Table of
Contents
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Good Cause Waltzes
I’m a geopolitical and socioeconomic
Excitable boy,
Give me the Gettysburg Address
Before any singer and his or her song,
I want real rhetoric, words applied
To increase the demand supplied
For political actions
On behalf of committees and citizens,
Nothing about love, unless
It is love of justice, love of equality,
Love of power put to principle,
Otherwise leave it at home,
Or to yourself,
I want nobody else’s trifles, only chants
To embolden today’s struggles,
If there be
wailing of a siren
Fading in and out in music, so be it,
But only in the service of lyrics
Which in turn service the cause of men
And women struggling
For the right to live in peace, Amen.
Ben Nardolilli
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American Art
Look around, it really is a gallery place,
Where we put faux pagodas, painted gates,
And ideograms on display between characters
I understand the people but none of the signs,
I assume bad translations abound here,
But it is not my concern to critique them
I am not marching for the cause of realism,
and the sake of tourist photographers,
I am strolling for a painter up in the rafters
Who will notice the black hat and coat,
Standing out in the crowd full of colorful people,
My details good enough to capture with a stroke
Color and balance, while still penniless
These are the powers I bring out tonight
Among the crowds roaming in Chinatown, DC
Ben Nardolilli__
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Broken Pulpit
Standing naked while making outsider art,
I also stand apart from history
In order to upgrade and update my situation
And receive likes in real time from others,
But the seraphim of famous dead
Hold their applause as their guardians
Hold their currency from my quivering inbox.
For years I lit sparks under the shade
Of exlovers’ so-called lost invitations,
And distilled the smell of past conversations
In hopes of tempting the market,
Yet now each memory is unstable,
Blowing holes through the darkness I called
My medium and temporary home.
This is the time to be practical,
The views I glean are not pay-for–views,
I must fit the news from yesterday and today
Together to please future scholars in private,
My key, I will cast a shadow
Of such wide darkness it makes others think
They have awakened a dreaming giant
Who has better things to do than enlighten them.
Ben Nardolilli__
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Apparent Masonry
The walls do not fall in Arlington,
Their ruins do not litter the land,
No barbed wire needs to be cleared,
No gates are thrown open
No families are reunited,
No soldiers look around for a border
Neither do they remain standing,
Cutting off or protecting the land
For Arlington has no walls
Which might come crumbling down
Yes, some might rejoice we are open,
Yet I hate having nothing scale
Ben Nardolilli__
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