low water empty bottles

By Richard J Tilley Published January 23, 2026 Poetry

child thieves wearing masks with baptized horns
employed by what calls itself a remnant of
a failing government

executioners waving impunity, standing at attention
with raging power, unstrung cowards, furnaces
that cannot go up

holidays will be created and celebrated
to mark their end, God ecstatic it will be
over watches closely

each and every act
low water empty bottles

what patience can abolish the eyes and ears of
citizen police or remove the gut string or
the hammering axe from the crackled ribs
of heaven’s state of consideration