This Great Gift

When the end of things finally came
We rejoiced.
The end of sadness,
Of hate,
Of despair.
But then rejoicing also came to an end,
For it was the end of all things,
The end of joy,
Of love,
Of hope.

When the end of all things was finally finished,
We were struck blind and deaf,
Mute,
Without the discriminating power,
Without time or temporality,
Blank.
Then we ceased to exist,
For it was the end of everything.

Now we are back,
Complaining again,
Believing in the possibility of utopia,
Working to put an end to all that is unjust,
This great gift of contention once again begun,
Still unfinished,
This great gift of life.


~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved

Really

You do not have to want
What the world wants,
Or be what the world wants you to be.

You can be happy without a fortune,
Content without fame.

Really.

You do not have to seek
What the world seeks,
Or give up what the world gives up.

You can be the first of a kind
And the last,
And never mind.

Really.


~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved

The Upper Crust

His finely manicured fingernails,
So clean.
He never earned money with those hands,
This denizen of the upper crust,
So certain that poverty is the fault of the impoverished,
A moral judgment upon those unworthy of wealth,
While he takes credit for the accident of his birth.


~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved

Juneteenth ~ Say what?

Happy Juneteenth, however we white people may or may not celebrate it. Of course the Emancipation Proclamation was about two and a half years earlier. Can you imagine being a slave in Texas when one day Union troops come to town saying black folks are free?

“Says who?” asks a suspicious black man.

“Why none other than President Lincoln,” a Union officer responds.

“But I heard someone say Lincoln was shot dead?”

“Well, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation before he died.”

“When did he do such a thing?” the perplexed black man asked.

“Well, actually, it was about two and a half years ago,” the Union officer sheepishly answered.

“Two years ago? Why in the hell did it take so long to let us know? Here we’ve been free for more than two years and nobody bothered to tell us?”

“Sorry about that,” the Union officer apologized, tipping his hat while signaling to his men the need for a quick exit from what was an increasingly embarrassing situation.

~ by Russ Allison Loar
~ © All Rights Reserved

People Are

People are
The most dangerous things I know.
Just wind them up
And watch them go.


~ Russ Allison Loar
© All Rights Reserved