The Planet of the Blind

Light shone all around them but they did not see it.

They had eyes but they remained closed.

No one analyzed their dreams.

No one even knew if he they had any.

Like Oedipus they walked in a world of darkness.

They existed in a land of unknowing.

They built war machines.

In air conditioned rooms, they piloted drones

by touch and dropped bombs

on innocent women and children.

Whirlwinds of dust blew all around them.

Radioactive clouds darkened the sky.

Ultimately, they considered themselves blessed 
by their blindness.

When the end came, no one cried,

no one was left to tell their story.

Light shone all around them but they did not see it.

They had eyes but they remained closed.

Death of a Televangelist

They claimed children would be blessed and would impart wonders 
to others by touching the TV screen,

that the dead would be raised by being placed in a room

with a TV tuned to their programming, coming from signals 

high in the sky. (Surely the moon

witnessed their conspiracy to defraud viewers of their savings.)  

Even as the pope abandoned his papal palace,

they continued to broadcast their gospel of prosperity

on satellites worldwide.
They flew not on the wings of angels

but on the wings of private jets.

In a platinum pink bouffant wig (like a drag queen in a John Waters film),

the one sat beside the other.

They lived in mansions paid for with promises

they could never keep. The fault was not in the Gospel.

The fault was with them.

(God is not a genii in a bottle to be bought and sold.)

Paul Crouch is dead. But his body will not be resurrected

in front of a TV screen tuned to TBN.

He is caught in the eye of a needle.

There is no need to send any cash.

DENIAL IS LIKE A CLOUD THAT BLOTS OUT THE SUN

Denial is like a cloud that blots out the sun

and darkens the world. It is a voice

that tells only lies.

It turns the heart on itself.

It turns a mother against a daughter.

It turns a father against a son.

It is the maker of excuses and fabrications.

It says humanity is not poisoning the earth and the sky.
It says nuclear weapons are necessary
to protect the homeland.

It is at the starting point of all wars.

It leaves a mark. It leaves a scar.