Independent Minds
“We’re all proud of our independent minds!”
they shouted in impressive unity
while shaking their imperious behinds.
“We’re all proud of our independent minds!
We’ve found what only independence finds!
Unlike the rest of you, we’re truly free!
We’re all proud of our independent minds!”
they shouted in impressive unity.
–Tom Riley
Mock On
“Who’s that mocking, Voltaire or Rousseau?”
“It’s impossible, dear sir, to know:
those two voices are one.
When you hear either, run!
You must not be the Deity’s foe.”
–Tom Riley
Why, This Is Hell, Nor Am I Out of It
“You’re not allowed to say that here!”
“I am not where you think I am.”
“This is a happy, holy sphere.
You’re not allowed to say that here.
Your breath offends what we hold dear!”
“I won’t pretend to give a damn.”
“You’re not allowed to say that here.”
“I am not where you think I am.”
–Tom Riley
He Won’t Back Down
He won’t back down from anything he’s said–
and that is both a virtue and a vice.
Of media reproach he shows no dread.
He’s proud to tell you once and twice and thrice.
Of course, the things he says are far from nice.
They’re craziness — and maybe common sense.
He says that lousy losers carry lice.
He says intensity can get intense.
The truths that he conveys are not immense–
but often they are quickly understood.
Simplicity should govern in events,
he indicates. The simple path is good.
For his great popularity there’s cause:
the simple render him sincere applause.
–Tom Riley
Getting Tough
“When the going gets tough,” he declared,
“then my will lets no effort be spared!
I refocus my strength
and apply it at length.
When the going gets tougher, I’m scared….”
–Tom Riley
Back to Business
We have sued. Let the judge pronounce doom
on the culprits! There’s no further room
for these tired exposés.
Hurtful truth never pays.
Let the body part peddling resume!
–Tom Riley
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
I am deaf. I can’t hear. Oh, it’s true!
That is why all the words that I spew
are a roar, not a rumble.
Still, I bellow: “Don’t mumble!”
My deficiency I blame on you.
–Tom Riley
The Inventor
“I’ve invented a genre,” he said.
“You expected A-1 — but instead
Z-18’s what you get!
You don’t understand yet….”
“Sir, your genre is already dead.”
–Tom Riley
Pay No Attention
Pay no attention, folks, to what we said.
(The videos were edited, you know.)
Don’t credit what you’ve heard or seen or read.
Pay no attention, folks, to what we said
on tape. Attend to our defense instead.
It isn’t so if we deny it’s so.
Pay no attention, folks, to what we said!
(The videos were edited, you know….)
–Tom Riley
Free Your Mind
Shining vistas of new cogitation
opened up as he surveyed Creation.
“Leave the dullness assigned!”
cried the sky. “Free your mind!”
He resisted that offered temptation.
–Tom Riley
Flammeus Gladius 