Access

He said when she came home each day
For lunch, or after school, or play,
She'd talk and talk as if no end,
To anyone who's ear would bend.

"She had, you see", explained he thus,
"Words to use up – she meant no fuss.
We had to put her in a line,
And let the others share the time."

"Words to use up" – a concept fair –
Like when retired to our despair,
Or we're shut out before our time –
Words to use up – like words of mine –

Eight hundred now my poems are,
And fifteen books – not done by far –
A website rich with a thesis, tools,
Assignments, tips from Master's school.

Words to use up – indeed, I'd say,
Not like on Jesus' final day,
When He said, "Finished!" – He could see
His job was done at thirty-three.

I look around – folks dumped too soon,
Or jobs too small to give them room
To pour their life into the mix,
Within a system we should fix.

And overseas it's worse I'd say –
There, people never know a day
When they are free to play their part,
Where people die before they start.

Words to use up? Is that your case?
Are you shut off from human race?
Are all the thoughts within your soul
Poured out? Have you fulfilled your goal?

I love the Internet – it gives
A voice to silenced folks who live
Here on this planet – pushed aside –
A place to speak – release their tide –

Of words held back as by a dam,
By rules in school ("Please, raise your hand!");
Or strictures of propriety,
("Excuse me sir, be quiet please").

When I was small TV came in,
‘To interrupt’, became a sin;
A few were hired to entertain,
While most in silence must remain.

But there arose a feisty lot,
Who said, "No way!" to social plot
To stop their input to the tube –
"We've still got words we wish to use."

They pressed for rules to give some space –
Out here in the Westman, won the race
To make a place for public voice,
Then I got hired to boost their choice.

In twenty towns around a core,
Folks caught the vision, out it poured;
Out on the cutting edge it was,
An early "YouTube" – there because –

A few refused to silent be;
Refused to only starlets see;
Took up the camera, microphone,
And made that ‘Access’ part of home.

There's always those who fear the word,
Who wish that others were not heard;
All access they would circumscribe,
Thus words of others override.

But all around's a feisty lot
Who say, "No way!" to social plots
To stop their input to the mix –
Who've not used up their words or pix.

Dynamics of our world today,
Are such that folks can have their say;
And tools exist to slip words in,
For in the end, The Word will win.

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