Guy Farmer

Exemplary

Exemplary

Build a tidy family,
Secrets and appearances,
Oaths and promises.
Don’t tell what happened,
Never betray this to
Anyone, anywhere, anytime.

A nest lined with falsity,
Hidden from street view
Behind impenetrable
Curtain of scrubbed cheeriness,
Exemplary, faithful, guiltless,
Eternal fear, pressure.

Grand Gift

Grand Gift

A sublime, magnificent chronicle of
Inexorable change. Transcendent
Flourishing contraposed with
Dispassionate destruction,
Prolonged repose, implausible rebirth.
Still visible evidence of
Primordial epochs, vast eras
Recorded for posterity to examine.
All for nought for many of
Absolute surety, forbidden to
Acknowledge that it just is,
As it always has been, will be.
Let us enjoy it while we can,
An impossibly grand gift of
Improbability and chance.

A Matter of Degree

A Matter of Degree

He makes an offhand
Remark about someone’s race,
Not giving it much thought
And well in keeping with
The rest of his consistently
Intolerant outlook on many
Things, punctuated by a
Self-serving qualification
About how he accepts all people,
And how he’s so moderate,
Civilized, enlightened,
Completely unaware that
The only difference between
Him and the monsters
Is a matter of degree.

In This Place

In This Place

Everything is soft,
Kind, supportive, creative,
Encouraging, empathic
In this place,
No harsh words or
Injurious reprimands,
Judgments meted out with
No regard for easily
Bruised psyches.
It is here we dare
To be ourselves.

Best Brains

Best Brains

All their best brains
Get together: politicians,
Business leaders, pundits,
Economists.

Toiling long hours,
Propelling propaganda,
Presenting a
United front.

It takes all their
Concerted effort to
Find new ways to
Exploit people.

Gleefully retiring
For a well-deserved
Drink at the
Usual establishment.

Distance

Distance

I don’t know how many
Ways I can say this.

A blank look,
Devoid of any understanding.

We’ve gone over this
A million times.

Another imperceptive retort,
Deflecting truth.

I can’t make someone see
What they won’t.

Silence.
Distance.

That Symbol

That Symbol

Tell me about how
That symbol doesn’t
Mean the subjugation
By force of an entire
People, how it has
Nothing to do with
Base, ugly instincts,
A miserable lust to
Break another human being
In order to enrich oneself,
To stand atop the
Inert carcass of an
Animal freshly slain,
To compensate for a
Festering inadequacy.

Horizon

Horizon

He sits down and
Immediately opens his
Huge mouth and says
Something ridiculously
Offensive about someone
He’s never met or
Something he knows
Absolutely nothing about,
A smug smile covering
His ordinary face,
Not an ounce of insight
Clouds his horizon.

Unmitigated

Unmitigated

He remembers sitting
In the living room
Absorbing the tireless
Rants of his father,
Most of his family and
Acquaintances, about those
People and what needed
To be done to them,
Interspersed with moments
Of unmitigated terror
Watching the hulking figure
Stumble toward him,
The hand striking his face
For no reason other than
Being in the vicinity,
The inescapable continuation
Of distorted tradition,
Words and blows creating
Impenetrable callouses.

Vanilla

Vanilla

A stupefying world of
Tepid vanilla,
Drones marching in
Unison to the call of
Conformity, each one
The same as the last,
Quick-drying cement
Encasing creativity,
Voices muffled,
Flowers trampled.

I Used to Be Someone Else

I Used to Be Someone Else

I remember when I
Used to be someone else,
When I would do anything
Just to get along,
Stifle my voice so others
Could trample on me,
Pretend I was less smart
Than I really was,
Impersonate someone who
Was less capable than them,
Stroke their egos so they
Could feel stronger,
Let them tell me what
Was best for me or how
Things should be done.

Plays the Part

Plays the Part

He plays the part well,
The down-home, good old boy
You could sit down and
Have a beer with and maybe
Chat about how much you
All love the country and
Real people, not those
Miscreants on the coasts.

They vote him in and he
Immediately shows his
True stripes, it’s not
About taking care of the
Small-town guy, it’s about
Showering his wealthy buddies
With lavish gifts,
Taking care of number one.

When his followers start
Catching on a bit,
He simply puts on a hat
And boots and gives a
Patriotic/religious speech
Stressing the importance of
Family and community,
Strength, honor, deceit.

Motel

Motel

When all the
Money in the country
Goes to a very small
Group at the very top,
That leaves very little
To no resources for
Anyone else, because,
You know, just a few
People have all the
Money, sort of like in
The old game where
Someone would buy all
The properties and
Watch everyone pay rent
And slowly crumble,
Though none of this
Means much to Emily,
Playing on a filthy
Motel balcony.

Benevolent

Benevolent

Amongst the chaos and
Tumult, a refreshing
Ideology rears its head
Promising prosperity
For people of many
Persuasions, a shiny
Alternative, not the
Tired old stuff,
Assuring everyone that
Things will be okay and
Taken care of, unlike the
Mess the other guys have
Made, and insisting that
All the populace has to do
Is believe and unconditionally
Submit to the benevolent
Power of the free market.

Escape

Escape

It begins to
Come into focus.

The incessant quest
For acceptance.

The need to be
Part of the in group.

The endless judgments
And expectations.

The need to
Cater to others.

The sacrifice
Of self.

The urge to
Escape from it.

Subsequent

Subsequent

How that one brief
Moment has impacted
Everything, each
Subsequent occasion,
A constant conflict
Between what is and
What might have been,
Unfinished stories
Calling from another
Place. Staring into
The distance, another
Infinite day of
Wistful speculation,
A story rewritten but
Never completed.

Goodnight

Goodnight

He waited many minutes before
Clicking the send button.

She was both surprised and elated
When the message arrived.

They met in a small restaurant,
So many memories.

They bid each other a fond
Goodnight.

Genuine Effort

Genuine Effort

I could write
The most eloquent
Speech, carefully
Enumerating every single
Exhaustively reviewed
And edited detail,
Backing up facts with
Copious evidence,
A genuine effort to
Explain my point of view,
Or simply speak from
The heart, sharing
What I feel inside,
And it wouldn’t matter.

What to Do

What to Do

Though she would never admit it,
She didn’t care much for
Herself and for so long
Had been told she didn’t matter
That she gave her life
Over to something,
Someone else who
Would tell her what to do,
When to do it,
How to do it,
No questions, no comments,
Complete conformity.
Thought traded for comfort.
Mind and will atrophying.

Extravagant Display

Extravagant Display

The slightest shift in tenor
Presages the impending
Barrage of vitriol and virulence
Spewed upon all in the vicinity.

Unblinking, staring at their
Immaculate shoes, the guests pretend
Nothing out of the ordinary
Is happening, not here.

Carefully selected finery,
Arranged extravagant display,
A mesmerizing feast for
Some other time and place.

Window

Window

Getting out of her
Car, she walks slowly
Toward the building
Where she and her
Many brothers and sisters
Grew up in an apartment
Far too small for
Even two people.
She remembers these
Sidewalks, their cracks
And buckles, the chalk
Drawings she and her
Sisters would make,
Washed away by the
First rain, the endless
Cast of characters just
Trying to make it in
A world of hard edges.
She looks up at the
Window that was her room,
Wonders who lives there
Now and vows to help
Them make it out too.

Nonetheless

Nonetheless

Having been what
Other people call shy
For most of her life,
Thoughtfully observing
The world without the
Hindrance of an
Endlessly spewing mouth,
She sees things that
Others don’t and
Takes it upon herself
To be the chronicler
Of the unnoticed,
The people and occurrences
Existing in quiet obscurity,
Deserving attention
Nonetheless.