Two Poems by Patrick Dennis Riley

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just disappear

hostile negative reply
to unwanted brash actions
brought on valid reactions
and refusal to comply.

just disappear,
she cares for you much too much.

dangerous dark avenues
through her ultra thin veneer
led to trauma most severe,
down a path she didn’t choose.

just disappear,
she cares for you much too much.

weak from sleep deprivation,
fatigue blinking off and on,
her gaze in vivid neon
a lurid invitation.

just disappear,
she cares for you much too much.

maladaptive mental pain,
trying hard to understand,
commitment severed first-hand
steady as a summer rain.

just disappear,
she cares for you much too much.

Insurrection 2021

Stone statues wept as lawless groups
of misled rebels, Trump’s recruits,
blatantly trashed our Capitol,

killed for a cause political-
culpability? Trump disputes.

Truth crushed by neo-Nazi boots,
as Trump decides to NOT send troops.
His actions are tyrannical.
Stone statues wept.

Enemies from within salute
a flag of Klan and disrepute.
Order must be sustainable,
the “Big Lie” not acceptable.
We must do more than just rebuke.
Stone statues wept.

Patrick Dennis Riley is a jazz piano/keyboard/percussion player with over 30 years of experience in the Washington, DC area. His music performance experience includes US army bandsman – club dates – steady location work at hotels, and restaurants, and piano soloist in the dining rooms and lounges on the Carnival cruise ship Fantasy cruising from Florida to the Bahamas. Mr. Riley’s published literary and music credits include: Mythology – a collection of short stories published by Free Spirit, Apricity Magazine – University of Texas at Austin, and As You Were: The Military Review.

Featured Image: David from Washington, DC, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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