Subvert

**I submitted two poems to The New Yorker. This is one of the two. I obviously was rejected but I can say with pride I was rejected by The New Yorker.***

There is an evil rot within

leaching from the heart

any illusion

that there remains some good.

Time and time again

it has been proven

that society has become doomed

trading away

ethics

morals

basic humanity.

Twisting and subverting

with each falsehood told

embraced

with zeal

religious fevor

becoming the very demon

decried as the enemy.

We have failed.

We have lost our way.

One by one

we have been corrupted

by lies

by slight of hand

and the tears that are wept

fall between the cracks

in this desert land.

©Feb. 23/18

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Brazen Beauty

A million dresses

thousands of shoes

lost in a revelry of pride

floating along

paid by the hour

ever man her sign.

A beauty of yesteryear

lost in the illusion

grand

elegant

graceful

dancing with each who asks

pleasure alive on her face.

As a child she had been taunted

belittled

scorned

for the way that she looked.

Kids can be cruel

words can cut so deep

scars left

that no one can see

but are still felt.

Voluptuous

brazen beauty

gliding amongst the throng

her place firmly set

by the generous curves

of her body

the sharp intelligence of her mind

and crooked wit to sting them all.

Oct. 7/18

Photo by Hernan Sanchez on Unsplash