Remarkable, Really – A Poem by Ron Olsen

 

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Remarkable, Really

by Ron Olsen

 

Remarkable, really

The agreement through the years

Between Coolidge

And Hoover

And those today

Who would destroy

What we have

And move backward in time

To a place where pain

Suffering

And indifference

Made us less than we are

Or what we could be

Or should be

 

Progress defiled

Denied

Denounced

Defamed

Again

By those who fear

Spiritual grace

Knowing only concrete and steel

Things

Not people

Denial of love

Accepting of fear and hate

Using it all up

Leaving none for the rest

And then blaming it on God

 

Can you remember what worked

And that which did not?

 

Coolidge

And Hoover

Reagan

And Bush

Actor and baseball syndicate millionaire

Supported by family

And friends

To qualify the few

While forgetting the rest

All for the best

At the master’s behest

An order to the masses

Who think it’s a request

 

They’ll believe anything, you know

 

With all memory gone

The body politik

Repeats the cycle

Problems forgotten

So many gone rotten

Ignorance, misinformation and lies

Bullying their way forward once again

Leaving only a dam

A great depression

A movie reel

A baseball team

And draconian denial

In their wake

While no one

Remembers why

Or who

Or when

They get away with it again

Remarkable, really

 

Ron olsen is a Peabody and Emmy winning journalist and occasional poet who lives in Bel Air, Maryland.   More of his work can be found at http://workingreporter.com/poetry.html and at workingreporter.com

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