Author: Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Chicago.

A wonderful city, in my view,

as far as towns go.

My earliest recollection

of visiting the windy city

is one of me, as a little lad,

in the 40’s,

back when racism

was ever so systemic.

by Ernie McCray

It seems to me
that the most bothersome aspect
regarding Donald J
talking out of his asshole
about Iran
taking out Los Angeles
and San Diego,
should be the cheers of support that rose
from his followers.

I mean there wasn’t a single boo
that escaped the lips
of the MAGA folks
this traitorous felon
was talking to
and that leaves one to wonder
how anybody,
with an ounce of love in their soul,
never mind their politics
or points-of-views
or personal situations,
can be okay

by Ernie McCray

September 2026
found me in high spirits,
thanks to quality time I enjoyed simply
being in the company
of good people
at a time when we human beings need each other
so urgently,
and the folks formed a nice range:
new and old friends I visited in my hometown,
a number of inspirational individuals
with whom I broke bread at a memorable dinner,
sharing so much laughter
and stories overflowing with wit,
and I’ll forever remember the time I spent with
a room of young high school artists
who are illustrating a collection of my poetry
and, on the subject of writing,

by Ernie McCray

Visited the place of my birth a little while ago.
Tucson.
Needed the trip so desperately
during bluesy soul-sapping times like these
as that desert town,
over the years
when life was somewhat getting me down,
has always eased my mind
gifting me with a kind of assurance
that nothing has really budged,
that everything’s going to be okay,
making me feel that way
going back to my childhood days

by Ernie McCray

I’m shaking my head,

wishing I could go upside the heads

of a handful of

self-righteous wealthy Silicon Valley tech moguls

I just finished reading about

in a most revealing book, The Nerd Reich,

devious fascist narcissistic eggheads

who, in spite of

their enormous wealth

by Ernie McCray

It’s so refreshing,

especially nowadays,

to hear ideas being expressed

in loving ways,

and I listened, recently,

to a few speakers,

at a forum sponsored by

H.O.M.E.

the abbreviation for

Humanitarian Outreach for

Migrant Emotional Health,

who spoke with affection concerning how the organization

goes about its mission to ensure

that the voices of asylum seekers,

ICE detainees,

and immigrants in removal proceedings

by Ernie McCray

I’m definitely one of those folks
suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,
as I’ve got TDS
to the bone
and it really showed
one day when I was sitting at home
and turned the TV on
just as congressman, Hakeem Jeffries, was asked
“Would you consider seeking an impeachment
for the president?”
and I sat waiting for a reply
such as
“Hell, yeah, can’t wait”
and got, instead,
“We haven’t
ruled anything in
and we haven’t
ruled anything out”
and I couldn’t help but wonder,
as I held back a scream,
“What the hell was that all about”?

by Ernie McCray

I sat the other night
squirming in my seat
as a woman,
Tina Cordova,
a co-founder and executive director
of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium,
spoke about our country’s neglect
in respect
to protecting
people who suffered the effects
of the “Trinity Nuclear Test”
in New Mexico,
how since that day
in July, 1945,

by Ernie McCray

The words,
“Be excellent to each other out there,”
that I read on a Facebook post recently
really struck a chord with me,
especially considering
how too many of us
treat each other these days
on social media,
attacking a fellow human being’s very person
rather than challenge
a specific point-of-view intellectually,
the very opposite
of treating someone
the way you want to be treated.

by Ernie McCray

Regarding all that’s being said
about Anthony Fauci’s
handling of the Covid-19 pandemic,
what he did or didn’t do
to keep us safe,
we, as a nation,
have to come to understand
that science, inherently,
is a mixture of failures
wherein an approach to a problem
put into use one day
might require dismissal
the very next day
based on new data
that has come into play,
something I noticed
without a real grasp of the situation
as a child at play
when people in charge of public health
deployed all kinds of do’s and don’ts
that had me asking my mom an array of questions
about why the pool was closed

by Ernie McCray

It’s great
that we continue
to chant and sing
“No Kings”
and constantly scream
at ICE
and other such things
but now
it’s time to
take-to-the streets
and demand
the termination of Donald J’s presidency
before he makes our democracy
look like a ship
sinking in a turbulent sea,
and we should do so
for any number of reasons
that we could list randomly,

by Ernie McCray

With the tragedy
at the mosque
still on my mind
I’ve been thinking
of a wonderful book
I just finished,
“The Future is Peace,”
written by Aziz Abu Sarah,
a Palestinian,
and Maoz Inon,
an Israeli,
who, rather than focusing on their ethnicities,
choose to view themselves
as human beings
who are trying to cultivate