booksartyoume

'better off read than dead' timothy r gates, 10/04/2009

McCarthyism
flip side, Communism
ism's for
investigation
instigation
persecution
but then, retaliation
'better off dead than read,'
heard in my youth
then, i thought,
'but who's red,
my Great-Grandmother,
she was Cherokee,'
made sense to me, then,
'better off red than dead.'
dead, three times
resurrected, not a choice
tried to be conservative, once
tried to be a democrat, too
trying to be honest, i pray
embraced capitalism
imbibed communism and socialism
eschewed ism's
turned the other cheek,
only to find another one
to turn
(both sets spread too often)
read many
read by some
for me,
better read than dead,
until i'm at the last
thread
ism's buried, too
six feet under
epitaph:
'better read than dead, till today.'

'free fall' or 'no fall' trg, 10/02/2009

No fall
for the falling
fallen from Grace,
she caught me
on the way down,
going up,
Angelos' Siren,
nothing diabolical
for the willing,
one's devil;
another's messenger:
free fall.