I USED TO CARE guest poem

Published August 15, 2022 by Nan Mykel

I used to care
When I was young
Innocent, perhaps naïve.
There was a future
To be secured and enriched
For my family
For the world.
I voted, confident it counted,
Marched, protested, and was seen,
Wrote letters, and believed they were read,
Debated, and was heard.
I witnessed change
With civil rights
Clean water and air
The end of an ugly war
Even a ban on assault rifles.

Now?
More extinctions
Extensive clearing of rainforests

More guns
More fossil fuels being burned
More voter suppression
Government dysfunction
Expansive partisan division and violence
More corporate greed
Widening gap between rich and poor
More rights stripped away.
I used to care
When I was young,
Innocent, perhaps naïve.
Now…only tears.

Thank you Thomas Shostak for permossion to share this poem

WHAT KIND OF HEART LOVES…

Published August 12, 2022 by Nan Mykel

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION?

If you were beaten and yelled at too

and told to be seen and not heard

If your parents were drunks and hated you

And your nickname was The Little Turd,

I’m so sorry…

Even so, how can you love those weapons

of mass destruction? Did the army do it

to you? Your wife? A teacher or

a dirty old man? A boss who fired you?

Fess up. Who is your target? And then

what happens next?

I’m so sorry for you and the targets….

Accidental or otherwise.

SO FAR THIS MONTH IN MY STATE (OHIO) there have been 26 deaths and 77 wounded in mass shootings, according to gunviolencearchive.org. I’m sorry….

You can save American lives if that’s your motive by voting to outlaw weapons of mass destruction and/or maybe attending the funeral for one of its victims. This is the real world we’re talking here. At one time in my life I played cops and robbers with other neighborhood kids, but none of us carried guns, real or pretend.

WHAT KIND OF HEART? PROBABLY A BROKEN ONE. I’m so sorry….

IF YOU BELIEVE THIS, GO…..

Published August 11, 2022 by Nan Mykel

STAND IN THE CORNER…

Republicans in Congress argued that none of these bills are necessary because the right to birth control and the right to same-sex marriage are safe. “In no way, shape or form is access to contraception limited or at risk of being limited,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said during Thursday’s debate on the birth control bill. “The liberal majority is clearly trying to stoke fears and mislead the American people once again because in their minds stoking fear clearly is the only way that they can win.” (Yahoo News)

“The FBI has gone rogue and is doing the dirty work of a communist regime,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Boebert “In Venezuela, they eat the dogs, and it started because they do not have firearms to protect themselves, to defend themselves against a tyrannical government.”

“We save the babies, we’ll save America,” Mike Pence told conservative youth.

At least Bostelman apologized: So easy to repeat motivated misunderstandings: A Nebraska state lawmaker apologized on Monday after he publicly cited a persistent but debunked rumor alleging that schools are placing litter boxes in school bathrooms to accommodate children who self-identify as cats. State senator Bruce Bostelman, a conservative Republican, repeated the false claim during a public, televised debate on a bill intended to help school children who have behavioral problems. His comments quickly went viral, with one Twitter video garnering more than 300,000 views as of Monday afternoon, and drew an onslaught of online criticism and ridicule. Bostelman initially said he was “shocked” when he heard stories that children were dressing as cats and dogs while at school, with claims that schools were accommodating them with litter boxes.

Sorry, I can’t handle any more at present…..

With the cost of being raped increasing exponentially…

Published July 20, 2022 by Nan Mykel

That’s right! Why on earth are we punishing rape victims instead of comforting and protecting them? I wonder how many female rape victims are planning to vote Republican? You think about it, girl!

What kind of legal protection is available for women? Can you imagine birthing your rapist’s baby? My, this culture has turned ugly!

Remember, women’s method of self protection needs to be legal. Some may think it fortunate that it’s easy to buy protection now, thanks to the NRA. What kind of protective device might work best, in case of a need to protect yourself? I’ve read that M-16s are easy to shoot–like a bb gun–and designed to disable but not necessarily to kill. I reckon the gunshop owners would give you more info.

It’s nothing I’m recommending, mind you, but I can imagine how one might feel to have the establishment making you pay for having been raped. It must feel like scooping salt onto an open wound.

Friend Felix Speaks Again

Published July 19, 2022 by Nan Mykel

4th of JULY: GOOD GRIEF!

If you like pretty poems, please look away,

for here I lament decay, dying and death.

I’m not bemoaning my dying contemporaries,

who lately fall like old-growth trees in a forest.

Nor do I pre-grieve my own impending death.

My concern is for the fate of our democracy,

as it is doing a dangerous dance with doom.

Our precious political freedoms are eroding.

Our fractured center seems not to be holding.

Our democracy could be in its death throes.

Female bodily autonomy has been outlawed,

voting rights have been wantonly suppressed,

there is massive support for Trump’s Big Lie.

The Supreme Court defies the majority’s will.

Throughout our land gun fetishism flourishes.

Louder liars shout down the voices of veracity.

Violence grows, the environment degrades.

This Independence Day is a day of gloom.

Sadly I fly our tattered flag upside down.

Today I can’t sing Happy Birthday America!

In these dark days, I weep as I sing of thee.

Felix Gagliano, July 2022

Came in my e-mail

Published May 14, 2019 by Nan Mykel

Somehow this doesn’t surprise me. We’re too darned used to guns these days.

CHECK THIS OUT

Published February 28, 2018 by Nan Mykel

Dick’s Sporting Goods to Stop Selling Assault Rifles

“If the kids can be brave enough to organize like this, we can be brave enough to take these out of here.”

INAE OHFEB. 28, 2018 8:52 AM

Dear Hearts…via The Militant Negro site

Published February 25, 2018 by Nan Mykel

Students are planning nationwide #MarchForOurLives protests. DAN FRIEDMANFEB. 18, 2018 4:08 PM Mother Jones

Published February 18, 2018 by Nan Mykel

Yay!

Guns and Roses

Published April 17, 2017 by Nan Mykel

Shannon took videos of the International Street Fair yesterday, in Athens, Ohio, for Public Access Television. I was asleep when she got back and she didn’t wake me, so I don’t know how it went. I saw in the paper today, however, that at the happy international festivities 5 out-of-towners visited the fair bearing unconcealed weapons and smiles. A city policeman was on their heels the entire time. The visitors seemed to think that it was an act of overt goodwill and an opportunity for discussion, but I declare I wonder about their judgment. I seriously wonder if men would be so attached to their guns if they were not phallic symbols? Maybe the entire hoo-haw relates back to castration anxiety?