I didn’t have
Anything to do
With that.
Self-serving exculpation
Boldly proclaimed,
Passionately articulated,
Heavy conscience
Compensating for known
Trespasses unadmitted.
Thoughtless behavior,
Scarcely cloaked enmity
Socially sanctioned,
Demean the dispossessed.
A greasy plate of ridicule
Served with a steaming
Side of animus.
Death of enlightenment,
Adherence to propaganda
Instead of fact,
Denigrating science
For dogma,
Lifeless eyes,
Barren consciences,
The emotionless cruelty of
Sociopaths.
To see the world again as a
Child does, full of wonder and
Possibility. Endless fascination and
Joy from the smallest thing and each
New discovery. Uncontained energy and
Excitement. Absence of pretense or
Guile, living in the moment.
Not us, say Mr. and Mrs. Beatdown.
Peering through
The department store window
At clothes she’ll
Never own.
Figures sneering inside,
Watch the door,
Keep her out,
What could she possibly
Want in here, such a bother,
Why doesn’t she go home?
The car she lives in
Is parked a few blocks away,
No gas in the tank,
No transportation, no job,
Sorry about that,
Cost of living, you know.
He possessed all the money anyone could
Possibly need; a palatial house
Resembling a hotel; a personal line to the
Corridors of power. Unlimited influence.
Fear and admiration when he entered a room;
Hushed acknowledgments of his stature;
Shivers and discomfort at being put on the
List. Plastered smiles, attentive ears and
Nodding heads. Unlimited deference.
In the distance, the barely visible outline of
Security. Smiling, taunting, slipping through
His fingers. The world returns what it is
Offered. Lay awake wondering why the
Shadows don’t go away. Unlimited trepidation.
Advantages abounded
Wherever he went,
No extraordinary effort required,
Just had to be who
He was born as.
Then, one day,
A door was closed,
One had opened for someone else,
A woman no less.
A child denied a toy,
He became bitter, resentful,
Devoting reasonless
Energy to making sure
No one else like him
Would ever have to suffer,
Defer to lesser mortals,
A crusade to reclaim his
Rightful place at the table.
Give just once to
Appease conscience.
A small token of uncaring,
Doled out annually with
Magnanimous gesture.
Return home satisfied.
Problems and injustices
Solved with one pair of jeans or
A single meal.
Raised by nannies,
Occasional, stilted interactions
With figurehead parents
Pass for affection.
Sent off to boarding school,
Fed a steady diet of
Impersonal, cold axioms
Rendering her
Unable to feel a kinship
With people, animals, situations.
Never taught how to bond
With anything other than
A vague sense of superiority,
Underlying emptiness.
Self-contained – self-centered,
Isolated from reality,
Disconnected from others,
No need to consider them,
Let alone have any contact.
They become an afterthought,
Unimportant, inhuman,
Unworthy of any attention or help.
After all, she got none,
As far as she’s concerned.
There will be a day when you can’t sing.
There will be a day when you can’t dance.
You have your whole future ahead of you.
Do it while you can.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.
The cliches landed on her head with
No effect. She had made up her mind.
It was him or nothing.
True love would prevail and nourish them.
If times got tough, they always had each other.
She walked through the doorway and into the
Remainder of her life. Expectations high,
Realities ambiguous. With her, the object of
Her affection and the promise that
All would be well.
