#title Poetic Sovereignty
#subtitle A Collection of Poems
#author Paul Barbot
#SORTtopics poetry 
#source Personal communication with the author
#date 2012
#lang en
#pubdate 2012-10-23

* Part 1: Free Verse

** Constituent

<verse>
Bewildered by beguiling smiles
And enamored with shallow presentation
Cherished words they sing to me
Spawn blindness from my excitation

Worshipping the vile pitch
 Acknowledge not the continued fall
While bickering on all the matters 
That matter least of all

Never look beyond the cover
To discover their depravity
Cling desperate to the notion
Of escape from life’s tragedy
</verse>

** Fable  

<verse>
There has been no bigger myth
No grander lie told it seems.
Than if you work really hard
In this life you’ll succeed.

For great fortunes will fall upon you
Expanding billfolds burst their seams.
Who wouldn’t want a part of this…
The Great American Dream?

A story told to those who toil
For naught with broken backs.
While denying them the right to claim
A seat upon luxury’s lap.
</verse>

** Currency

<verse>
With your introduction
so began humanity’s descent.
Surreptitiously bound by these oppressive chains 
and burdened by your heavy yoke.
You slowly drag us back
towards the dark recesses of human iniquity
from which you spawned.
The weight of the passing years
has lent you a false credibility;
conning us to believe in your self-proclaimed immortality.
Barb after loathsome barb you sink into this tired body—
squeezing the vibrancy from life
and draining its vital essence until only an empty shell remains;
Leaving only the ability to silently scream at our abduction and decline.
Hugging us tighter still
you bring us to our knees as we reach in futility
for the time when we were merely strangers—
a time we achingly long to clamber back to.
Dig in our heels in an attempt to delay
this slow journey to the precipice—
the point at which all hope is lost;
where only the inevitable fall into the cold abyss awaits.
Prisoners for eternity.
Will we be passive participants in our own extinction
Or will we struggle to stand tall—
regain our pride?
Will we loudly denounce your depraved manner
and begin to expunge your pervasive influence—
casting aside these wearying shackles
to finally become…
free from the strife,
free from the torment,
free from the fear,
Free…
to finally watch you fall into antiquity

alone?
</verse>




** Mother Earth

<verse>
Oh my children, how you disappoint!
The arrogance and delusion you exude
To think that you have all the answers.
And now you turn your back on me?

You claim you know better
Without having a grasp on anything.
You disregard the lessons I’ve taught
On the cyclic nature of everything.

With every tool at your disposal…
This is what you’ve done?
Time has endowed you with intellect and reason
Do you not care for all you stand to lose?

You were once the twinkling in my eye;
Held in the highest of esteem;
The Pride of the entire family;
Now, we hang our heads in utter shame.

What are you doing inside that murky orb —Once pristine.
Will you rectify this devastation you’ve wrought,
And learn the error of your ways?

Or will you continue to plunder,
and rape?

I tell you this because I love you;
I hate to watch you fall from grace
Though perhaps, I shouldn’t let this distress me
For in time, you too shall pass.
</verse>


* Part 2: Haiku

** Elemental

> From one we all came
> Can you look at another
> And claim your greater?


**  Defy

> A flower unfurls
> A declaration against
> The malignant world

** Perpetuate

> To not take notice
> The suffering of others
> Is to foment it

** Cycle

> Seeds of hate lie mute
> Within a child’s fresh, young mind
> To ripen in time

** Corrode

> Power corrupts deep
> Driving contempt for all things
> Except to gain more

** Politic

> A chorus of screams
> From the masses just ignored
> Left behind to fail

** Cell

> This myth of freedom
> Keeps us blind to the confines
> Built up around us

** Elected

> Only one of two
> Does it really matter who
> It all stays the same

** Political Truth

> Those with minds shut tight
> Will have their worldviews shattered
> When it all comes out

** Scapegoat

> Mask the real problem
> Pushing one forward to fall
> The system moves on

** Conflict (No Acceptable Answer)

> Claim your god is Love
> How can you explain away
> This suffering world?

** Diminish

> Because I refuse
> The rules that you’ve forced on me
> Do my words mean less?