Florida Botanical Garden March 31, 2018

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Largo Preserve to Highland Lake March 30, 2018

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Wright to Hammock March 30, 2018

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gun ownership reform

If you want change that holds fast against reaction

Reform is good but it won’t last for long

As is obvious if you know what I have seen

Witness to all the reversals in just this lifetime.

I do believe the pendulum is going to swing back

To win a greater measure of human rights

But the only way to make those gains permanent

Requires a complete rewrite of the rules.

In my youth there were many advances through struggle

Access to quality education and voting rights

Access to reproductive choice and equal pay

Environmental protection and toxic waste cleanup

Affirmative action against systemic discrimination

Breaking down prejudices around sexual orientation

Access to health care for seniors extending the gains

Of Social security won by our parent’s generation.

All under attack in so many ways direct and indirect

Taken away in whole and by degrees

Gerrymandered districts and reactionary judges

Big money stacks their game against us.

This is the context of gun ownership reform

When so much depends on who has the weapons

While of course assault rifles are not for hunting

And the cult of extreme firepower is sick.

When guns in the hands of the oppressed would be outlawed overnight

While killer cops claiming self-defense murder unarmed people of color

These "blue lives matter" terrorists act with impunity

Giving cover to the fascist militias brandishing their arsenals.

When our culture glorifies young men who volunteer for combat

Only to be sent on missions that end in atrocities

Haunted by the screams of the people they kill

Those innocent civilians treated as inhuman collateral damage.

The mass shootings here hit home like an unintended complete circle

Warped young male killers twisted by a culture that cultivates hate

While the state makes their weapons readily available

Enabling the carnage while offering sanctimonious thoughts and prayers.

Enough is enough!  The cry goes out from the youth mobilizing millions

When student leaders emerge eloquently speaking up

We are proud and inspired by the courage of Emma and David

Standing strong against the scurrilous right wing attacks.

Even this one modest reform is treated as a threat

By those who control us through violence and fear

So then we the people must exert our power over them

Transforming our government completely.

Eagle Lake March 29, 2018

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