Skip to content

Tag: truth

Idle Chat(ter)

There is too much of nothing here
for me to speak at length.
To break it down to mere ideas
would take all our strength.

Instead, pretend it’s something grand, more worthy of our time.
That may convince the rest of us
to stand up, down the line.

Besides, we’ve talked and talked to death
our, grief, and shame.
We’ll never be real heroes
while we seek someone to blame.

And further, while we spend our time
conversing this and that,
the foxes in the chicken coop
will dine until they’re fat.

This idle conversation makes us
tired and prone to sleep
while what we think the world should be
grows ponderous and deep.

Instead, let us waste no more words
debating right and wrong.
What chance we have to change our course
will fade before too long.

There’s always talk of nothing much,
of what we plan to do.
A dream is made of simple stuff
’til action makes it true.

So let us talk of something else,
of things that make some sense.
For talk alone won’t change the world –
of that there’s evidence.

05 Aug 2025


© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

A Soul in Cement: sonnet (sonetto rispetto)

I will not live my whole life just to spite
one more imagined evil at my door,
some cloud determined to block out my light,
or leave my spirit destitute. No more.
Why be a tool for either left or right,
when a binary choice is still piss-poor?
You’re always wrong when you pick just one side,
and where you end depends on how you ride.

The truth that can be shown in white or black
is just one more illusion, just a trick
that gives you hope for something permanent.
Reality is change. Stop holding back.
Your life is not cement that will grow thick
and make your purpose more self-evident.

08 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Idiocracy

In a post-truth world
the art of lying is lost;
no one’s good at it.
It takes imagination
and some creativity.

In a post truth world,
there’s no need for flattery;
why bother with it?
You can simply fake the facts
and seem like a real genius.

In a post truth world
no news isn’t just good news,
but it’s not real news.
What difference can it make
when no one is listening?

19 FEB 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Don’t Preach Me

Don’t preach me religion
like there’s something you can prove;
being good at treading water
doesn’t mean you can move.

Don’t preach me politics
from the safety of the status quo;
saying that you understand
doesn’t mean that you know.

Don’t preach me civic pride
like I don’t know much history;
acting like the bigger gun
makes the purer pedigree.

Don’t tell me to walk the line
when you’re circling around me;
I don’t believe your anything
has much to do with me.

Don’t preach me right and wrong
like there’s some space in between;
words like that make useful weapons
if you don’t know what they mean.

Don’t preach me morality
like some gold we’re gonna find;
being sane in a crazy world
don’t mean you ain’t lost your mind.

Don’t tell me to seek the truth
when your mouth is full of lies;
I don’t believe your anything
just because it’s super-sized.

Don’t preach me religion;
don’t preach me politics.
Don’t hand me your medicine
when you’re the one who’s sick.

Don’t preach me your civic pride;
don’t preach your right and wrong.
Don’t preach your morality;
I’ve got my own damned song.

14 JUN 2017

© 2017 – 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

What Good is That: rime royal

What is the Truth, that we spend all our days,
from birth to death, imagining so fair
that we invent, seek to avoid or praise
some vain ideal constructed from thin air,
that as illusion is beyond compare;
it casts religions merely to take form
that neither breathes nor catches fire to warm.

What is the Truth that holds no little lies,
that is just pure just “that” and so and so.
it disappears from view when cut to size,
each grain of sand both yes and no;
the smoke and mirrors added just for show.
Each leaf of truth is part seed of deceit;
the laurel leaf the child of base defeat.

What is the Truth? An absolute so still
it stagnates to allow algae to grow,
and in the rotting flesh of every kill
injects the future’s chance of overflow,
converting into yes each maybe so?
What good is that, some fickle god’s ennui,
to folks just trying to live, like you and me?

2 MAY 2017

© 2017, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Fit to Print: englyn unodle crwca

What’s fit to print is not news.
Our bitter, contrary views
are merely stuff we seek to use as new fuel;
like fools, we think we choose

to fight false with what is true,
wielding light that will burn through
the lies and mad bugaboo everywhere.
Now there’s a hopeful coup.

Hopeful, but not meant to be.
The real world seeks symmetry
and balance, but will not be rushed ahead
or led like a pony.

No, to make news in these days,
one must seek out different ways.
To prove a thing, you must amaze the wild mob;
a big job with no praise.

15 MAR 2017

© 2017, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Only Dream: alcaics

I cannot seek for infinite solutions,
spend endless hours harboring discussion,
just lurking in some thoughtful quagmire,
patiently awaiting final judgment.

How vain to think such artifice delivers
a useful purpose, meaningful salvation,
the precious jewel for reason’s scepter
dispensing revelation to the worthy.

What truth is there in this pointless anointing,
in crowning jesters, mindlessly applauding
like shameless harlots begging mercy,
expecting infinite and wise response?

The single answer, brilliantly revealing
a blinding beacon that dispels the darkness
is just a simple childlike wishing.
Redemption? Absolution? Only dreaming.

06 JAN 2017

© 2017, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment
error: Content is protected !!