There'slots of flash and loud crowd noise
Inlightning striking instant news.
Thenoise is highly polarized
Infull out, frothing, public views.
Istarted life conservative,
Anold soul way too young it seems,
Butas I age, I moderate,
'Tilnow, I'm meat for both extremes.
Whereonce we all could disagree
Andstill retain our dignity,
Nowif we don't see eye to eye,
Ourfriendships will be history.
Themagnifying news sound bites
Showmolehills tall as mountains,
Builthigh and wide as talking heads
Spoutwords like water fountains.
Theleft and right each have a slant
Ofhow the story must be told,
Manipulationsrunning rife,
Sometimesnot checking facts they're sold.
WhenWalter Cronkite spoke the facts,
Oneknew for sure it was the news.
Butwhen he chose to speak his mind,
Therewas no doubt,his thoughts, his views.
Now,every time the hype gets loud,
Onehas to think what's hid behind
Thenoise and flap of rants and raves,
Keptout of sight and out of mind.
Theflag, the gays, the blacks, the grays
Hotbutton issues on display.
Whiteprivilege thrown to obfuscate,
Andguns the biggest liberal prey.
Distractingflash and sleight of hand,
Magician'stricks to draw the eye,
Whileover here, an order's signed,
Andwe kiss one more right goodbye.
RichardHigley © Sept 2, 2015
