Real Folks

In order to hide
Who they really are
Deep inside, when
Outsiders aren’t around
To listen, everyone
Huddled around sharing
Hearty chuckles about
Some city-slicker or
Other person who
Is not like them,
They perpetuate stale
Myths about how they’re
The salt of the earth,
Misunderstood real folks,
Telling it how it is,
A worn ruse used to shift
The attention away from
What’s really going on.
In a city far away,
Countless mothers and fathers
Care for their children
And hope for love and
Warmth for all human beings
Wherever they may be.

Bend

I bend and bend
Until I’m almost
Broken, it won’t
Take much more to
Empty me of any
Hope I have left
That anyone cares
For someone
Like me.

Buttressed

Hoping something would change
After all these years,
But it doesn’t and
Likely never will,
The need to hide
Vulnerability
More powerful than
Any other thing,
A pervasive lie
Buttressed by people
Caught in its grip.

Collective Brainpower

They get together and their
Collective brainpower
Devises an outmoded
Way of dealing with the
Matter at hand,
Favoring division,
Eliminating communication and
Any chance to fix anything,
An approach learned in places
Where people don’t know
How to talk about things.

In Charge

People who don’t
Believe in
Helping people,
Put in charge of programs
That are supposed
To help people.

The Holiday Season

It’s more than difficult
To reconcile how he treated
Us most of the year,
Keeping us in fear of when
His latest rage would cruelly
Descend upon us, and who
Would bear the brunt,
Keeping a watchful eye,
Avoiding anything that might
Set him off, and the peculiar
Joy he took in festooning the
House with lights during
The holiday season.

Soaked

So utterly soaked in
His belief system,
He is unable to see
Anything other than what
He’s been told to,
An adherent doing
What’s asked of him,
Not really liking it
But unable to change course,
Complete obedience the
Only approved choice,
Openness and curiosity
Not even on the menu,
He can barely even remember
What it was like to
Be himself, and change
No longer calls.

Downtown

He remembers when his
Father would take him
Downtown to see all the
Amazing buildings,
Visit their favorite museums,
Revel in the energy and
Bustle of the city,
Occasionally passing some
Tattered person huddled
Under boxes and newspapers,
His father impassively
Remarking that those people
Were somehow inferior.

Errors

All the things
He thought he was
Turned out to be
Errors planted there by
Other people,
Sometimes well-meaning,
But who had no idea
What it means to
Be courageous,
Follow one’s own path in life,
Free from the herd.