Rough gashes ripped
In the societal fabric,
The contract between
Fellow human beings
Shredded without a care
Solely to protect
Privileged malefactors
Who go about their day
Deriding humaneness,
Stepping on anything that
Gets in the way of
Their vulgar needs.
Her past actions
Weighed heavily on her now
As they returned to
Torment her in ways she
Had hoped they would not but
Knew were inevitable,
An outstanding debt
For unmindful decisions
Come due and payable in
Inescapable anguish.
The depths of their
Depravity is predictably
Revealed—they never really
Cared for anyone but themselves
And their own kind but always
Tried to put some kind of
Benevolent face on it.
They show their support for
A dictator in waiting,
Someone who makes their
Broken psyches throb with delight.
It all seemed to be
Going so well,
Friendly, enthusiastic interactions
Jarringly replaced by something
Very different,
Coming from a place
Not typically
Shown to strangers.
Government isn’t some
Scary monster out to
Eat you and your children,
It’s merely a reflection
Of its citizens’ priorities.
We can decide that
Altruism is important
In a civilized society,
Or that we are
Just snarling creatures
Fighting each other
For survival,
Guarding our dens.
As she’s being driven
To her friend’s house
For a pool party, she
Notices the homes where
The regular people live,
Home-made affairs of
Brick and mortar and
Metal doors opening
Onto streets teeming
With cars, people, and dust;
She wonders passingly
About how they
Can all live jammed into
Such cramped abodes.
Passing the shanties,
She has a fleeting sense
Of children growing up
Under corrugated tin roofs
With no running water.
She does what
She is told to,
Not what she
Thinks she should,
Ignoring the person
She really is:
A beautiful gift.
So it all comes out at once:
The things that were never said,
Feelings suppressed, ignored,
Stuffed down so deep down that
They emerge unrecognizable,
A gale of pain and anger,
Bewilderment, a pacing diatribe,
Trembling in place while
Continuing to move forward.
The reproaches came swiftly,
Hitting their mark as they
Always had, bruises invisible
On the outside.
You didn’t contact me,
I was so upset,
You wanted me to do everything,
I was put on the spot.
Eyes closed in resignation,
It would always be this way,
The dull insensitivity of
The unreconstructed.
