Ceiling Tiles
The water-stained
Asbestos ceiling tiles
Tell a tale of a
Community left behind,
Children who
Don’t matter,
A future denied.
Mark
Mark sees his wages
Staying the same
Year after year while
Prices for everything
Go up. He feels like
No one is listening
To him, like no one
Cares at all for
People like him.
Pressure building inside,
Seething dissatisfaction,
He follows the first
Person who assures him
Everything will be okay,
The very same character
Who will see to it that
Mark keeps suffering.
A Moment
She says it again.
Silence.
Uncomfortable rustling.
All the things that
Haven’t been dealt with,
Exposed.
A moment of hope,
Something different,
Lost to fear.
How to Destroy a Democracy
He’s reading from the
Manual on how to destroy
A democracy and realizes
That all he really has
To do is manipulate the
Part of the population
That lives in fear,
Hates ambiguity, and
Craves an imposing
Father figure promising
Safety and order while
Eradicating equality.
Absence of Shame
It’s on video,
The story of
How things have
Always been,
Out in the open.
Recoiling in horror,
They hate that they’ve
Been discovered,
Not a drop of
Remorse or
Self-reflection,
Total absence of shame.
Otherwise Simple
So many things to do,
Each one seemingly
More daunting
Than the last,
Roiling helplessness,
Inner fallacies derailing
Otherwise simple tasks.
Tools
Intimidate,
Escalate,
Retaliate.
The tools of
The insecure
Tyrant.
Forcing
His hurt
Into others.
Intruder
They see him as
Different,
Not like them,
Foreign.
They treat him
With savage disdain,
Contempt oozing from
Narrowed eyes.
Nothing off limits,
The only goal is
The annihilation of
The intruder.
At Some Point
Each day passes
More heavily than
The last,
Procrastination being
It’s own catalyst,
Discomfort increasing
Until unbearable.
He resolves to do
Something,
At some point.