America The Meager (sestina revised) For poets who don't believe in editing!!!

Alive burning with fire consumes me                                                               

Ready freedom burns me                                                                    

World full of disputes                                                                                     

House of ill repute                                                                                          

Esteem pollutes forbidden fruit                                                                       

Pursuit of dreams                                                                                            

American happiness is not pursuit of dreams                                                   

American dream a lie, fire consumes me                                                          

Covered clotted cream, forbidden fruit                                                                       

Deceit, the lie of the American dream burns me                                             

Life in the house of ill repute                                                                          

Americans drenched in disputes                                                                      

Freedom from consumerism                                                                            

Important to pursue the dream                                                                       

Caught up in ill repute                                                                                    

Desires feeds disputes                                                                                     

Dirty hands burn me                                                                                       

For sale, buy my forbidden fruit                                                                      

Can’t hide away forbidden fruit                                                          

Lust consumes me                                                                                          

Thirst so strong, it burns me                                                                           

Cravings coerced, reimbursed dreams                                                             

Yearnings lead to disputes                                                                               

Borne and bred of ill repute                                                                            

Iraq, Beirut, wars of ill repute                                                                         

Oil the biggest forbidden fruit                                                                        

Observing abuse consumes me                                                                        

Obliterating abuse causes disputes                                                                  

Inflicting suffering drowns dreams                                                                   

Blues burn me                                                                                                 

Trickle-down abuse burns me                                                                         

Weak forced to accept ill repute                                                                     

Eradicates man’s right to dream                                                                      

Access to achieve forbidden fruit                                                                     

Denials of basic rights consume me                                                               

Animal abuse and pollution, root of many disputes                                         

Equity and decency consume me, fear burns me                                             

Disputes, hurt heart, search escape from ill repute                                                      

Forbidden fruits multiply wealthy; cancel out poor man’s dreams       

***
Oftentimes as editor for the TCSR, people will send me poems to ask for thoughts or advice. When I honestly point out a misspelling or misuse of word, or give an example of what could improve the poem, i.e. changing a few words around, the biggest response I get is "I don't believe in editing my poems. The poem comes out the first time the way it should be." 

Well, here is the proof that it really helps to work on a poem, to edit errors, and to reconsider word usage. It makes a difference. 

As you can see, in the earlier version, inadvertently I used consume twice in two lines in one stanza which led to repetition, and since this form is essentially repetitious in its form, it works better to use a different word ending for each line of each stanza. 

Any thoughts fellow poets?

AMERICA THE MEAGER (sestina)

Alive burning with fire consumes me

Ready freedom burns me

Disputes consume me

House of ill repute

Esteem pollutes forbidden fruit

Pursuit of dreams

American happiness is not pursuit of dreams

American dream a lie, fire consumes me

Covered clotted cream, forbidden fruit

Deceit, the lie of the American dream burns me

Life in the house of ill repute

Americans, wish I weren’t consumed

Freedom from consumerism

Important to pursue the dream

Caught up in ill repute

Desire consumes me

Dirty hands burn me

For sale, buy my forbidden fruit

Can’t hide away forbidden fruit

Lust consumes me

Thirst so strong, it burns me

Cravings coerced, reimbursed dreams

Yearnings consume me

Borne and bred of ill repute

Iraq, Beirut, wars of ill repute

Oil the biggest forbidden fruit

Observing abuse consumes me

Obliterating abuse consumes me

Inflicting suffering drowns dreams

Blues burn me

Trickle down abuse burns me

Weak forced to accept ill repute

Eradicates man’s right to dream

Access to achieve forbidden fruit

Denials of basic rights consumes me

Animal abuse and pollution consume me

Wrenched heart, fear consumes and burns me
Equity and decency consume me, searching escape from ill repute Forbidden fruits multiply wealthy citizens; cancel out poor man’s dreams

This is written in sestina form:

1st Stanza   ABCDEF 

2nd Stanza  FAEBDC

3rd Stanza  CFDABE

4th Stanza  ECBFAD

5th Stanza  DEACFB

6th Stanza  BDFECA

The last 3 lines are formatted thus

AB

CD

EF

Searching For Sunshine

Ain’t no sun up in my sky today

Rain keeps falling on my head

Got the blues so bad I’m dancing with fire

in hellish nights with no end

Promises and dreams not in sight

No delight in life

a bout inside, an an endless fight

in a world where nothing’s right

No sun up in my sky, too down to cry

waiting on motivation that can't come

Dream daily

Lying awake waiting for my lover to come on home

Frustration growing

waiting on lover makes me quirky that way

Comes sneaking through the bedroom 

door in the dead of night

Bed bathed in moonlight

Soft red hair brushes my shoulder

Our promises of together forever have grown older

Each day colder

As she lies down beside me

My eyes closed, pretend I’m asleep

Awake to an empty bed

Gone, left

With words unsaid

Sadness never ends

Never thought we’d end that way

Rain taps on windowpane

Listen in solitary solace

Left me on a rainy day

Called later, said she had to go,

Had someone waiting on her

Someone easier to abide, 

Someone to turn the tides

Someone to resolve dissatisfaction

Permeating our relations

Someone older, more mature

Someone sensitive who knew

how to make love

Someone who understood

Standing in the rain, alone

Clothes drenched through to skin

Each day hope rain will go away

tears blending with rain

sun’s gone away

rains refuse to abate

Another Peace Poem

Foster peace in a universe of abuse

Choose peace over sorrows and regrets, let loose

Excuse my bluntness while I try to mend my foolish heart

I’m begging you please

A piece of the pie

The all American style

I want peace

peace in every nation

peace on every occasion

in every location personal to station wide

a vacation from substance abuse

peace in a universe based on contempt

give me some peas in a pod,

I’ll give you a nursery breeding on continuums

of overpopulation saturated with misinformation

I’ll give you a universe one score and five million years ago

a new universe was born of peace, responsibility, utility,

continuity of many species

Make peace or face destruction of varied species of life

including the human race

or be at peace, meditation replaces medication

the one becomes the all

the all becomes the one and there will be peace

Tired of the trickle down abuse ...

Mercy for animals please, 

no more abuse!

Imagine what people what say if there was no waste treatment plants for our waste? We'd be back with Typhoid Mary.

The poor animals are forced to stay in one spot, not allowed to walk, move or turn their bodies or ever see the sun and walk outdoors to graze grass while alive. Then when the workers are told to clean out the foot of feces and urine the animals (cows, pigs, chickens and all factory farm animals) are forced to stand in. All this shit and piss has turned to pure ammonia and the workers are so angry about the job they have to do that they usually beat the animals to make them move out of their way so the workers can do their jobs and shovel the shit out.

After all, these people have to do what they're told. They have families to support. Of course this ammonia smell is harmful to the worker's lungs as well as the animals. Then workers spray the fields with urine and feces they've shoveled out, creating poisoned ground runoff, which also contains antibiotic and hormones. The animals are force-fed antibiotics and hormones because otherwise they would not have growth spurts because their filthy living conditions prevents growth.

We end up with hormones and antibiotics in our bodies second hand or third hand, depending on whether or not we eat these animals. Then because of the runoff, the hormones and antibiotics is absorbed from the ground into our vegies or grown foods. Our nation is becoming more and more unhealthy to help make Tyson and other factory farms become more wealthy than they already are while we wear blinders and don't see what the world has become. The ground is poisoned so all our foods are too and even being vegetarian or vegan won't help unless you can afford to eat totally organic.

On the day piglits are born or several days later they take a rusty clippers and clip their balls off. They burn calves horns off without doing anything to numb the pain. Sometimes they saw them off and you can hear the animals howls of anguish and pain. Worker kick and beat them, stomp them, even jump on their backs, break their tails, often purposely, and they think the animals have no feelings. They are just meat.

Milk cows are forced to give birth to unwanted calves to provide milk and cheese. These cows are never allowed to graze and are forced to eat corn and grains that their bodies can't digest. The calves newly born, are bludgeoned to death with hammers which takes quite a while. They lie there, their hearts still beating, whining and screaming in pain while workers hammer their heads.

We need to get back to family farms and to get rid of these unhealthy practices.

“They undergo painful mutilations and are bred to grow unnaturally fast and large for the purpose of maximizing meat, egg, and milk production for the food industry. Their bodies cannot support this growth, which results in debilitating and painful conditions and deformities."

"Every year, 9 billion chickens are slaughtered for meat in the United States. Called “broilers” by the industry, these curious, social birds are treated simply as production units, selectively bred and fed for abnormally fast growth without consideration for their wellbeing. The resulting large size contributes significantly to suffering, disease, and early death." 

Above 2 paragraphs quoted from:
"http://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/

Factory farms, also called industrial livestock operations or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), are large agricultural enterprises where animals are raised in confined settings. The Environmental Protection Agency explains that these facilities congregate animals on small tracts of land, sustaining them on purchased or grown feed rather than through grazing or pasture.

http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723715/k.852A/Factory_Farms.htm

In every other advanced nation in the world, they have reverted back to grazing cattle and pigs because they realize how unhealthy this is for the animal, the earth and us, because when we eat them we ingest 2nd hand antibiotics and hormones, which is why many of us are antibiotic resistant.

Please speak out for the animals. To do so go visit the following websites to sign petitions on many issues, including animal abuse.

http://www.mercyforanimals.org/

Care2.org

Forcechange.org

change.orghttp://www.mercyforanimals.ca/pigcruelty/

http://wildhorsepreservation.org/about

http://www.nrdc.org/living/