Refinement

Refinement

They’re refined now. They weren’t so before.
If you say a foul word now, they’re sore.
They themselves were once crude.
Now their new attitude
Is established. They’re perfect – and more.

–Tom Riley

Murmurers

Murmurers

The murmurs now proceed, I’m well aware.
Opinions are exchanged and reinforced
That shouldn’t have been formed. In poor repair,
Out are the processes of thinking sourced.
Struck by this shaky lance, I’m not unhorsed.
You will not see me rolling in the dust.
Still, these my judges cannot be endorsed
As anything resembling right and just.
I have real faults, but those that are discussed
Are fictional, and detailed far from fact.
They can’t betray who never held true trust.
They can’t stand tall whose posture is an act.
My final resolution is sincere:
The murmurers I do not wish to hear.

–Tom Riley

Church of QVC

Church of QVC

Vainly professing Christianity,
She practices another faith instead:
She worships at the Church of QVC.

The TV doesn’t make her bend the knee.
She spends and spends – and thus her god is fed.
Vainly professing Christianity

Interferes not at all, as all can see.
Aloud on screen are sacred pitches read.
She worships at the Church of QVC.

Mammon beholds and smiles indulgently.
“Hey, don’t mind me, dear lady! Go ahead
Vainly professing Christianity!

I’m thrilled to view the rank hypocrisy.
I’m glad to see that principle has fled.”
She worships at the Church of QVC—

And conscience, murdered, doesn’t need to be
Involved. Along the broad path is she sped,
Vainly professing Christianity.
She worships at the Church of QVC.

–Tom Riley

Anatomy of a Forgettery

Anatomy of a Forgettery

Is it really dementia? It’s not.
Mental flames there were never that hot.
Was there ever an hour
When he showed mental power?
If there ever was, fans, he forgot.

–Tom Riley

Doctrinal Issue

Doctrinal Issue

The doctrine of the Pharisees was bad.

O ye who read my words, don’t gainsay that!

But, quite aside from that, I find it sad

That some mere self-appointed autocrat

Who has the backwards attitude down pat

Can’t even make it eloquent and sly.

Mouth overflowing with cerebral fat,

He makes it lame and dull.  Hey, what a guy!

The throbbing essence of that ancient lie

Indeed is now what animates his frame.

His bogus preaching, though, just doesn’t fly.

He’s in the game but cannot play the game.

To contradict his nonsense, vain and tired,

No savior in the Temple is required.

–Tom Riley

Speaking from the Heart

Speaking from the Heart

Underfoot, undead heart told a tale
you could hear. Did you strive to regale
the police with your lies?
That, my lad, wasn’t wise.
Words unchecked pretty much always fail.

–Tom Riley

The Thing That Smiled

The Thing That Smiled

She hungered for a friendly ghost’s embrace.
The thing that smiled at her was insincere.
The here and now, she felt, was not her place:
she hungered for a friendly ghost’s embrace.
Her appetite proceeded at a pace
that should have served as warning. Free of fear,
she hungered for a friendly ghost’s embrace.
The thing that smiled at her was insincere.

–Tom Riley

Why Vampire Porn Is All Fake

Why Vampire Porn Is All Fake

Did she moan when the bloodsucker king
bit her neck? Did she thrill at the sting?
We shall never, folks, know.
When she rose, stiff and slow,
she was mindless as any dead thing.

–Tom Riley

It Gets Around

It Gets Around

First they minimized personal spaces,
Then engaged in forbidden embraces.
Did they hide these acts? Sure.
Outwardly they were pure.
But look now: there’s a pox on their faces!

–Tom Riley

Strange and Wild

Strange and Wild

Knowing reality could not be tamed,
He put his faith in something strange and wild.
Unaware of the rules, he played the game.
Knowing reality could not be tamed,
He drew the rough-hewn bow and, smiling, aimed.
Some sacred things are meant to be defiled.
Knowing reality could not be tamed,
He put his faith in something strange and wild.

–Tom Riley