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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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