Fear Is Here To Stay

by R.T. Castleberry / November 17th, 2024

The disconnection video I watch–
a scald of vigilante posting,
droning denigration of facts by
scofflaw fable, wordplay, invective
shows no allowance for confession,
past opinion, hard ironies.
There is a bully’s history of
bushwhacker votes, vengeance law;
litigation of stories told from
soldier’s family traditions,
scaled disorder of killing lanes.
Poverty’s striking greed,
“useful idiots” complicity
drives an insurrection message.
From a surge of Freedom posters,
Fred Perry polos, a drive into vanity,
the trick of flaring torches glares
as deflection, as license,
moral instruction by mortal wounds.

R.T. Castleberry, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has work in Dissident Voice, Caveat Lector, San Pedro River Review, Glassworks Magazine, Silk Road and Gyroscope Review. Internationally, he's had poetry published in Canada, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Portugal, the Philippines, India and Antarctica. His poetry has appeared in the anthologies: You Can Hear the Ocean: An Anthology of Classic and Current Poetry, TimeSlice, The Weight of Addition, and Level Land: Poetry For and About the I35 Corridor. Read other articles by R.T..

This article was posted on Sunday, November 17th, 2024 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.