Untruths
Seeing an old photo,
Remembering what it felt
Like to exist then,
The relentless
Inner bewilderment,
Ruthless untruths
Forcing me to be
Someone else,
Voices other than mine.
This Part of Town
This part of town
Isn’t the same as
It used to be,
Gradually life has
Supplanted decay,
Introducing a new
Vibrancy and energy
Where once only
Shadows existed,
Though one can’t help
Wonder what happened
To the people who
Used to live around here.
Precious
A fragile blue sphere
Drifting in an endless
Field of stars,
Not a single
Nation discernible,
No one person
More important
Than another,
Petty squabbles
Rendered insignificant.
Each of us an
Improbable,
Precious passenger
Navigating the
Vastness of space.
It Might Have Been
Sitting on a bench
In a garden,
Looking out over
A placid pond,
He wonders whether
It might have
Been different,
Memory embellishing
What never was.
Absences
In a small town
Bereft of opportunity,
He wanders slowly
Toward school,
Stopping along the
Way to throw rocks
At various things,
Smack light poles
With his skateboard.
At some point during
The day, the guidance
Counselor will confront
Him about his many
Absences and force
Another lengthy lecture
On him, all about how
He’s throwing his
Future down the drain.
At home, his mother
Screams at her
Latest boyfriend,
The one she chooses
Over him all the time.
He dreams of a day
When he can get away,
Have a room of his own,
Forget everything.
Our Friend
He visits once
In a while,
Our friend the
Squirrel.
We’re not sure
Where he lives but
It’s always a
Happy day when
He stops by.
Very Different
They spend a few
Brief minutes together,
Talking about the weather.
Neither utters the
Words waiting to be said,
Depth being difficult.
Vulnerability avoided
One more time in the
Name of nothing rational.
They say goodbye,
It could easily have been
So very different.
Untethered
Not sure what to do,
Questioning everything,
A path in this direction
Unpromising, just as in
Every other, struggling
To keep going with
Little to hold on to,
Persevering where others
Stay in hermetically
Sealed boxes of safety,
Never straying away from
Comfort, not grasping
What it is to dive into
The unknown, untethered.
Contort
I see his face
Contort, betraying
The inner conflict
That comes from believing
Something that isn’t
True, twisting reality
Into whatever it becomes
When it is extinguished
By raw fear and bias,
Self-preservation at
The expense of others.
The Alternative
The alternative to
Aggression,
Strife,
Anger,
Vengeance,
Hate,
War,
Competitiveness,
Injustice,
Brokenness,
Sadness,
All the tangled
Complications
Wrought by humankind,
Is always there,
Waiting patiently.
Love.
Love for self.
Love for others.
Love for all living beings.
Love for the planet.
Love for the universe.
All-encompassing,
All-healing,
Love.
When It Happened
It was only
When it happened
To her that she
Realized what
Other people had
Been going through
While she and her
Friends were
Putting them down.
Passing It Off
Just when it
Seems like things
Couldn’t get more
Appalling, they do.
Standard rules don’t
Apply here,
Just some strange
Perversion.
Passing it off
As normal,
This calamity
Of brokenness.
Damage Control
Incongruously,
An ad appears
On the TV screen
Extolling the
Virtues of the
Ruthless
Industrialists’
Many companies
And how they’re
Woven into the
Very fabric of
Our lives.
A transparent
Attempt at
Whitewashing
Their dark
Legacy just before
They’re exposed
For who they
Really are
And how much
Suffering they’re
Responsible for.
Preemptive
Damage control
Varnishing their
Sordid acts.
His Entire Life
He spent his entire life
Trying to avoid that
Feeling, the one he
Remembered from childhood
And never wanted to relive,
Constantly struggling to
Circumvent his inner pain,
Destroying all his
Relationships and making
A lot of people miserable.
He carried it deep inside
Until the very end.
Trickle
A familiar refrain
Repeated decisively,
Peddled as truth:
Cut taxes on the rich,
The wealth will
Trickle down.
Years and years of
Following this fable
Yield nothing but the
Accumulation of vast
Fortunes by a few,
Famine for the rest.
The middle class shrinking,
The poor forgotten,
The affluent getting fatter,
Everyone else struggling
To run in place,
At the top, celebrating.
Conversation
They tried to have a
Conversation but it never
Quite seemed to work,
Almost as if they came
From different countries
Or spoke languages the
Other couldn’t understand.
So, they kept it light,
Superficial, avoiding the
Bumps and anything that
Might resemble something
More meaningful.
Unresolved
Her actions negatively
Impacted them but
When they politely
Brought it up to her,
She took offense and
Blamed them,
Unable to admit fault
Or take responsibility
For her own behavior,
Leaving it unresolved,
As with much else
In her life.
A New Path
A certain kind
Of pressured energy,
Dissatisfied agitation,
Surety of conviction.
Something didn’t go right,
Perhaps terribly wrong,
At some point,
The marks still evident.
A closing of the mind
To beauty, possibility,
Hope eclipsed by
Grim determination.
A fresh perspective,
Transcending discontent,
Revealing a new path
To compassion.
Alluring
A sudden rush of
Self-inflicted everything,
Unstoppable motion initiated
By the realization that
We’re at the point where
Change is welcome and adventure
Alluring, the hum of possibility,
New experiences to become
Part of our story.
Today Is the Day
He’s spent most
Of his life wishing
For a time when
Everything would be
Different, a reprieve
From mundanity, failure,
A mostly tepid existence
Tinged in grey.
Today is the day it all
Changes, unless he has
Anything to say about it.
Outward Appearances
By all outward appearances
He had everything:
Huge mansion,
Vacation home,
Midtown apartment,
Fancy cars,
Private plane,
Yacht,
Perfect family,
Business empire,
More money than he could ever spend,
But it had cost him a lot.
He’d wake up at night
Wondering what it all meant,
Why the hole was never full,
Pervasive sadness,
Until he decided to start helping others,
People he didn’t even know,
For no reason other than being nice
And building a better world,
Kindness saved his life.
Full Force
A full-time
Warehouse worker,
Unable to pay
Some outstanding
Parking tickets,
Finds himself in
A jail cell,
The full force of the
Judicial system
Against him.
An investment banker
Devises a scheme
That destroys
Countless lives,
Extinguishes untold dreams,
Bankrupts the country,
Enjoys a cool drink
By his pool,
Immunity in
Full force.
Primordial Place
A cool mist brings
Down the temperature,
Filling each breath
With refreshing moisture
As we walk on the
Green, saturated earth
In what feels like a
Hidden, primordial place,
Far away from civilization.
Continuing the Conversation
We talk with each other,
Interested in what’s going on,
Sharing stories about everything,
Our deepest hopes and worries,
A natural ebb and flow,
Unedited, uninterrupted, easy.
Exciting ideas appear,
Old ones modified or left behind,
New branches, leaves, flowers emerge,
Our dreams taking hold,
Continuing the conversation.
Providing Comfort
I remember as a child
When I had to have
Minor surgery and,
As I was recovering
In the hospital afterward,
Receiving lovely cards
From my classmates,
And having various
Smiling faces visit,
Providing comfort
At a vulnerable moment,
Unsolicited
Acts of kindness
That made
Such a difference.
Reading Poetry
Reading poetry
In a placid garden,
A bird stops by
To take a drink,
A squirrel visits
For a while,
The sun warms
Us all.
Impulse
He talks eloquently,
Movingly about
Things like
Equality,
Kindness,
Peace,
Hope,
Compassion.
He’s often met with
The same depressing,
Dismissive looks
And comments
Denigrating his
Optimism and
Replacing it
With hopelessness.
Entire spheres
Populated by
Dull
Bullies
Overpowering
Any positive impulse,
Creating a harder,
Meaner world.
The Trees Listen
Light waning
Over the water,
Small waves quietly
Washing over pebbles,
Screaming at the
Injustice,
The trees listen.
Cold Calculation
So dead inside that
They don’t feel a thing
When making decisions
That hurt other human beings,
Moving forward with
Cold calculation,
Devoid of compassion.