Tag Archives: segregation

Times They Are A Changin

Times they are a changin,

An older guard struggles for relevance.

They long for the days of Reagan,

June Cleaver and Leave it to Beaver,

White picket fences and segregated neighborhoods,

Gays in the closet and women in the kitchen,

Marriage between one man one woman,

But O’ the times they are a changin.

Their anger turns extreme

Because their “perfect” little world is slipping away.

Reagan is gone,

But his policies live on that helped destroy this country,

Picket fences are in shambles after the housing collapse,

Racism is on your front page and you don’t like it,

The Cleavers and Leave it to Beaver

Are relegated to late night reruns…

Nobody buys this crap anymore,

Gays are our neighbors, they’re on TV, the radio, in politics…

The closet has been cleaned out,

Couches and fast food have left our kitchens cold and empty,

While John and Tom and Sue and Jane can say “I do” without shame.

So fight if you will, fight if you must, but…

O’ these times are a changin!

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Faded Asphalt Riddled with Glass and Stone

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Faded asphalt riddled with glass and stone

Scorched deep black by disenfranchised frustration.

Called thugs and lawless, anger bubbles over,

But still nothing has changed.

The sixties are alive in well in the twenty-first century.

Civil rights are still just a dream for many

Though we’d like to believe otherwise.

So what! Segregation has been legally abolished,

The back of the bus is no longer reserved,

But what the law cannot abolish is racism.

It cannot regulate the prejudice minds of man,

It cannot extract it from our senses,

Perhaps blindness is the answer,

Plucking of the eyes from the skull.

What else can save this species,

It has been on this spiral for eternity?

Look at our history!

Enslavement, segregation, discrimination,

Poverty, lynchings, so little progress.

Yes, some of these have faded,

Replaced by polite prejudice,

But still nothing has changed.

Perhaps one day,

The ignorant will close their eyes,

Open their hearts

And realize that color is only

…Skin deep.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Labels Separate

Labels separate

Segregation of masses

For the unknowing

Republican, democrat,

Gay, straight, rich, poor, black or white

This life and body

Are but temporary things

Gone in an instant

What is left behind

Spirit and spirit alone

Each one is the same

Void of race, creed and color

Void of all man’s influence

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Opposites (Acrostic)

Old, young,

Poor, rich,

Peaceful, aggressive,

Ordinary, extraordinary,

Sick, healthy,

Illiterate, educated,

Timid, extroverted,

Evil, good,

Statements for human segregation.

 

~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Segregating Ourselves

Republican, democrat,

Black, white,

Feminist, chauvinist,

Gay, straight,

Religious, atheist,

Liberal, conservative,

Pacifist, warmonger,

Proletariat, capitalist,

Pro-life, pro-choice,

Rich, poor,

Extremist, moderate,

Old, young,

Patriotic, unpatriotic,

Native, immigrant,

We spend so much time segregating ourselves into categories,

That we forget we are all the same.

We are born, we live and then we die,

This is non-negotiable.

Maybe if took the time to walk in our brother’s shoes

We would be less hurried to take vengeance

And this world would be a more peaceful and beautiful place.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

What Lies On Distant Shores

What lies on distant shores,

Buckets, pigeon holes, troughs for segregation.

Language, dress, birthplace do not an enemy make.

Where came this bitter misdirection?

Religion, culture, song, dance,

These are things of man’s creation.

Strip naked man and woman–

Lay them bare of their mortal inventions.

Confiscate their language, dress, birthplace,

Expropriate their religion, culture, song, dance,

Take all they have of this world;

What have they left?

Blood and skin and bone;

That which crumbles with inevitable death.

Hopes and dreams, emotions;

intangibles that define humanness.

Air, food, water, shelter;

That which sustains us.

Boundaries of man hold no sway over these.

We are but one species,

Born and consumed in life,

Until the day we return home

To the dust from whence we came.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~