Halloween 2024

 

All Hallows Eve,

Halloween,

Samhain,

when the misty veil

between the living

and the dead is

thinned.

 

Ghouls and Ghosts,

may roam the streets,

looking for goodies

and snack to eat,

but it’s memory that

haunts me.

 

All for the sweet, lost Lenore,

in her sepulcher by the shore.

 

No. Just kidding. There’s no Lenore.

But who else should you quote on

Halloween, but Edger Allen Poe?

 

If ever I could write so sweetly

and yet so melancholy, about

the incredible depths of passion

I had for the incredibly mundane.

I would then be a poet of some

renown I’m sure.

 

Halloween is for the children now,

getting treats, wearing costumes,

going trunk to trunk in safely lit

parking lots as local DJ’s play annoying

Halloween novelty songs.

It’s no longer really about the horrors

of Death, a grim reaper curling its boney fingers

around your throat as you struggle against the inevitable.

 

No witches are flying across the Moon,

stealing children for their bones to add

to the eye of newt soup, boiling in a cauldron

back at the coven.  They probably feel bad

because the horrors of the real world completely

usurp the imagined horrors of lore.  

 

Frankenstein’s Monster,

would be a welcome guest at many

tables and be a marvel of medical science,

rather than the soulless, tortured

creature of literature.

He’d be less of a pariah than your

racist Uncle who always ruins Thanksgiving

with his rants about, “those kinds of folks.”

 

In a world of true terrors and horrors,

it’s hard to rectify the enjoyment of

cursed mummies, vampires and spirits,

teasing the living with nightmares and

spine tingles.

 

Nevertheless, Happy Halloween!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nativism is Old

 

Whenever I hear anyone spout the ridiculous phrase,  “America for Americans”; I am always reminded of the “Know-Nothing” Party of the 1830’s and 1840’s here in the United States. 

A ridiculous movement, alleging they were  Nativists who were attempting to protect the United States from outside foreign influences often through violence and the fear of violet reprisal. 

A party that called itself, The Know-Nothing Party, obviously could not sustain its anti-immigrant, and often anti-Catholic, public opinions because they literally knew nothing. They were stupid people doing stupid things. Yet, they were effective in influencing multiple government policy decisions of the past. 

Their politics were based on old stereotypes, misinformation, racism and fear mongering, which if you think sounds familiar, let me let you in on a little secret:  “It’s never gone away in the United States.”  There are still huge portions  of the population who do not understand the benefits of this melting pot of a country or that their own existence in  this country is likely due to immigration. 

Creating fear and mistrust of immigrants is the cornerstone of any Nativist movement.  Be it here is the United States or Germany, Europe, the Mid-East, it’s always the same. 

The hallmarks of Nativists are always the same, “those people are not us, so we should shun them, beat them, shoot them, or otherwise keep them separated from the rest of us through poverty and inaccessibility to opportunity.” That’s what they do. 

It’s what they did in the 1830’s through the present. They make you think that your way of life is being threatened by some person or belief system that is different than yours. They use that to make you afraid and to keep us divided.  It didn’t even have to be about immigrants either.  It was always about race too. 

The threat of Nativism is usually just seething under some other layer of political double-talk. It’s always sort of there, but the angels of our naivete seem to simply ignore it and pray it stays confined to the small corners and pockets of old-World thinking, hoping it will eventually be naturally snuffed out through generations of progressive idealism and an expansion into the greater global markets. 

Yet, it reared its ugly huge head recently, spewing the vitriolic acids that the worst rhetoric is made of. It is poured into the ears and empty heads to bubble and corrode any moral compunction to do the right thing. And those is the crowd cheered at the belittlement of their fellow man. 

It’s always been snake oil and shenanigans.  Because on this tiny freaking planet. The only one we have. We’re all just human beings trying to live, have a good life for ourselves and our progeny. So for god sakes, stop falling for this Nativist bullshit. It’s old, it’s ridiculous and frankly what’s held back this human society for thousands of years. So get over it. Love thy neighbor and shun the proselytizer who tell you otherwise.   

Vote for the party that wants to bring us all together, not tear us apart.

 

  

That's Pretty Scary

 

                “There’s a Pumpkin Man standing on the front lawn, Jeffrey,” said Margie. 

                “What’s that you say,” asked Jeffrey. 

                “A Pumpkin Man, he’s  just standing on the front lawn. It looks like he’s waving, or maybe, dancing or something,” said Margie. 

                Jeffery put his mug of hot apple cider down on the near by end table, tossed the cozy fall blanket off his legs and rose from the warmth of the well-worn leather couch. His shadow flickered against the wall of the study as he crossed in front of the crackling fire in the fireplace. He stood next to Margie at the window and separated the blinds. 

                On the lawn, just as Margie had said, was a lumpy looking Pumpkin Man standing on the lawn amid the recently fallen Autumn leaves. He seemed to be doing some sort of primitive dance, raising each stubby arm up elbow high as if he were playing maracas, but slowly and out of sync with any actual tune. 

                “Well, that’s weird,” said Jeffrey, “I wonder if it’s some sort of Halloween thing. Some kids or some goofy neighbor. You remember how weird the Gonzalez's were don’t you honey.” 

                Margie looked out the window again at the oddly shaped being, so orange in the face, the green stem on the top somewhat yellowed rotten and old. It was clad in a wrinkled and ill-fitting suit, just sort of dancing on the lawn to a song it didn’t really know. 

                “I don’t think it’s a Halloween thing. I think it... wants something,” said Margie. 

                “What could it possibly want,” asked Jeffrey as he looked back out the window. He was sad his apple cider was starting to cool rapidly on the end table. He was starting to feel a little annoyed Margie had interrupted him. It was her idea to light the fireplace and have a cozy night under the blanket. 

                “I think it wants our vote,” said Margie. 

                “Our vote? For like, best pumpkin at a State Fair or something,” asked Jeffrey. 

                Margie leaned closer to the window to get another look. Jeffrey sighed and looked longingly at the mug on the end table. He’d added some whiskey when Margie wasn’t looking. 

                “Yes, I see it now. His little leafy hand is holding a Vote for Me for President sign,” said Margie, “It’s a small sign, but it’s holding it, holding it in the weirdest way possible.” 

                “President? President of what, the produce aisle,” asked Jeffrey as he looked out the window again. 

                Margie grabbed at her shoulders and shuddered. “I just got a terrible feeling”, she said. 

                Jeffrey snorted slightly through his nose but they both kept staring at the swaying Pumpkin Man on the lawn. 

                The doorbell rang and both Jeffrey and Margie jumped. The sudden chiming had startled them both. 

                “I’ll get it,” said Jeffrey. But Margie grabbed him by the crook of his right arm and pulled. 

                “Let’s both go to the door,” said Margie. 

                The doorbell chimed again, and Jeffrey and Margie stiffened their backs. They headed toward the front door. Jeffrey flicked on the porch light and peered through the peephole. He could only see someone’s back, their body swaying back and forth on the balls of their feet. 

                “Who is it,” questioned Jeffrey through the closed door. 

                “Just a minute of your time if you would sir. We’re just looking to talk to some registered voters and get their opinions on some of the most important issues facing our time,” said a grumbly yet strangely youthful voice from the shadows. 

                “Um, we’re not accepting any callers at this hour,” said Jeffrey as Margie squeezed his arm. 

                “Sir, the fate of our way of life is in serious jeopardy, so we would sincerely like to talk to you about what you can do to make this country great again and save it from the evil within that is rotting it’s soul,” said the voice in the shadows of the front porch. 

                “Um, no thank you. We’re not interested. Thank you,” said Jeffrey. 

                “We’re not going away sir,” said the voice, “You need to stand up for your county sir.” 

                “Are you affiliated with that… thing on the front lawn,” asked Margie. 

                The figure on the front porch paused for a beat. He shifted on his feet and cracked his neck loudly. 

                “Ma’am, that man is the holy savior, given divination by God to save this Country from the rats and liberals that have destroyed the holy Christian fabric of our nation. He is the only one that can save you if you elect him as President,” said the man on the porch. 

                “Um,… this nation was founded by Protestants,” said Margie. 

                There was another long pause from the figure on the porch. 

                “Can I leave some literature with you folks,” asked the figure on the porch. 

                Jeffrey and Margie looked at each other, both shaking their heads. 

                “No. No thank you,” they both said, “Please just be on your way,” added Jeffrey. 

                The figure on the porch shuffled lamely, as if one of it’s legs had been seriously injured at some point in the past. It shuffled and limped into the chilly Autumn night. 

                Margie shuddered again and Jeffrey rubbed her shoulders. 

                “That was extremely weird,” said Jeffrey. He straightened his sweater from where Margie had been holding him tight. He turned from the door and headed back to his now cold apple cider and whisky.  Margie returned to the window and looked outside. 

                She shrieked and stumbled backwards as the Pumpkin Man was now pressed against the glass. It was moaning and mumbling incoherently about tariffs and dealing with the deals that only he can deal with the dealers who do the dealings, tariffs and that he loved women, and enemies, and then it stopped and just stood there, sleeping it seemed, but still dancing. 

                Jeffrey helped Margie up and hugged her tight. He reached out toward the window and quickly whisked the curtains closed. The Pumpkin Man, still mumbling against the glass, slobbering and mixing metaphors with unintelligible ramblings. Until it just stopped, seemingly forgetting what it was doing, until there was no sound at all. 

                “Just a few more weeks darling,” said Jeffrey as he soothed the terrified Margie, “Just a few more weeks and he’ll be gone. Back to the dead zone from which he was spawned.” 

                The fire crackled in the fireplace, the flames casting eerie shadows on the walls.

 

 

               

 

                 

 

 

Weighing In

 

I do not think we are in

desperate times, calling for

desperate measures,

but I do see some peril,

creeping ever so sickly

over the Horizon.

 

There’s a grotesquerie that has

slithered across the heart

and soul of this Republic,

churning up the fear and division,

and that sickly and threatening

creep is Donald Trump.

 

It is not clear to me at all

what his appeal is to people;

he is not a strong leader,

he is not decisive or clear-minded,

he is neither charming nor decent,

he is a narcissist with an addiction

to perceived power.

 

He has never said the words,

“I’m sorry,”. Ever. He doesn’t believe

he’s ever done anything wrong in his

entire life. He thinks compassion, empathy and

civility is a weakness. He is incapable

of learning any lessons, because he

believes that he is always right.

And he’ll never, ever say he’s sorry.

Or that he learned something new.

 

He doesn’t like you,

he wouldn’t sit next to you at a Diner,

he is grossed out by the people of

this Country, but begs and pleads

for your money like a pimp in a

church courtyard.  Feigning religion,

while contemptuously sinning for profit.

 

He has no policies to help you,

to enrich your lives in any way,

only himself and his mega-rich

associates (let’s face it I don’t think

he’s ever had a real friend.) And

wouldn’t give you a second notice if

he saw you bleeding on the street.

Unless it was for a real estate deal.

 

He is mentally and socially incapable

of helping anyone but himself or his

own egomaniacal projection of who he thinks he is.

He is no Messiah.

He is no savior.

He is a misogynistic con man in bad suits.

Selling snake oil from a wagon to the

gullible and infirm.

 

He will not help you or your

kitchen table concerns,

He’d sell your kitchen table

right from under you if he

thought he could make a profit

from it.

His appeal is a mystery to me.

 

That being said; I am a liberal,

a Democrat, and have been since

I have had the privilege of

voting for who I believe

has my best interests at heart.

I have a bias towards the Democratic

Party because I believe in their intentions

of unity, equality and intelligent compassion.

So excuse my clear and unedited endorsement of them.

 

Right now,

the people who have my

best interests at heart are

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,

and I fully endorse them

for President and Vice President

of the United States of America.

 

There’s virtue in their desire

to be a Civil Servant, to be a

voice for the voiceless in this

representational republic.

Kamala and Tim consider it an honor

to serve the People.

 

They understand the duty and

personal sacrifice that it takes

to be an elected official

and it is those traits that I respect

and fully endorse.

There’s sincere compassion they both

exude for the people they want to represent.

And to me, that is the best qualification

for leading this nation.

Empathy, understanding, and a

commitment to the betterment of

us all, regardless of background, are

the pillars of strong leadership.

 

When the least of us,

has the same opportunity as the

best of us, the same potential as

the most privileged, and a drive to

achieve and an opportunity to do so;

reflected in our elected officials

then we all do better.

 

So in 20 days, if you haven’t already,

vote your conscience, vote for the future

of this nation, a nation of integrity, decency,

equality, liberty and the rule of law.

 

Please resist the temptation

to vote for the boisterous braggart who would seriously

be the villain in a Bond movie,

or any political thriller.

Do better for us all.

Do better for the future.

 

Vote Blue to protect

the values of our Democratic Republic.

Put 'em Up

 

Political punching bags,

by promising patriots,

placating in the parlance

of present times to the

peons and principalities.

 

Prestidigitation and parlor

tricks, to pacify and

plunder the poor,

the plebian and professional

persons.

 

Pointing to preposterous

pontifications,

predicated on a potpourri of pestilence,

plainly performances to pollute

and pilfer.

 

Politics by pugilism,

puffery and pomp,

plaguing the people

with poxes and infected

poultices.

 

Pursuing power for the

sake of power, rather than

providing power for the sake of

people, progress and peaceful

proliferation.

 

Progress for a more perfect

Union, preserved in Liberty,

provide for the common defense,

promote the general welfare for

ourselves and posterity.

 

Part of a Planet,

a purpose,

as people,

participating in this Republic’s

process and promise.

 

Purposely and with profundity.

The Old Summer Gods

 

The eyes of the old Gods

of Summer are getting

sleepy with each shortened

hour of daylight,

diminished minute by minute,

day by day.

 

Their yawns are the winds,

coldly blowing through the

chilling Summer evenings,

as the crackle of Summer

bonfires set in and we get

that old sweater out of the car.

 

The Autumnal Gods,

are licking their lips as

they know their time is

coming soon, and they

stretch and reach up,

tinging the leaves gold and brown.

 

Each night, the Summer Gods

doze just a little more,

just a little longer,

each morning it’s harder to

get up and roll out of the light

Summer sheets of bed.

 

The trudge to the kitchen,

more laborious, more hungover,

with the festivals, parties, and Olympic

trials, now quickly in the past.

Summer Gods too fat on the

hedonism to care.

 

Summer Gods, fading tans

and blonde hair highlights,

bikinis and trunks nearly threadbare,

almost ready for next year,

and a return to the joys of

daily Bacchanalia.

 

While Autumn waits.

Shoeless

 

While out for drive

with my special lady,

she noticed something

strange.  Or curious,

or just out of place.

 

A young man,

riding a foot powered

scooter, in only his

sock-feet, shortly

after an afternoon

rain had dampened the

streets and sidewalks.

 

“No shoes,” she said

as she pointed at him from

the front passenger seat.

 

Indeed there he was,

stopped at the crosswalk,

waiting for the WALK sign to

give him permission to continue

on his shoeless way.

 

He was dressed casually for

a Summer day, tee-shirt and

shorts, nothing too unusual,

except for the fact that he was

missing his shoes.

 

“That’s so odd,” I said.

Genuinely perplexed by this

young man’s predicament.

I couldn’t understand by

what means this young man

became shoeless on a scooter,

in the rain.

 

What fate befell this young shoeless

scooter rider? Was he robbed? Was he

making a quick getaway and

left his shoes behind before his

lover’s significant other came home to

discover their tryst?

 

It got me thinking about our

backstories, the stories that

make-up our identities and generally

define who we are and who we are

to each other.

 

So many questions, no answers.

Another player on the stage,

another mystery playing out on the streets

of Chicago for us to ponder,

with only one person that knows the answer.  

But so many stories inside.