He puts a label on everything.
You’re this way, you’re that way.
He’s this, she’s that.
This is like this, this is like that.
A petty mind constricting its
Environment, stuffing it into
A box too small. Proscribe the
Outliers, dictate the parameters,
Keep the barbarians outside
The gates. Settle in for a
Comfortable spell in the lazy,
Soft throne of delusion.
Having been dispossessed
By a callous regime,
She devotes much of
Her energy to devising
A philosophy of
Absolute selfishness.
Some are resilient,
Striving to help people not
Suffer the same fate,
Others lash out in a
Maelstrom of misanthropy,
Slash and burn inhumanity.
A zero sum game —
Only one person wins,
No caring or collaboration,
Empty worth defined by
How much stuff you can
Amass at others’ expense.
I don’t call myself
A feminist, but
I wholeheartedly
Support everything
They have
Fought for
And all they
Believe in,
I just can’t
Tell my family
Friends, co-workers,
They would never
Understand
I am not
Like them.
I never knew how much I loved you
Until I saw you with someone else at that
Dinner party. Exchanging superficial
Pleasantries with the social climber to
My left, forced laughs, feigned interest,
A burning focus on your glowing visage.
Meet my eyes, acknowledge I mean
Something, that I wasn’t just some whim,
A forgettable dalliance until the right one
Came along and swept me from your
Consciousness, kicking an unwanted
Pebble from a manicured path.
Something slightly off,
Vaguely strange.
Stiff, uncomfortable
In social situations,
Overly serious, ill at ease
Interacting with others.
Conversations oddly
Reminiscent of high school.
Inflexibility, stodginess,
Tradition trumps all,
Little tolerance or interest in
Change or progress.
Good old days that
Never existed reign supreme.
Maudlin memories of
Idealized order and conformity.
During a moment of
Unadulterated optimism,
He told them about
His desire to pursue
An art career and they,
Being of upright and
Morally sound carriage,
Applied a heavy coat of
Judgment and suspicion
Onto his dreams,
Same as they always had,
Always would,
Courage and change
Not being all that
Salient to them.
Sitting around
A lavishly decorated,
Candlelit table after enjoying
A decadently sumptuous meal,
The exquisitely rare
Dessert wine is announced
To collective glee,
The lord of the manor is
Overheard intimating that they
Must have done something right,
The servants refill the
Glasses without a word.
The seething indignation
He feels in his chest
When someone is cast
Aside by some heartless
Bully who can’t even
Care enough for himself
To feel anything for others.
People condescendingly remind him
That this is the way things are,
Cavalierly ignoring the innumerable
Examples to the contrary,
Where people of conscience
Rise above self-interest and
Care for each other.
The smallest opportunity
To lord over someone
Sends him into paroxysms
Of bliss, his true nature
Rears its grotesque head
With surprising facility.
Churning, just below the
Surface, a latent reservoir
Of domineering autocracy,
Impatient to impose its
Unrestrained dysfunction on
The next sorry victim.
