Year: 2004

The Divided States of America

/ Greg Asimakoupoulos

A post-election peek at our oxymoronic union

The United States?
For pity sake,
untied is what we are.
We’re very split
and prone to spit
at those with whom we spar.

The United States?
For Heaven’s sake
we fight on different sides.
The right to life
is cause for strife.
On gays we, too, divide.

The United States?
For goodness sake
our rifts must soon be spanned.
We cannot wait
to harness hate.
Let’s work to understand.

The United States?
Make no mistake
that still remains our name.
So Left and Right,
let’s now unite
and find a common aim.

A Mad Man Misunderstood

/ Greg Asimakoupoulos

Yasser Arafat reconsidered

Forgive us Yasser Arafat.

Though you were dubbed an Arab rat,
you were a person loved by God
whom we misunderstood.

How could we understand your plight?
You were convinced that you were right.
And maybe, sir, you were correct
more often than we thought.

How could we fully understand
your passion to possess The Land?
We’ve always had a place that we
can freely call our home.

How could we understand your hate
for those who made Israel a state?
We never have been forced to leave
to wander aimlessly.

How could we understand your schemes
when terror leveled walls and beams?
We’ve rarely known the hopelessness
that comes when justice dies.

How could we understand your pain
when peace talks proved to be in vain
and you were branded arrogant
when others also were.

We came to understand too late
why those who loved you thought you great.
Beneath the head scarf that you wore
there was a brilliant mind.

Trick or Treat

/ Greg Asimakoupoulos

Which Candidate Will Deliver What?

Trick or treat! It’s Bush or Kerry.
One is trusted. One is scary.
Both wear masks but one’s misleading us
in terms of how he’ll serve.

John O’Lantern’s always glowing
but it’s scowling George who’s showing
why we need to be on guard against
the ghouls of evil terror.

And we’d best beware of tactics
and the anti-Bush semantics
that are voiced by Kerry’s goblins
as they fly inciting fear.

At the monster mash on Tuesday
both the Times and Post (and Newsday)
will be haunting us with headlines
all the while leaning left.

Will you vote the left or right way?
Look beneath the masks and then pray
that your heart will guide your balloting
regardless of the polls. 

This Bud’s for You!

/ Greg Asimakoupoulos

A toast to the Red Sox’s long-awaited world championship

Beneath the famous Gateway Arch
the Cardinal fans now grieve quite parched.
Their thirst is for much more than beer.
They craved a win. That much was clear.
Those wingless Cardinals couldn’t fly
in just four games we watched them die.
Jack Buck was turnin’ in his grave
as with their bats the Red Birds waved
at knuckle balls pitched toward the plate.
At Schilling’s fast balls they swung late.
The N L Central champs are through
while Boston cheers and hoists a brew.
The curse at last has been reversed.
Those Clydesdale horses pull a hearse.
With Red Birds dead, Beantown’s not blue.
Hey Bo Sox fans… “This Bud’s for you!”

Mary and Martha (Revisited)

/ Greg Asimakoupoulos

Advice to Martha Stewart and others imprisoned by ambition

It’s a good thing, Martha really,
that you’re doing time.
You can write a book in prison
all about your crime.

You can counsel other inmates
on their cell decor.
Maybe even paint the big house
and its bar-clad door.

Why not contemplate your options
when you’re finally free?
What if you became like Mary
at the Savior’s knee?

You’d do well to pause and listen
to what God might say.
Isn’t that what you’ve been missing
with your break-neck ways?

Always busy making money.
Always on the go.
Never having time for family
Never saying no.

Always frantic in the kitchen.
Always on TV.
Never thinking that you’ve made it.
Never waiving fees.

Like the Martha in the Bible
you’ve been self-absorbed.
Why not opt to be like Mary
leaning on the Lord?

Tell Him all your inner secrets.
Claim His promised grace.
Thank Him for the gift of prison
and its freeing pace.

Add up all your many blessings.
Take some time to sing.
Find the joy in simply living.
It’s a real good thing.