21 July 2019

Laugh Clown… Laugh – A Spoken Word poem

In memoriam for Robin Williams…


Delivered the joke, smiled through torment…
On humor’s wings your malady was bent.
You shared with all your gift of the jape,
For our maudlin hearts a moment’s escape.
A manic laugh ‘pon your face fights,
We raised you up to astonishing heights.

Laughing… laughing… laughing… laugh
From the depth of melancholy in your eyes,
Take flight now before us… ever higher you’ll rise.
Made us laugh ’til we did cry apiece…
Precarious… you teetered ‘pon the precipice.
Played out your suffering ‘pon the stage,
Lights… camera… the pedestal… your cage.

Cry out loud… make jest of your pain
For you ever inspired, gave hope from your fragility,
Shined so brightly for all your frolicking jocularity,
Behind the door… in the dark… burned out alone.
Did we ever see if a smile from your eyes shone.
You always were easing our lonely malady.
You made the joke from your own tragedy.

The lonely clown… living to entertain
Reveling in your hilarity taken for granted,
Your warmth… your joy… we were enchanted.
Left none to ease your heart so dolorous,
To deliver joy beyond depression’s curse.
To strive with unending adverse poignancy,
Gave joy… spread smiles… and tears of hilarity.

Dying… dying…dying to make us laugh
Laughing… laughing… laughing countenance
Hiding behind laughter, your sustenance.
Your soul laid bare… laid bare for the joke,
Poured out… poured out… ’til your heart broke.
Loving the clown to death, we cried,
Cruelest cut the day the laughter died.

Laugh clown… laugh

Laughing… laughing… laughing… laugh
Cry out loud… make jest of your pain
The lonely clown… living to entertain
Dying… dying…dying to make us laugh

© 19 August 2014, by D. Denise Dianaty

13 July 2019

Fear Her… Fear Liberty

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

“Fear Liberty” – Multimedia artwork, 12 July 2019, by D. Denise Dianaty
Fear her… Fear Liberty
Once upon a time of hope…
Liberty shone her light,
welcoming unto the world

Proclaiming covenant…
The America she shown upon
Now dims… now hides her light,
unkind… harsh… unwelcoming…
Denying covenant…
No quarter for those tempest-tost
No hope they may breath free
No more the Mother of Exiles

Covenant is broken…
Your huddled masses turned away…
Her lamp, not lifted… shuttered.
The Golden Door is dross.

Fear her… Fear Liberty.

©12 July 2019, by D. Denise Dianaty
This words of this poem, like so much of my poetry, were inspired by the creation of the artwork. The poem flowed from the process.

09 July 2019

The Unraveling…

Terrible truths and horrific lies are unraveling the American ideal.
unraveling… unraveling… unraveling, frayed
A once proud nation bowed ‘neath hate
poor brown refugee babes’ cagèd fate
…stolen from pleading mothers’ arms
for believing America’s charms
all meaning now lost in that flag…
Liberty’s steel skin reduced to slag

unraveling… unraveling… unraveling peace
Old Glory’s red, white, and blue spoiled
unraveling… before our eyes soiled
Poisoning our land and our air
Sowing seeds of impending despair
Reaping humanity’s demise
demonizing the words of the wise

unraveling… unraveling… unraveling love
All meaning stretched to fit
an unconstitutional remit.
Suppressing the majority…
“We the People” — no priority
…stolen voices of the nation
rendered perfidy’s coronation

unraveling… unraveling… unraveling, hope
© 09 July 2019, by D. Denise Dianaty

Original artwork created with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, 08 July 2019, by D. Denise Dianaty

07 July 2019

Humanity… Earth’s Disease

Kids on the street
Babies in cages
At the table no seat
Garbage in our seas
Climate change
And dying trees
Pollution on the breeze
Heating the oceans
Humanity… earth’s disease
© 06 July 2019, by D. Denise Dianaty

Photoshop Art by D. Denise Dianaty, 07 July 2019