GREMLINS IN DA CLOUDS

Wen practices and principles

are two different tings

dere’s always wun big problem

in wat is actually being aspired to.

Da press secretary is deflecting

so many pertinent questions

dat you could almost visualize

da force field dat surrounds him.

Maybe Darth Vader

is one of his heroes.

As da amplified voice

tries to explain da unexplainable

it becomes quite apparent

dat its wun scary new world

of strange robots and rewired circuitry.

Da baritone oratory

resonates in its lower octaves

and media alarms start to go off.

Rumors are now going around

dat white body armored storm troopers

are searching da entire empire

in dere mission

to apprehend wun very important woman.

Dey accuse her

of running and hiding

but she’s in plain view

foa every citizen to see.

You really have to admire

wat she stands for.

It takes wun strong constitution

and wun sense of purpose

to heroically hold up dat torch each day.

So as you contemplate dat realization

just be careful of wat you wish foa

wen you wish foa change

cause now

dere’s suddenly gremlins in da clouds

and industrialized cool aid

is beginning to fall like rain.

STANDING ON DA SUMMIT

If I had to uncover

some kine of redeeming quality

it would be dat your dominating nature

is like predation on enhancement drugs.

Efficient, yes,

but wholeheartedly brutal.

I’ll point dat out anyway

even as I let you know

dat I’m intrigued

by da individualistic aspect

of your capitalistic intent.

Some compassion

sprinkled on da surface would be nice

but I guess dat goes against

all of your corporate tendencies.

It’s not like I’m pulling up

da red carpet before you

da one on which

you dropped your own rose petals

to make wun greater impression.

Dough I do want to mention

dat da flanking lines of trumpets

and da exaggerated crowds in da wings

is somewat ovah da top.

But den again

dere can be only one egomaniac

standing on da summit.

I’ll agree wit you

dat you have revealed

areas of undiscovered sky

high above you in wun vast firmament.

Good luck wit sticking

all of your gold stars up deah.

It’s just dat

it might not be as simple

as decorating

wun kindergarten achievement chart

DA MACHINERY STAY BROKEN

If dey really gave people

wun fair shot

den maybe dere wouldn’t be so many

imaginary bullet holes

in da government’s stifling agenda—

Gratitude nevah radicalized anybody.

Emblematic guns not going be blazing

if da upset guy

behind da fantasized rifle

wuz warm and friendly.

Nobody going be carrying protest signs

and shouting down da power play

if everyting wuz copasetic.

Da machinery stay broken

in da political con game

and expecting insiders to fix it

is like tinking you going hit wun jackpot

witout evah putting numbers into da game.

Wun social upheaval

is hoping to challenge da status quo

and some people get uncomfortable

but dats wat it’s going to take

if you really want to change tings.

Democracy

or wats left of it

shouldn’t be smothered

by unchecked hands of dirty fingahs

pressing down

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai'i Creole English) and in American English.
He edited Ho'omanoa: An Anthology of Contemporary Hawaiian Literature.  Some of his
recent Pidgin writing has appeared in Unlikely Stories Mark V, Otoliths, and Heavy Feather Review, among others.  Balaz is an avid supporter of Hawaiian Islands Pidgin writing in the expanding context of World Literature.  He presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.