Tag: Joy A. Burki-Watson

The State of the Un-Union Address

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Success is touted sweetest
By he who walks a line
Between the poor and needy
With one thing on his mind

Do unto others, while in charge,
Remove their rights to stay
And while your mumbling ‘kiss my ass’
Just tweet what’s rude to say

Success is hate and mass control
And all the things you think
While you walk proudly with that grin
And leave behind your stink

America how can we watch
Our world in disarray
While future death walks on our heels
And buries us that way

Success is lying from the swamp
Where fellow gators growl
There’ll be no life if they are left
To watch him as he prowls

The elderly now feel the crunch
Where tax cuts – cut them most
Security comes when you die
With health the lethal dose

Success is his to huff and puff
‘bout all he now un-did
And bully those who’ve had enough
While dignity stays hid

Dream on dreamers for your fate
Is balancing his acts
Here today then on your way
Unregarding all your facts.

Yes! Success is touted sweetest
By the sourball to all
To comprehend just what we had
We had to take that fall!

Un-love is that un-liberty
We live in freedom’s grip
Un-healthy and un-forgiven now
We’re living his own trip!

 

© 2018 Joy A. Burki-Watson

Image by Donkey Hotey

 

Are We Lazing in Liberty?

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Newsweek reports:

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published Monday a commentary titled “Trump Should Cool His Jets and Face Up to Reality.” Citing foreign media reports, including Newsweek’s coverage of a poll that found nearly two-thirds of U.S. citizens were against going to war with North Korea, the state-run outlet called on Trump and his administration to rescind their threat to forcefully disarm supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ballistic arsenal, which has continued to grow despite increased U.S.-led diplomatic, economic and military pressures.

 

“The public opinion opposed to the preemptive attack is getting stronger in the U.S. It can be viewed as a sort of advice that the U.S. administration should drop the adventurous and risky way of thinking and boldly make a U-turn in its policy toward the DPRK,” the commentary read, referring to North Korea by an acronym for its official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

 

“The right to preemptive attack is not exclusive to the U.S. The U.S. should cool-headedly face up to the reality that the iron-willed DPRK’s preemptive nuclear attack against provocateurs is just not hot air,” it added.

 

Read the article.

 

 

I’ve a nagging feeling fumbling
with all that’s wise and all that’s right
I sense the tense of war drums rumbling –
and fear what thunders out-of-sight

Isn’t bragging unappealing
when facing facts and future’s fate?
It’s our freedom that’s revealing
procrastination must not wait!

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

 

I Saw Donald Shrugging Off His Flaws

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Sing along to I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

I saw Donald missing all that was
Still breathing ‘neath the missile’s glow in flight
He wouldn’t see it sweep
Into his world of cheap
He thought that I had ducked into my boardroom down the street

Then I saw Donald scribble some new laws,
Just beneath where weird and him unite
I cussed at that handshake
And knew I’d not relate
I rubbed my eyes, unmoved by boast, and knew it was too late!

Then I saw Donald shrugging off his flaws
He shook my hand and pulled me to the couch
While whispering, “Just mind!”
Without a care for mine,
Then Donald grooved within that room before he went on-line.

Then I saw Donald fumble – just because
He would not hear he quibbled now and then
When called to answer for
He headed out the door
But left it open, just a crack, so we’d beseech “Encore!”

When I saw Donald address all that was
I quickly knew he posed a threat to “fair”
My life now compromised
By ego and by lies
He wasn’t nice and after all he’d find his gall revised.

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

 

I’ve Been Thinking Lately

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I’ve been thinking lately
there’s much that seems amiss –
tragedies are stacking up
and I am found transfixed.

Storms beyond the normal storms
leave waves of woe behind
the used-to-be’s of basic needs
delaying peace of mind

Western mountains all aflame
where blaze and daze collide
homes in ashy ruins gaze
on ashy mountainsides

I watch the “ne’er-before’s” amass
and wonder what’s gone wrong
Americans with blinders on
do their own thing – headstrong

The freedom light of liberty’s
been changed by those we trust
they’re chanting wrongs that don’t seem right
ignoring peaceful musts!

Terror showed its hateful face
when tolerance took leave
so now the death of love adds up
with number’s disbelief.

I hear the silent voice of those
long gone, before the change
o’er took our eyes to view our lives
with feelings of estrange.

I’ve been thinking lately
there’s much that seems amiss –
tragedies are stacking up
and I am found transfixed.

 

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

 

A Word to a President

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I watch you when you’re waving
to your crowds of crazy fans,
I hear you when you’re speaking
‘bout all your future plans–
But did you ever wonder
why the Newsmen share the facts
of all that you’ve been sharing
and the class, they see, you lack!
And did you ever wonder
why you never hear yourself,
is it all because your ego
is … “In and of Itself”?

If I could share a word or two
about the ‘You’ I’ve seen —
I’d tell you just to shut your mouth
and watch what’s unforeseen!
Some would wonder why you changed
but they’d assume the best —
Other folks would rearrange
their thoughts —- you were possessed!
And all the folks you used to hate
would now feel welcomed back
And they would know that you meant “great”
was more than a wisecrack!

‘Twas Odgen Nash who gave advice
to husbands so they’d win
And now I’m wishin’– you’d think twice
before you’re a “has-been”!

 

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

Image Source

He who diss’d me

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At best, the CNN tweet is an indirect promotion of violence. At worst, it’s direct. Either way, it’s a violation of Twitter’s policy.

 […]

The policy also says users “may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.”

 […]

For all the controversy provoked by Trump’s tweets, there’s no question that the POTUS’s use of Twitter as his primary communication medium is good for Twitter. The microblogging service, whose business has been struggling for years, is enjoying its peak cultural relevance, thanks to the Tweeter in Chief.

 

But Twitter’s harassment problem goes beyond what the president posts and is harmful to the interests of the company (and society) in the long run. And if it’s serious about combatting abuse on its platform, Trump deserves to be held to the same standard as everyone else.

Twitter has a very strong case
to delete Trump’s account
Steve Kovach, Business Insider

 

 

He who diss’d me, gets a tweet
ev’ry time they fault my being,
call me blind or indiscreet
or tweak my mind with disagreeing!
I’ll be leery – say, “that’s bad!”
sense the devil must have kissed me –
quick respond on my iPad, to
he who diss’d me!

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

Trumped

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His words left thoughts not unforeseen
Like muddy prints through mezzanine.
And who would clean the mess he made
Or who’d define that masquerade
As yin and yang caught inbetween?

Who would deny it’s not obscene
To leave behind what seems unclean
And yet we sense a renegade!
His words left thoughts.

He paved his way with a smokescreen
By acting like a Philistine —
He’d then profess to serenade
His followers with truths ‘he made’
That left the rest of us dismayed!
His words left thoughts.

—
© Joy A. Burki-Watson, 2015

Photo Credit

 

The Latest Show on Earth

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Photo by Nazim Uddin: "Elephants and Dancers"

What is a circus going to do
without a proper tamer?
The animals may misconstrue
and act in ways that shame her,
The lyin’ troupe of balance men
may fall from their tightropes
They’ve shown us all, time and again
they all walk slipp’ry slopes
And need I mention ‘bout the leader,
of this fine brass band?
He’s known to be an avid tweeter –
with freedom out-of-hand!
It is the latest show on earth
and one that’s just not fair
and might I add, for all it’s worth,
each day’s a new nightmare!
—
© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

Image Source

“You could make a case the Ringling circus isn’t fading away. It’s simply changing costumes and setting up shop in the biggest tent of all.”

One circus closes and another comes to Washington
–Ruth, Tampa Bay Times, Opinion

Success so often tweeted

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“America’s business leaders have some advice for President Trump: Put down the Twitter cannon.

Sixty-seven percent of the nation’s chief financial officers surveyed by Duke University believe Trump can improve the business climate if he stops using Twitter, according to a survey of 350 CFOs released on Wednesday.”

67% of CFOs want Trump to stop tweeting
CNN Money

 

 

Success so often tweeted
Is not success at all
To understand defeated
Just read between the scrawl

It’s known as social media
Mere rhetoric, at best –
Like trumpeter who plays off key
Should give his breath a rest!

As we, defeated, sighing
In this forgotten place —
Hold so little hope in hand
For self-obsession’s face.

© 2017 Joy A. Burki-Watson

 

 

Let Her Not Be Tromped by Trump

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We watch Earth’s children of the dust
Wait to witness what’s unjust
We see the eyes of greedy men
Change their lives – time and again.
And watch their trail of tears adjust.

Their waters will be filled with rust —
Their sacred lands beneath the crust
Will be upturned by businessmen
We watch the children!

What right is there in breach of trust?
What will be left of undiscussed?
There’s more to life than might of pen
And more to spite than last Amen –
They stand for life and life’s a must!
We watch the children.

 

—

© Joy A. Burki-Watson, 2016

Public Domain Photo