Andrew Bambrick
Pandora's Jar
The signal given.
Midterm hostilities commence.
Plagues flutter and descend,
Rising from the open Pandora's jar.
Civility is the first to leave.
Envy, spite and revenge follow.
Each plague coated with
The smell of singed hair and mud,
Burned and thrown by
Self-made political celebrities
Thoroughly blinded by...
Salt Lick Pleasures
The salt lick is a deer's pleasure.
With head bobbing in mindless repetition
They continue until satiety.
Opioid heads bobbing in mindless repetition
Continue without satiety.
Narcan shots give brief resurrection.
Their sudden blue-sky optimism, hasty promises and cobbled dreams
Adhere to "vital lies"...
Blood Bath
Within the coming months an avalanche of "pick me"
Political ads will fill the digital world.
Parties and candidates will equate passion with truth.
In heated debates reason will become disengaged.
Protesters with clenched fist, raised still arm,
Unbowed head and strident pace...
"Buy Me" ads activate our susceptible genes.
Happy talk merchants are anxious
To furnish us with products
Designed to break the chains
Of our discomfort and pain.
From the research lab to our front door
Relief with Mercury speed guaranteed.
Pain-free faces happy and content
Dominate the...
"D" Day Cycle
More prolific than dust bunnies
Under the bed.
Items once memory filled
Now face ejection.
Parting with them inevitable.
Final touching and farewells
Necessary for a ritual release.
Curb pickup boxes await their final transport.
Losses shortly lived.
New items destined to become
Moments of nostalgia.
Another decluttering...
Leaf Peepers Time
Once the luminescent leaves appear on trees
The leaf peepers are smitten.
Pint-sized knee huggers squeal with joy.
Their tiny feet trudge through the newest layers of leaves.
Traffic slows to a crawl in towns and on rural roads.
Gawkers witness nature's...
Poverty's Family Web
Hopes and dreams languish
Poverty's sticky web holds members in place.
Impermanence and unpredictability
Define their movements.
Limited by stretched family dyamics
And precarious economic opportunities,
Downward mobility is
An ever-present danger.
Loyalty bonds taut
Make breakouts very difficult.
Escapees feel exhiliration
And pangs of guilt for those...
The Selfie Mist
The selfie is a universal icon.
Its presence is felt everywhere
But remains only digital mist.
We are both the subject and object of our attention.
There is a voyeuristic joy of looking at oneself
And transmitting one's image to persons known
and...
Cloud Musings
The cloud, internet's invisible twin,
Became humankind's ever-expanding memory locker.
Heralded as a communication panacea.
Accolades quickly followed: instant connectivity,
Colossal business opportunities, a pathway to
Utopia with reach.
When the cloud darkened,
Hackers with their skeleton keys
Made web users their potential prey.
Voyeurism was transformed...
Closure
Universally sought after
Arduous to achieve.
Grief's heavy air envelops the survivors.
Morning time elastic
The absent member relationship
Continuous on within us.
Broken sleep
Time slippage
Sluggish movements
Pain and sorrow need to congeal.
The urge to snuff out the flickering process
Is a temptation to be resisted
True closure's...