1981

A yellow ribbon

Tied to

An orange Volkswagen van

A shirt

That says

Don’t tread on me Iran

For me

That’s how the eighties began

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

I Believe You Can

I believe you can

Despite all of it

I believe you might

With much upon you

I believe the now

Shines bright in your eyes

Ignite

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Every Post is a Person

Every post

Is a person

Every tweet

Is typed by hand

Before you turn toxic

Think of the pixels

Not as of digital

But as of human

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Reclamation

After you died

In my dreams

I only saw you

Diminished and fading

At the end

Now I see you

Young

Tan

Standing

In the sun

Smiling

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Darkness Is Not Blindness

Darkness is not blindness

Adjustment is slow

Things around you

Take shape

Patience the only tool

Until the world has form again

If There Is No Middle Ground

If there is no middle ground

Then the way is lost

It is hard to see when beaten down

Through the smoke

Know middle ground is there

In the haze

Right behind you

Just obscured

We can speak in absolutes

Hold volatile ideas near and dear

Speak of revolution

Ignoring the tears

We don’t know ourselves

Through the swirl

We cannot see ourselves

With it engulfing us

Sometimes it is better

To move slowly

Through the fog

Feeling that which is around us

Which we cannot see

Waiting until the fog dissipates

Instead of burning it off

Because that which we burn

We sometimes value most

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Homeless Words

Sometimes

Words together

Sound good

To the ear

Devoid of meaning

And homeless

In a notebook

They hum

Waiting for your pen

To guide them home

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

We Never Think It is Us

We never think it is us

Who will struggle to rise

Overestimation

Our shared sin

Those of us who know

Extend our hands

To the fallen

As if

They were

Us

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

 

Resilience Is a Skill

Bad rolls down hill

An unseemly fact

Change is a force of will

All throughout our acts

Resilience is a skill

The thoughts we don’t enact

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013

Just Bend

Evidence

Isn’t the Enemy

Failure

Isn’t the End

Reaction to

The game is

Friend

The goal is

Not to break

Just bend

Gene G. McLaughlin 2013