By Ron Faust

Trespassing

Every time a protester tells why he crossed the line
The prosecutor counters, “Irrelevant”
When in fact the accusation of “Trespassing”
Trivializes the question of relevant existence

When does trespassing infringe on civil rights
To speak up against an action harmful to another?
Does the trespassing charge match the seriousness
Of a nuclear risk to eliminate the human race?

Trespassing is the intervention needed to reset
A path of priorities, disaster, and conflict
Civil disobedience is a tool to correct moral wrongs
It confronts the status quo’s propensity for violence.

4/21/22  (On occasion of facing trespass charges when  the law fails to listen and dismisses the motivation for higher values)

The Great Divide

Some voices in Congress have had enough
Of the rampant hate rhetoric and toxic environment
In which members defend their right to free speech
Yet miscalculate their right to do violence

Two different sides to every question
Does not mean that each side is of equal value
If one side is grounded in hate, the other respect
One hating another who wants a forum for discussionThere can be a Great Divide with two sets of people
Whereby one set prioritizes basic survival needs
While the other goes to higher needs of respect
Going beyond the surface, striving for authenticity

One problem is we are used to binary thinking
Forming clubs, teams, sides against the opposition
The them-us sides may violently result in civil wars
Another answer is to reach for higher values of love.

4/19/22  (On occasion when Mallory McMorrow, MI Democrat Senator and mom, spoke out against the hate rhetoric of a GOP attack falsely accusing her of pedophile behavior with her daughter)

On Earth Day

Grandfather Great Spirit,
I see you in the light of kindred faces
Passing my steps on this Planet Earth
I notice some faces shining with kindness
Grounded in steps honoring Mother Earth
You Grandfather Kind Spirit are alive
In the gentle wind vibrating the green grasses
Teach us to walk the tender Earth
With a loving care for its well being.

4/22/22  (On occasion to honor my Grandfather, James Minnick, for his renewable kindness, not to dig up fossil fuels)

Rainy Daffodils

A timid tear
Wets my eye
Making a bead drip
From my face

For a dying earth
For a bombed Ukraine
For a mass shooting
For a pandemic victim
For rain on Easter
For disappointment
For friends gone

Oceanic grief
Fills the pool of despair
Evaporates in the clouds
Regenerates the soil
Growing something green
Becoming resurrected

Grief touches love
Exhilarating and sad
Growing into new life
A warm memory of loss
Eternal life springs on
Rising from laughing daffodils
Everywhere bright and yellow.

4/17/22  (On occasion of mixed tears passing during Easter after the previous planting of beautiful daffodils all around the yard)