don’t believe the news
They never report the truth
Black people aren’t even safe in their own residences

We’re supposed to feel sad when a cop dies at the hands of a black perpetrator and yet when a black person is shot down like a dog nothing is done to the cops while the victim’s reputation is smeared because cops take care of their own and racists never truly take off their white hoods
Whatever happened to common sense like for instance no knock warrants never should have existed and why is it cops always shoot to kill instead of shooting to wound?
Sandra Bland was supposedly "combative and uncooperative" during a traffic stop only to be found three days later dead in her cell. The Texas state trooper who pulled her over was only charged with perjury for conduct related to a contentious traffic stop of a black woman even though we can clearly hear him yelling on dashcam video "I will light you up!"

All lives matter and the racists who are hiding behind a badge and executing black people need to be charged with murder because enough is enough and all this senseless violence needs to be put to bed with a swift kick in its GI Joe extremities
Breonna Taylor was one of their own and still she got no justice while the officer who shot into the neighbor’s next door apartment was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment
It’s getting to the point where it seems the powers that be are bating black people to react because they know the cops will never be touched and that has to change because without consequences this powder keg only becomes more incendiary and the scales of justice only get more out of whack.

Charles Cicirella
9/25/20

Untitled

 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-20T03_38_20-07_00

These are the words
Without malice
Without forethought

The poetry arrives or it doesn’t
Like a photo negative
Or a litmus test with no conscience

You gotta grease the wheels
In these Modern Times
Of refuse and reprimand

I was unprepared for her purgatory come-ons
They came at me like De Niro in Raging Bull
I love a good movie, but I’m no film auteur

These are the notes
Without complaint
Without hesitation

The poetry arrives on its own terms
Like a picture in your mind
Or a pop quiz you mustn’t prepare for

You gotta leave the driving to someone else
In these times of virus and vitriol
It’s all in the game when you’re infected on the Vegas strip

I wasn’t ready for the way he used the words so honorably
His voices came at me like an impassioned starling or La Charity on a tear
I love a good beatnik, but I’m no master thief.

Charles Cicirella
9/20/20

RBG

 https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-19T20_04_18-07_00

“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new President is installed.”

Lioness
Fierce advocate
Opera devotee

This must be a beginning
Cannot allow the hypocrites to grind us down anymore
Learn from our lionized mistakes and move on

When they broke into Jeopardy! I knew something was wrong
My friend Klute said he felt completely numb and I can relate
She was stardust and it’s getting that much harder to get back to the garden

We must find the steel in our spines to fight for our very lives
She hung on as long as she possibly could and it’s now our turn to give something back to her
It won’t be easy, but we must stop these bastards before they take all of the oxygen from the room, leaving us blue and rotting

A gangster in the truest sense of the word
RBG held our country in her arms and nearly got us over the finish line
We must learn from her example and never give up the fight no matter how dark it gets before the dawn.

Charles Cicirella
9/19/20

Residue (For Juliet Cook)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-18T14_21_38-07_00

She makes degradation sexy
That first line will annoy her
Though it’s intended as a compliment

Always keeps me on my toes
She’s as tightly wound as a serial yo-yo
Gets on your fingers like elbow grease

I watched her arrange her McNuggets
Always keeps you guessing with her sphinx ways
She’s second to none and one in a million

The residue from her brainstem drips onto the bare page
We’re all curious what will come out of her mouth next
The blood pudding flowing through her fishnet stockings keeps us all on high alert

This poem isn’t easy to write
Sometimes getting back up on the horse isn’t as simple as it sounds
Never forget tearing through the ghetto on that bicycle built for two

As artists we withstand the pressure of a society on life support
Put our poems in a drawer waiting for our big break or better drugs
I check on her from time to time and like it when I can make her laugh

She makes falling from grace not such a big ordeal
I’m sure she’s rolling her eyes, but she’ll never write me off because we’ve been friends for far too long
The trouble I stir up is all in good fun because I’ve always loved her and never wish any harm to come to her.

Charles Cicirella
9/17/20

 

Radical Individualism (For Jax)

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2020-09-15T22_03_42-07_00

Haven’t been writing

Still the words haunt me

You’re my tolling bell

 

Swing low

Eat lots of vegetables

Sweet chariot

 

You’re a pistol

Carved out of the ether

No bullets necessary

 

We’re all radicals

Exhaling truth

Inhaling fever dreams

 

Haven’t been writing

God plays peek a boo

I roll over like a mutt

 

Charles Cicirella

9/16/20