Romance

He pursues me,
He wants me,
He knows me by name,
One touch from him—I’ll never be the same.

When I am in his arms,
My worries cease to exist,
His presence is my assurance
That there is nothing he cannot fix.

No matter what I’ve said,
No matter what I’ve done,
He is ready to forgive,
Then forget and move on.

His voice is so gentle,
It sends fire up my bones,
So many love him,
They flock to him in throngs.

Yet despite the multitude and masses,
I still catch his eye,
To go my and depart from him,
Is something I refuse to try.

Addictions

You probably haven’t heard much about it,
You probably have no clue
Of how a war in the heart of Africa
Could be related to you.

We live in the golden age of technology,
We all have our technological addictions—
The need to imbibe information
And keep up with everyone’s actions.

We snort information through our computers,
We take injections from our phones,
We shoot up all forms of entertainment
Attempting to swallow all being shown.

The thing about our shiny gizmos and our gadgets
Is that they require a special component,
Found in the soils and mines of Congo,
Coltan—a metal that renders electronics more potent.

The mining for coltan helped kill six million in one decade,
And manufactured thousands of broken bodies—mountains of carnage.
Tens of hundreds have financed our habit with their blood—
For technology of which they will never take advantage.

Technology—an elixir,
A sedative in tough times,
We must awaken from our stupor
And stop these heinous crimes.

Our gain is Congo’s pain,
It’s another life ripped in two.
Take action. Stand for justice
For someone’s life depends on you.

To Do:

My brain hurts.
My hair is falling out.
Coherent thoughts come only in spurts,
No wonder I’m so burnt out.

I hate this time of year,
The mad rush to get it all completed,
It still remains unclear
Whether this mountain can be defeated.

If only I were a princess,
With a dozen servants at my beck and call,
I’d relinquish my stress,
And let the help handle it all.

To one I’d say, “Do my homework,”
To the other, “Go take my test,”
To the third, “Entertain me with the jerk,”
To the fourth, “Make sure my path is cleared of all pests.”

The fifth must do my laundry,
The sixth will clean my room,
“Hey! Don’t stare at me blankly!
And remember to vacuum.”

To the seventh, “Go do the dishes,”
To the eight, “Go mow my yard,
And go hand-wash my blouses—
Be delicate; don’t scrub too hard.”

To the ninth, “My car needs a new wax,”
The tenth will give me a massage,
“By the way, these documents need to be faxed,
Number eleven, go clean the garage.”

“Number twelve, did you get my game ticket?
I’ll have my breakfast in bed.
Give me crêpes—no wait, I’m on a diet,
So just bring me fruit instead.”

What?! It’s already dawn!
I meant to spend just ten minutes dreaming,
Where has the time gone?
I’ve got to get moving.

I take in the mountain,
A ridiculous amount of things to do

Down the list I go,
Check, check, check.
Thank goodness those are done.
Hopefully sometime this century,
I’ll be able to go out for some fun.