Poem "Confessions of a Troll"

Inspired by being added to a certain author/editor's "Quit Being Toxic" BlueSky moderation list (which I consider to be a sick joke), I wrote a satirical confessional poem from the perspective of a toxic troll.

This isn't ME confessing to being a troll — I assumed the PERSONA of a troll to write the piece!

Confessions of a Troll

By Richard H. Fay

Made miserable by my sad life,
Tortured by my tormented existence,
Discomforted by my bedeviled being,
I have turned toward distressing others.

Toxic sludge streams in my veins.
Noxious crud clogs up my heart.
Hurtful thoughts course through my head.
Wicked words spew from my mouth.

Warped mind twists inconvenient truths.
Barbed tongue spreads venomous lies.
Idle hands wreak grievous havoc.
Gnashing teeth form vicious grin.

Evil ideas lead to vile acts.
Foul actions lead to fell fate —
Shunned for shitty conduct,
Damned for damnable deeds.

Poem "Religious Hypocrites"

Religious Hypocrites

By Richard H. Fay 

Those of hypocritical faith
Praise their heavenly savior
Sent to absolve them of their sins
Through His savage sacrifice, 
But forsake His Earthly instructions
And reject His primary principle
By filling their hearts with loathing
Instead of loading those hearts with love.

Of Art, Politics, Truth, and Human Rights

IMHO, many national and global issues have moved beyond mere politics. They've become human rights issues. One of the rights apparently in question right now is the right to life. People are BEING KILLED for no valid reason. People are DYING.

It's an artist's DUTY to humanity to shine a light on the terrible things being done. Certain humans are treating other humans in a deplorable, and at times lethal, fashion.

There's a reason totalitarian regimes hate freedom of expression and only tolerate artists who function as state propagandists. Artists allowed to express themselves freely will often challenge the lies being told by various government officials. Artists allowed to express themselves freely will often tell the truth. 

Whenever the topic of art and politics comes up, I immediately think of Picasso's "Guernica", possibly the greatest anti-war painting in history.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(Picasso)

It's certainly a powerful piece, and it might be Picasso's greatest achievement. Picasso certainly told a powerful truth in that work.

Poem "Stop and Start"

Stop and Start

By Richard H. Fay

Stop waiting
For our institutions to save us.
Stop hoping
That our legislators will rescue us.
Stop looking
To the government for answers.
Start planning
Ways to weather the fascist madness.
Start praying
That enough of us will survive
To start making
A better future for every one of us.

Haiku "Trees Whisper"

 

trees whisper 
wordless messages 
meanings felt

Poem "Apocalypse (A Nightmare)"

 

Apocalypse (A Nightmare)

By Richard H. Fay

A red-tinged shroud hangs
Over the western horizon.
A flame-lit smoke billows
Over a cityscape aflame.
A mushroom cloud rises
Over the cataclysmic scene.
A horrendous din rolls
Over all other sounds.
A ravaging wall of fire
Consumes all.

We hug each other tight
As everything burns.

Background in image above a digital manipulation of a public domain photo of a mushroom cloud obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Poem "Insanity Reigns"

Apparently, all citizens of the USA are the same now. It seems we're all equally responsible for the insanity of this out-of-control regime and equally hated by citizens of other nations, whether or not we voted for the madman currently in charge. That's nice to know! 

Lovely world we live in today!

I suppose, since I'm an American and considered by many outside of the US to be just as guilty as my MAGA co-nationalists for the tremendous harm being done by a president I neither voted for nor wanted back in the Oval Office, I'm wasting my time penning protest poems such as "Insanity Reigns".

Insanity Reigns

By Richard H. Fay

When officials wage war on facts,
Ignorance holds sway.
When heads of state warp reality,
Surreality takes the crown.
When functionaries fail to govern.
Havoc seizes the throne.
When bureaucrats embrace disorder,
Chaos rules the realm.
When leaders lose their minds,
Insanity reigns supreme.
 

Left Twitter/X

It is done. 

I deactivated my Twitter/X account. I'm disgusted with X's lack of an appropriate and effective response to AI generated deepfakes, especially those involving minors. I've decided it's time to leave.

This isn't the first time I've left that platform, but it might be the last. I seriously doubt I'm ever going back, certainly not as long as Musk is running things there

Musk's misjudgements have been slowly killing Twitter/X for some time now (since he first took over that site), but the latest blatant blunder regarding his mismanagement of the AI generation of inappropriate and indecent images of minors might be the final nail in X's coffin.

 

Haiku "Moaning Hemlock Tree"

 

Haiku "moaning hemlock tree / squalling winds sway creaking bole / snows hiss through dark boughs" originally published Jan 12, 2009, in Every Day Poets.

Background image above digital manipulation of image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay. Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

Poem "Winter Crows"

 

Winter Crows

by Richard H. Fay

A murder wings o'er skeletal trees,
Pinions beating hard 'gainst bitter winds.
Raucous mobs roost along barren boughs
Stripped of all but a few frost-crisped leaves.
The gathered horde sings a rowdy song
To disturb this season's morbid hush.
Then the scoundrels raise a harsher din
And rise into a threatening sky.
Ragged dark specks amongst the flurries
Whirl in churning clouds o'er snowy hills.
Flocks search cold fields for man's poor leavings,
Hoping to feast on refuse and death.

Originally published in Every Day Poets, March 10, 2009.

Background image above “ Winter landscape, Field, Winter image” obtained from Pixabay.  Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.
 

Poem "Many a Man"

 

Many a Man

By Richard H. Fay

Many a man 
Objectifies women. 
Many a man 
Thinks with his penis. 
Many a man 
Can't keep his pants on.
Many a man
Is a sex-crazed maniac.

Many a man 
Acts the selfish pig.
Many a man
Plays boss of the house.
Many a man
Blusters and bullies,
Many a man
Is an overgrown child.

Many a man
Fails at fatherhood.
Many a man
Loves ‘em and leaves ‘em.
Many a man
Casts his kids aside.
Many a man 
Is an awful parent.

Many a man
Has rocks for brains.
Many a man
Builds muscles, not smarts.
Many a man
Neglects his intellect.
Many a man
Is an uniformed fool.

Many a man
Ignores his emotions.
Many a man
Believes caring a weakness
Many a man
Expresses only anger
Many a man
Is an unempathetic lout.

The atypical man,
The man who deviates
From the manosphere’s path
Of emotional illiteracy, 
The male maverick
Who bucks the trend
Of toxic masculinity
Is a rara avis indeed.

Three Recently Penned Poems...

Life on Social Media…

By Richard H. Fay

Fragments and flecks,
Slivers and snippets,
Dribbles and drips,
Life cut down to clippings,
Excerpts from one's existence,
Morsels forming tiny mouthfuls
Devoured by the hungry mob,
But never enough to please.


Tormented by Shadows of the Departed

By Richard H. Fay

Lemures whisper taunts in my ears.
Larvae slither across my floor at night.
Specters trouble my sleep with their moans.
Ghosts haunt my dreams with their groans.
My tortured existence is forever haunted
By the shades of those who have come before.


My Undiminished Soul

By Richard H. Fay

My soul remains pure and whole
Though your clenched fists may strike
My bruised and battered body.
My spirit remains hale and strong
In spite of the abuses endured by
My beaten and bloodied flesh.
You may damage my mortal shell
But you cannot touch
My immortal soul.

Poem "Marriage of Earth and Antares"

Speculative poem "Marriage of Earth and Antares" originally published February 2008 in Issue 2 of Sounds of the Night and also published in the September/October 2010 Issue of Aphelion.

Marriage of Earth and Antares

By Richard H. Fay

Fallen star
Two worlds meet
When human greets Antaran
In a meld of minds
And hearts

Soft trills
Speak to my soul
With far deeper understanding
Than mere words
Ever could

Bug eyes
Blazing with knowledge
Of the secrets of the cosmos
Look into my own
Adoringly

Shaggy fur
Glows in the dark
In tune with her emotions
And keeps us warm
At night

Some think
She's only my pet
I smile at their ignorance
Knowing she's truly
My mate

Poem "Be the Rebel!"

 

Be the Rebel!

By Richard H. Fay

In a dumbed-down age, 

Intellectualism is rebellion.

In a post-fact era,

Factualism is defiance.

In an ignorant society,

Knowledgeability is dissidence.

In a creativity-deficient culture,

Creativeness is resistance.

In this mixed-up world,

Be the rebellious

Defiant

Dissident

Resister!

Poem "The Professor and the Bumjugoob"

The Professor and the Bumjugoob

By Richard H. Fay

A perambulating professor of preparatory pedagogics
Wandering beside a well-shaded Wannerran waterhole
Meets a bouncing blue-green bumjugoob bounding by.
The eager educator engages the creature in conversation,
But the bumjugoob babbles a bunch of balderdash
Which prods the pedantic professor to plunge into the pool.
“Snik, snok, snek, syntal stems seem a sumplicious snack!”
The blithering bumjugoob blathers bodaciously.
“Stop assaulting my senses with senseless drivel,”
The soaked and tortured tutor tells his turquoise tormentor.
“Boo, baa, bee, a bingledoo barb in my bum bodgers me!”
The bombastic blue-green beast blabbers and bleats.
“My god, no more mindless muck, my mind will melt!”
 The pained and perturbed professor pleads piercingly.
 “So, sa, si, a scarlet sownseet sets the siddypips singing!”
"End this nasty nonsense!" the nettled academic cries, 
But the nonsensical neologist natters on, and on, and on, 
Which prompts the problem-plagued prof to drown himself.