One part doesn’t talk to the other,
A complete disconnect,
Habitual compartmentalization,
Say one thing, do another,
Pretend it isn’t happening when
Someone points out the inconsistencies.
Disintegrated,
Unwhole,
Ripped apart by someone trusted,
Believing the unbelievable,
Unhealthy contradiction
Shrugged off as normal.
I’m not sure
There was ever a time
When idyllic meadows
Felt familiar.
Subsisting in twilight,
Inches from darkness.
An indistinct form beckons,
Sometimes less aggressive,
Always debilitating.
Moving toward it,
Struggling to remember
Who I am.
As long as he can
Buy a third house,
Seventh car,
Fourth wife,
He doesn’t care
How much his business
Destroys the planet,
All that matters is
Satisfying his overwhelming
Need to silence the voices
Deep inside that remind him of
Where he came from and
What he’s become.
There was never a shortage
Of well-meaning and broken
People eager to tell here
What she should do,
Projecting their own fears
And failures on her and
Discounting her dreams.
It would take many years
Of living someone else’s
Life for her to figure out
That the only voice that
Mattered was hers and that
She could follow her own path.
Beneath counterfeit devoutness,
Noxious fervor to perpetuate a
Bad-faith scheme concocted by
Insecure men lusting for power,
Regardless of the consequences,
Human beings subjugated so
A few can protect their loot.
Rough,
Unyielding,
Insecure.
Something’s wrong,
Just below the surface,
Turmoil.
Outwardly rugged,
Inwardly mangled,
Ruptured.
Only violence here,
Ruthlessness,
Utter despair.
Obsessively feeding
Stockholders
At the expense of
Consumers, people,
Decency, everything.
Promise ever-increasing returns,
Keep earnings artificially high,
Nothing else matters.
Metastasizing abnormal growth,
Never content with enough.
A world gutted by a
Pathological need for
Wealth and status,
Nourishing the few
Who can buy shares and
Their pushers.
Illusions vanish,
Leeches abscond.
Sitting in his favorite chair,
He motions to his wife to
Fetch him another beer and
Stares blankly into the
Television where a smug
Talking head reinforces all
His worst impulses and
Lends credence to the appalling
Thoughts clogging his every
Waking moment, physically
Animate, emotionally dead.
In a ramshackle trailer park,
A family of five inhabits
An ancient Airstream
On a cold, rainy day,
Wearing winter coats indoors
To keep barely warm, a tiny
Space heater rattles hopelessly.
Rent is due in a couple
Of days and Mark is out
Looking for any kind of
Employment, Susan has to
Stay home with the kids,
Child care costing more than
Any minimum wage job affords.
The holidays are near and
There’s no money for gifts,
Or anything to eat,
A trip to the local food pantry
An embarrassing new reality,
They reminisce about their vacation
Last year before the layoffs.
