A small child dreams of the day
She’ll have a home of her own;
A room without others in it;
Food to calm her hunger for
More than a few hours; a
School to attend for at least
A month; friends she can
Play with for a long while.
Experience clouding her face.
Etched by one heartbreak after another.
In an imposing, cavernous enclosure,
A stolid old man stands up;
Condemns her kind;
Retires to an opulent office,
Lunch, home.
I meant it when I said I love myself and
A procession of people walked all over me.
I believed it when I said I love myself and
Was mired in strife and broken relationships.
I professed to love myself with conviction and
Was sentence to repeat what I knew.
Locked away inside, me.
Pity the executives,
So many problems all at once,
Horrible hiring woes,
We can’t find trained people,
Can’t hire anyone else,
Won’t cut into record profits.
Sluggish economy lurches unsteadily,
Gilded few sip champagne
On the Riviera,
Let a few more employees go,
Gather all the chips
With sleazy smiles.
Reeking piles of money fondled
In open defiance of
Working stiffs,
Keep that back limber,
No health care for you
Part-timer,
A country going under
Plutocratic thumbs.
Silence envelopes, inviting reflection.
Peaceful, placid, pleasurable.
Letting go of the insistent bustle and activity.
Quietly pondering nothing in particular.
Comforting thoughts drifting into sleep.
Assaulted by the burst of a motor.
What’s it like to live scared?
Certain that someone is always
At the back door, eager to harm.
To flinch at the slightest sound,
Assume offensive posture. Sleep with
One eye open. Throbbing memories.
What’s it like to live courageously?
Understand that risk is real,
Not pervasive. Embrace the
Kindness and compassion that is
Present at every turn. Welcome
Inner and outer peace.
Attach the label,
Accusatory scarlet letter,
Moral failing, character flaw,
Stamp of inadequacy.
Point a crooked finger,
Their fault, they’re lazy,
Not enterprising and
Hard-working like us.
Gilded mantle of
Success and civilization,
Gentility personified,
There but for chance.
A serious man was asked why he
Rarely laughed. He paused a
Moment and said he had once been
Deeply in love and his heart
Had been broken in such a way that
He could no longer laugh.
A smiling man was asked why he
Laughed all the time. He confided that
He had once loved someone who had
Left him at the altar and laughter
Healed the wound. He also mentioned
That the mother of the bride sneezed during
the ceremony, catapulting her wig into the aisle.
Systematic pattern of
Control. Relentlessly
Dictate behaviors, thoughts,
Feelings, experiences.
Obligatory blindfold
Keeps out the light,
Walking unsteadily in a
Realm of mystery,
Uncertainty,
More complex than necessary,
Superstition supersedes.
Compliant, prostrate
Supplicant,
Managed from above.
Rain visits and rejuvenates
My cluttered thoughts.
Invigorated air imbued with promise.
Worries lessened drop by
Drop the pretense. Wavy
Lines on glass shifting
How I see. Step outside and
Look up, face tingling.
