Ron Olsen – Page 2

Poem – “One True Belief” by Ron Olsen

February 28, 2015February 27, 2015 by Ron Olsen

One True Belief
by Ron Olsen

You
Me
Us
Our struggle is meaningless
For those who truly believe
In their one version of the truth

The New Testament’s revenge
A pipeline’s purpose
Fuels a climate change denier’s anger
Crying out for more and not less
Of that which hastens our demise
As they wait for evil to blanket the world

They know it’s sure to happen
It’s a certain thing
For those who truly believe
In their one version of the truth

For centuries running
They have seen the end coming
It’s just over there
Almost in sight now
With absolute certainty
That they are right
Once again

Even though they’ve been wrong before
Every time
Time and again
And then time again

They’ve even set dates
Only to be wrong
And still they believe
In myth over metaphor
Interpretation over fact
Having more impact
On government and culture
Than any of us knows

Creating the certainty
That only self-fulfilling prophecy
Can deliver to the collective mindset
As the approach of Armageddon
Makes caring meaningless
To those who truly believe

Making us
Irrelevant
Our struggle childish futility
In their eyes
Even while we hold the keys to salvation
For those who dare admit
That we might succeed
At pulling ourselves from the fire

For those with the courage to believe
That we might not be irrelevant after all
That we might be our only best hope

Even as God whispers in the ear
Of some enlightened fool
Who, after a pint of his favorite brew
Sets yet another date
For the rest of us to burn in hell
And demands that his local congressman
Must do the same

Ron Olsen is a Los Angeles based writer. More of his poetry can be found here.

Poem: The Great Obliviators by Ron Olsen

February 24, 2015February 23, 2015 by Ron Olsen

The Great Obliviators
by Ron Olsen

Stuck in Afghanistan
Without an exit plan
While drones fly
Where no soldiers need go

All this after
Vietnam
Iraq
Pakistan
And now Syria, too

We were warned this would happen

The glorification of war
Never-ending militarism
Not to be questioned
Or risk being accused of being less than American

Ike told us it was coming
Back in 61
The “rise of misplaced power” he said
The Military Industrial Complex
Now it’s here

Eisenhower, knew war
Those who now make war do not

But they are locked in
Not about to let go
As imperial America
Bites down
On the world

A pit bull in every yard
An urban assault vehicle in every garage
A gun in every drawer
Pepper spray in every purse
To fend off neighbors
Against the oncoming imagined apocalypse

ISIS beheadings
Plastic sheeting to cover your windows and doors
Smallpox in the mail
Sarin in the subways
Hijackers on our planes

The necessary threat

Without it, there is no fear
And without fear, no motivation
Without motivation
No public funding

Keeping the prophets of fear
In power
Cash fat sociopaths
Caring only for themselves

Gutting the middle class
Keeping the nation at war
To satisfy the greed
Of those whose greed knows no satisfaction
Only the need for more

Healthcare – A Poem

May 22, 2015February 16, 2015 by Ron Olsen

Healthcare
By Ron Olsen

When people profit from
Other people’s illness

Disease becomes more profitable
Than wellness

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon
To understand

Sickness perpetuates wealth
Free healthcare results in health

Try and move forward
Rather than back

And they’ll nail you with fear
And rail you with lies

While they pay off the doctors
And give the medical schools millions

To perpetuate
The myth of caring

Ron Olsen is a retired journalist who lives in Los Angeles. He writes essays and an occasional poem. More of his work can be found here.

Parades of Life | Here They Come Again | Poem by Ron Olsen

January 25, 2015January 18, 2015 by David Jackson

Here they come again

As before

Always in the rear

Armed with pushcart, shovel and positive disposition

Picking up what’s left

From the horses

The elephants

A circus of joy

And the children all cheer as they pass by

The inevitable result of the parade of life

All well paid for their contribution

Considering what they do

Here they come again

As before

Not far from the rear

Armed with bullets, grenades and knives

Bringing carnage

And death

And fear

And sadness

And the children all cheer as they pass by

The inevitable result of the parade of life

All well paid for their contribution

Considering what they do

Here they come again

As before

Somewhere near the rear

Armed with verbal deflection, a clever turn of the word

The fixers

The promisers

The tellers of half-truths

The leaders

And the children all cheer as they pass by

The inevitable result of the parade of life

All well paid for their contribution

Considering what they do

Here they come again

As before

Always in the rear

Sidestepping what the pushcarts missed

Undeterred by their position

Armed with truth, curiosity and hope

The thinkers

The knowers

The bringers of light

The solution

And the children all slumber as they pass by

The inevitable result of the parade of life

I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know | Poem by Ron Olsen

January 25, 2015January 12, 2015 by David Jackson

garner1

I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know
By Ron Olsen

I’ll bet you didn’t know
Heard the buzz?
It’s real life
Not just Hollywood

James Garner
One of the many
Hand in hand with Diahann Carroll
Newman, Brando, Charlton Heston
And so many more

Hand in hand
Neither cold nor dead
In the march on Washington
Three hundred thousand listening to Martin explain his dream
To move beyond the suffering, pain and indifference
And the hate
The damnable hate
Born out of the coarse repugnancy of small minds

Dear God, will it never stop?

And so they marched
All the way back in 1963
Not so long ago, really
For those who were there
For those who still care
For those who can still feel their way through the fog

Heard the buzz?
It’s real life
Not Hollywood

I’ll bet you didn’t know
Robin Williams wouldn’t deal
Unless the studio agreed to also deal with the real
To hire the homeless
Giving a new start to those with no direction
Hope to the hopeless
Home to the homeless

Saint Robin and
Sir James of the mighty heart
Real life and Hollywood too
Sometimes an unexpected confluence of decency
Reminding us of how far we have yet to go

I’ll bet you didn’t know

Yourself Looking Back a Poem by Ron Olsen

February 12, 2019December 28, 2014 by David Jackson

yourself looking back poem by ron olsen

Yourself Looking Back

by Ron Olsen

It’s so much easier to run with the herd

Safer too

To never look back

Or too far ahead

You might not like what you see

Your own image looking back in disgust

So much easier to smile

A forced façade of joy

Even though your guts ache for the truth

You set it aside

Way too much to try and understand

And run with the herd

Football and brain damage

Sugar poisons the masses

Democracy’s death

Poverty overwhelms America

Climate change is us

Thousands of needless deaths in useless wars

All duped by marketing

Wall Street’s short view

As capitalism fails the many

Never mind

Join the herd

Phones, tablets, tv and laptops take it all away

The pacifier of unending diversion

Sucking on the great technological teat

Stopping to think is far too painful

You might see yourself looking back

Crushed by the admission of personal irresponsibility

By the inadequacy of the masses

E Pluribus Unum

A contradiction in terms

The illegitimate child of lofty thinkers

You are the many

The many are one

All moving in the same direction

Thinking the same simple thoughts

It’s so much easier to run with the herd

Unknowing

Mediocrity loving

Unwilling to listen

Attacking with hatred

Pouring humiliation upon

Any suggestion of enlightenment

A superior attitude is repugnant

To those who refuse to think

Better and easier to smile

To conform

To just keep moving mindlessly ahead

Lest you stop and see yourself looking back

A nexis of unbearable reality

A vision of enlightenment

The real enemy

Or so they want you to believe

Denial and deceit

Acceptance of the many

Group-think

So much easier

Much more comfortable

Safer too

Rise above commonality and they’ll tear you to pieces

The game is on

Pass me another beer

When all are heroes

Heroes disappear

When all are champions

Champions are none

When all are awarded

Awards are meaningless

With nothing left but us

Running with the herd

Awaiting the inevitable slaughter

Ron Olsen

Ron Olsen is a veteran cross-platform journalist based in Los Angeles, California, United States.……Ron Olsen at Wiki
He writes, “I’m a semi-retired Peabody Award winning journalist who now writes
essays and an occasional poem.”

Ron’s Site is The Working Reporter News, opinion and resources for journalists

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