And Always: Without Expectations... Poem by RIC BASTASA

something political
i always hear that in my country
how politicians have been consistently
corrupt with no one
hanged

or executed publicly in the plaza

and it seems that this is all but a game
of hide and seek
or an endless cycle of ironies and paradoxes

or that story of which came first the egg or the chicken

who gave birth to corrupt politicians?
ask the corrupt voters who have become political prostitutes
making love to the highest bidder of their
political wiles

those who are not yet in power behave as though
they are saints
but when the get the power finally
they are worse that the
ousted

it has been years and i have learned my own
self-taught lessons

i do not expect much anymore from this society
the governed and the governing powers
belong to the same category

i have a place of my own now
i write, i spend my private hours
at the beach
listening to the sea
feeling the breeze
drinking my beer
and savoring my own kind of meat
some cheese and bread
and fish and chips

some friends may come and share
conversations flow
and then i let things simmer
and then after a while
they can go.

so here is the self
honest to itself, confident confidante
better known to itself
and always: without expectations...

for life is a river flowing
always flowing, nothing stays, no one stays
nothing lasts.