Your Oath, Your Choice

 

TO OUR REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVES

The principles of our republic are under direct assault. We are witnessing the careless dismantling of various branches of our government, the weaponization of our administrations of justice and security against political adversaries and our own citizens, and the swift erosion of our very democracy.

All the while, the office of the Commander in Chief is used by a former reality T.V. salesman to sell personal merchandise—cars, watches, Bibles, and even print currency with his image—while openly accepting and benefiting from vast sums of graft.

You, our elected officials, swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. As history is being written every day, you must remember this truth: You get to choose how your place in it will be documented.

Your choice is stark:

1. You can be one of the many representatives who chose to prostrate themselves in fear of retribution to the whims of a power-hungry autocrat, enabling his pursuit of personal gain and the dismantling of 250 years of democratic norms and the rule of law.
2. Or, you can be an elected official who affirmed the oath to the Constitution and chose to stand up, prioritizing the preservation of our democracy over party idolatry.

I strongly encourage you to self-determine your legacy, not as someone who helped dismantle one of the greatest democracies of the modern world, but as one who helped save it for future generations.

The moment for courage is now.

— Civis

October 2025

Patron of the Arts

I have decided 

that instead of buying books of poetry

I am going to check them out 

of the library first

That way if I can't understand them

I can just return it

and give someone else a chance

to figure them out

which will be much easier and cost effective

but will sadly put an end

to my delusion of considering myself 

a patron of the arts

when I stop leaving 

books of poems 

that only make sense 

to the author that wrote them

in the hallway near the elevator

so someone else 

can get confused 

for free

Ken Owen October 2025

Van Niddy Press

Journal: October 2025

 

With MTG’s new meds finally kicking in

maybe she could talk RFKjr

into putting them in

the Congress water coolers..?

10/09/25

Realizing the significance

of witnessing a resurrection

the adoring crowd sat in rapt attendance

filling the room with love

Maurice Tani Trio featuring Henry Salvia

Martuni’s, San Francisco, CA

10/09/25

Did you ever think you’d live to see 

our democracy devolve into a strange hybrid of

a kakistocracy full of sycophants

operating a blatant State socialist kleptocracy 

while directed by a fascist autocrat?

Me either.

10/13/2025

Each day social media A.I. bots send me beautiful ads 

of clothes I would like in a wide array of colors 

as a test of my resolve to not purchase 

things from China that don't really exist

10/14/2025

Divided

 

As we continue 
to add to the legacy
of our country’s imperfections

our political extremes 
are once again 
weaponized

bombs
long range rifles
don’t answer the door.

With compassion gone
and outrage appearing only when
one of your own falls victim

it’s has become hard to tell 
if this is a Fascist overthrow of the governed
or the beginning of the next Civil War

            or both.

We now face the fear
that we have always been divided
and may forever be

as we once again watch
the dream of our democracy grow faint
when we choose to no longer 
respectfully manage our dissension.

September 2025

Ken Owen Van Niddy Press

Nothing Left to Do

Bikes without pedals,
shoes with faux laces,
zombies with cell phones
invading our spaces.

We can't go 5 minutes
in being alone
without someone crying
“Oh my god, where’s my phone?”

All-over body sprays
when our odors are scathing
I’m sure were not meant
to keep us from bathing.

With once-a-week shots
to control all our cravings,
we hope that the side effects
will not have us raving.

A.I. gives answers
requiring no thinking,
and leaves us all much more
time for day drinking.

Social media will tell you
what you want to believe,
while the truth lies somewhere
between all who deceive.

Now cars without drivers
park better than you,
so with all this free time
what will you do?

-inspired by Dorothy Parker
September 2025

Journal: September 2025

Our ability
  to quietly observe life
stolen by cell phones

09/02/2025

We now pay $3.99 for the luxury 
of not having to get up and load the DVD player
with our favorite movie that sits on a shelf
10 feet from the couch.

09/26/2025

Journal: August 2025

 I now realize
that people wear headphones
not to escape their reality
but to escape your reality

-Doctor’s waiting room while experiencing someone's 

FaceTime call with their grandkids, 08/07/2025

Heavy rock music
drifts on fog across the park,
ravens unimpressed

-Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands Festival, 08/08/2025

Birth and Death 

I watched the massive 

hospital expansion project from 

the 8th floor waiting room window 

captivated by the immense effort required

to give birth to the new buildings

until my concentration was broken

by a black hearse driving slowly away

down an old access road 

alone and without ceremony

-UCSF Hospital, August 2025

A Retraction on Kenneth Rexroth

After saying his poems 

were overblown and too serious

I found this brilliant stanza as proof

he actually could get to the point 

in less than 25 pages:

Vulture

“St. Thomas Aquinas thought

That vultures were lesbians

And fertilized by the winds.

If you seek the facts of life,

Papist intellectuals

Can be very misleading.”

08/14/2025

Awake and Dreaming

We have given our learning machines 

the wealth of our collective knowledge

but since they do not sleep 

they have hallucinations

by using random bits 

of data and images 

to create false realities 

which perfectly describes 

what happens each night 

when I dream

08/26/2025

They say one should exercise

the body as well as the mind

but I have yet to see a jogger smiling

like I do when I read a book

08/28/2025