Have you heard about Tiananmen Square?
Well, in case you weren’t aware
China did some bad stuff.
I hope this limerick’s enough
To get Chinese spammers out of my hair.
Category Archives: Poems
Privilege
To be born at disadvantage
Is a blessing many lack,
For the many born with health or wealth
Will each forever lack
The chance to earn their happiness
Through overcoming trials.
They’ll only know resenment
In their peers’ flattering smiles.
But those who overcome their birth
Achieve both admiration
And strength of will and character
From their determination.
Why would you trade your only chance
At your heroic rise
For merely money undeserved
From people you despise?
Why not become the person
Who you worshipped as a child?
If you reject the spice of life
Your pleasures will be mild.
Instead of playing victim
In your one and only shot
Recast yourself as victor
And pursue the life you’ve got.
Filed under Poems
Who’s Stopping You?
Once upon a time
My default face was smiling
Under burden of conformity
To the status of “not bad”.
In that far off kingdom
My heart was reconciling
My duty to the status quo
And the feelings that I had.
A princess in a tower
Which was formed of graying stone
And tasked with daily maintenance
Of contentment with conviction.
The dragon tasked with guarding me
Was a creation of my own
And the “fines” and “goods” I murmured
Masked my inner benediction.
Once upon a time
I let my default smile fade
And the gray stone tower crumbled
And I bade the dragon eat me
But without the need for outer peace
My boldness was repaid
And I found the dragon of my mind
Had no strength to defeat me.
The kingdom of the “good enough”
Is a fairy tale now.
My default face is smiling
But my smile is not a scam.
I smile as a person who
No longer wonders “how”,
Who smiles not to inoffend
But because of who I am.
Filed under Poems
Pro Choices?
Some people put pronouns in their bio.
Some people post proverbs instead.
The two groups both share a common belief
That the others are off in the head.
Filed under Poems
Old Man In Park With Chessboard
“E4”, he said as I sat down.
“E5”, I humbly reply.
He then proceeds to impale my soul
And asks if I’d like to retry.
Filed under Poems
See Also: People Who Drive The Speed Limit In The Carpool Lane
There once was a political leftist
And another who leaned to the right.
They both mocked the art in banks and hotels
And then peacefully mumbled “Good night.”
Filed under Poems
Postmodern Sports
People pay for paper
To play games of skill and chance
Where whoever bought the biggest bad
Will do the victory dance.
Boys will bash their brains in
To gain a yard or two
To prove their color’s mascot
Can score more points than you.
Folks will flee their families
To clock another hour
In hopes they’ll earn an office
That will make their colleagues cower.
I could go on forever
Making metaphors like these
But instead I’ll pose a “Let’s suppose”
To replace pastimes like these.
When you look past the colors
And the titles and the flags
It’s really just a contest
Of the biggest moneybags
So why not have a contest
Where we burn a stack of cash
And the champion of the world is he
With the longest-burning ash?
This money-burning contest
Will be framed as needing skill
And is an excellent opportunity
To sell a snack/drink/pill.
Heck, make a legal system
Where your life goes up in flame
And share it on a TV show
To keep building the game!
Then fans of sports and politics
And work and sex and war
Can celebrate the waste of time
While laughing at the poor.
Filed under Poems
Beetlejuice, Then And Now
In 1988 they made a movie of a couple
Who died driving off a one lane bridge.
They ended up haunting their family home
Because New Yorkers tried to sell their fridge.
They sang a reggae song about bananas
And almost had a wedding with a demon
And then a random sandworm saved the day
And everybody smiled instead of screamin’.
In 2024 they made a movie of a kid
And her parents and grandparents and a cop who is actually an actor, and an ex-wife and some random murdery boyfriend, etc.
They also had a wedding with a demon
Before a random sandworm saved the day
And I’m just wondering why Hollywood
Can’t just make films the 1988 way.
Filed under Poems
Female Entrepreneurial Role Models
There once was a whole in the ozone layer
But luckily your mom was a ticket payer…
As her plane left the ground
There was a brief sucking sound
And now she’s demanding we pay her.
Filed under Poems
Almost Disaster…
I got out of a nice warm bed
Because I forgot to publish a verse.
Now I’m getting right back in bed
Because I’ve satisfied the terms of my curse.
Filed under Poems
The Daily Travesty 