It’s easy to become
One of them,
Just function based on
Your hurts,
Extinguish your heart,
Close your mind,
Develop an immunity to truth,
Begin speaking and never stop,
No matter what anyone says,
Or how much it damages others,
Remain true to your
Ideals of exclusion and cruelty,
Make the world a worse place.
Projecting hatreds,
Insecurities onto others,
Twisting words into
Rapiers,
Eviscerating the
Most vulnerable,
Stalking the defenseless,
Grinding their faces
Into the dirt,
A self-satisfied smile
Oozing self-righteousness,
Decency perverted.
Band-aid on a
Festering wound,
Live to prey
Another day.
A man prone to depression
Thought about his life in terms of what
Was wrong. He spent many years in
Solitude until he met a woman who was
Sure she could fix him. No matter how
Low he went, she was there to cradle him.
Precious despair tended to well.
Years passed with the branch bending ever
Closer to the ground until it
Mercifully snapped. Nothing left to
Bear once the fog lifted. The pair grew
Apart. He moved to greener climes, she to
Another flower offering the nectar.
Kindly sit in the back,
Know your place,
Things are as they should be,
Don’t rock the boat,
What are you fussing about?
Seen but not heard,
Shadow passing unperceived.
Struggles of the
Past revisited,
Wound reopened,
Hadn’t healed as much
As we all thought,
If at all.
Turn back the clock,
Reinstitute reviled institutions,
Things were much better
Back then,
Before the unrest.
Such a low trust reservoir,
All it took was
Speaking up one time.
Against the rules,
Only authorized, one-way,
Superficial talk allowed.
That was the last time
They got together.
What passes for normal.
Knock knock. Who’s there?
Banana. Banana who?
Banana me. Banana you?
What? Who?
It’s me, your wife.
Why didn’t you say so, I wasn’t wearing my hearing aid.
Are you wearing it now?
No thanks, I’ll go later.
Uncomfortable silence, as usual.
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.
