Face Painted As Comedy

Face Painted As Comedy
by Michael Doyle

From herder of cats to herder of men,
The voice of confusion thinks itself Zen.
Thirty years of perverted energy
Has produced something akin to synergy.

In this passage of marbled history
Are the layers of false controversy
That have forced America to rearrange
While most of us stand back to watch the change.

Loose production produces laughter and levity,
Mostly at how life, much like gravity,
Leaves much more to be static and grounded
Than the original ideas that were impounded.

One by one, what we called our own
Became something we could not leave alone
Until it became bigger than the total sum,
And like Pink Floyd, we became comfortably numb.

No longer did American pretend it was the polite society,
As we became overcome by neurosis and anxiety
Until the rough crowd was the one allowed
To take over the role of acting and being proud.

Sketches that start as something less
Became fleshed out into masquerade of success.
One with failure as the two ways to die.
Opened ended questions with no need to reply...

It's funny how in a life full of choices,
The best stories told are filled with voices.
The type of voices that need to talk
About the lives through which they casually walk.

Smiling like the moaning Lisa revealed
Are the bits of truth no longer concealed.
It's funny how stories felt dis reputable
Have the longest run and slip into being credible.

The best humor comes from the tears of clowns.
It's those special places in the soul turned around
That speak to the heart deeper than the levity
And on the surface, these are face painted as comedy.

(c) June 25, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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First Principles: To Be Prepared For War, Is One of the Most Effectual Means of Preserving Peace

“To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” —George Washington (1790)

(I believe the Trump Administration just adequately demonstrated the veracity of this statement quite well.)

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Thought For the Day: Love Is Never Lost. If Not Reciprocated, It Will Flow Back and Soften and Purify the Heart

“Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.” -Washington Irving, writer (3 Apr 1783-1859)

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In Moving Pictures

In Moving Pictures
by Michael Doyle

Drawing on our life's experience
There are characters of preference.
They serve as molds of imagination.
So much of life is pure improvisation.

The charm that got us by
As we hustled to give life our try.
The shots of the frame-by-frame
Are the shots that became our game.

Moving pictures tell the story.
Inch by inch these grasp for glory.
We were sixteen and knew each other.
Our hearts were as close if we were brothers.

Lights out on the night of Brooklyn.
Knights rode into the lights of our sins.
These were the heroes in our own minds.
Bullets flew to leave some of us behind.

The cinematic magic replicated life
As swift as we thought, like a switchblade knife.
There's so much that we did that it's okay.
Who knew if we'd have it any other way.

The fashion of truth is mere dalliance,
Fifty years out it might pass as brilliance.
We drank from the well of the divine spark.
Then we struggled to separate light from dark.

Always pushing forward for something more.
Blow by blow, we learned to even the score.
Along the way, friendship saw us through.
I suppose it still does in everything we do.

The push through can feel like sheer brutality
As life is lived with true humility.
Every step taken is one that is real.
It doesn't matter how we think it's supposed to feel.

Life and love is all about the chemistry.
To be unafraid is to live our truest artistry.
Experiments in experience of the go between,
It's the visceral that is lived as if it is real.

It's the deep dive that is felt as if known.
It's the along the way that reveals how we've grown.
Day to day, life lived hits each of differently.
It becomes our spirituality to be lived reverently.

(c) June 24, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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First Principles: Providence Has Given To Our People the Choice of Their Rulers, and It Is the Duty, As Well As the Privilege of Our Christian Nation To Select and Prefer Christians For Their Rulers

Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. – John Jay, Letter To John Murray (October 12, 1816), published in the Life of John Jay (1833) By William Jay, Vol. 2, p. 376

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Thought For the Day: The Best Inheritance A Parent Can Give His Children Is A Few Minutes of His Time Each Day

“The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day.” – Orlando Aloysius Battista 

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Mean Street Struggles

Mean Street Struggles
by Michael Doyle

The top tier of all artistry
Has the flow found in living free.
The struggle and hustle of the city
Has the habit of instilling its vibrancy

That grinds against the bone
In a way that makes each soul its own.
New York City cannot be seen differently.
Up and coming artists feel this reverently.

Two blocks away from mere survival
Is another perception that is its rival.
The opportunities are no longer tribal
And it pulls the survivors from the primeval.

No longer immigrants but a phase into more.
Yet, no one knows what exactly is in store.
As the second generation learns its other way,
Living as it does to fight yet another day.

The mean street struggles push and shove,
Changing the scenery to something closer to love.
Finding ideals that rise above the corruption
To bring the something greater than disruption.

The neighborhood has no empathy,
Demanding full price without any sympathy.
It knows it will always be there,
Longer after its visitors have forgotten to revere

So any taking is done at the fullest price
As it is for all the sum of sacrifice.
Cinema changes along with fragments of history.
It may be that this is the true mystery.

Life's soundtrack is all the buzz.
It's a sentimental memory of what was.
The city has very few quiet moments,
But the music of it takes away the torments.

There is much we learn from those before.
It is their ghosts that opened the door.
To what pass off as glimpses of imagination.
Without these, there will no no illumination.

(c) June 23, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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First Principles: It Is Not From the Benevolence of the Butcher, the Brewer, Or the Baker That We Expect Our Dinner, But From Their Regard To Their Own Interest

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” – Adam Smith

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Thought For the Day: What the Caterpillar Calls the End of the World The Master Calls A Butterfly

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.” – Richard Bach

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God’s Will In Life

God's Will In Life
by Michael Doyle

In crisis, God's people stand out,
Voices raised in praise and given in shout.
These moments require navigation;
Honoring God is our motivation.

Through scripture, we jump into our day,
Meeting our Lord God in every way.
We realize that every moment is to give God His due.
So, we keep His laws and principles in all that we do.

Some view the world as purely mechanical.
Others of us see the world as mystical.
Understanding the path of God's will,
It's the pragmatic that keeps life real.

Caught up in life's every little dalliance,
It's better just to keep lockstep in balance.
Dialed in to what happens all around,
Knowing that God's love openly abounds.

For all the good, and even in the bad,
There is happiness and pain, to be happy or sad,,
It is life as it comes and still we read,
God gives us all just what it is that we need.

Taking life in with every sight,
Wisdom is not strictly black and white.
Anchored in the roots of God's holy word,
It leaves us seeing God's word in all that has occurred.

Disciplined discovery leads us to discern
Between God's ways and else that we learn.
Stepping through life in confidence,
We learn to live life in all its relevance.

Standing on the mountains to proclaim God's name,
We hold our head's high with an ounce of shame.
In experiences from wind, fire and whispers in mind,
We learn that God will never leave us behind.

In the volume of our echo chambers we are humbled,
As all around us, we feel the fall of a world crumbled.
That is until a whisper speaks itself into our ear,
It brings us calmness as it eases away our crystalline fear.

In the spirit of this age, we easily lose our way.
It might be due to the cracking foundation of day to day.
Joining hands together, we kneel as we need to pray.
The whisper of joy comes together to make things okay.

Crisis often comes to provide it's flash of clarity
As we live life in our simplest sense of sincerity.
The fire of life exposes the truth of our all.
If we listen closely, we'll hear God's call.

Gentle as a whisper, God silently speaks His will.
The voices in our heart and mind keep this real.
In the quietest moments, God passes us by,
Standing on God's promises, we still hold our heads high.

(c) June 22, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

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