deep poems

Chuckles

Another opportunity to
Automatically, insistently,
Force his beliefs on someone else,
Unwilling to entertain that
Not everyone shares his zeal,
Or wants to.
Each person he comes into
Contact with presents
A new chance to force
Another heretic to
Conform, genuflect,
Submit to his way of not
Understanding the world.
He chuckles at how
Devoted and pure he is and
How dirty everyone else is.

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Pretending to Live

Imagine what it’s like to have
One event completely transform
You, irrevocably, implacably,
Without any chance of
Change or adaptation,
A grim, remorseless trudge
Toward sordid climes where
People force wounded smiles.
Pretending to live.

Spreading

Able to choose
Any number of positive ways
To behave,
He decides it best
To be confrontational,
Unpleasant,
His needs not met
To his satisfaction,
Moving between interactions,
Spreading conflict and
Unease,
No one ever measuring up.

Just Better

From the depths
Of her being,
She believes that
She and her family,
And a few people who
Are very similar to her,
Are superior,
Having been told this
Since she was a child
By those closest to her.
In her mind,
There’s really no question
To be debated,
Some people are just
Better than others,
Beginning with their genes.

Dependable

Always eager to help,
They see him coming and
Exploit the situation,
Using his largesse to
Benefit themselves without
Returning the favor,
Taking but not giving,
Not even a thank you,
Just repeated demands,
Viewing him as someone
Who can be stepped on
With no repercussions and
Dependable benefits.

Next Month

No stranger to failure,
He optimistically
Starts a new project.

This will be the one,
He says to himself,
Dreaming of success.

In the other room
His wife opens yet
Another envelope.

This month it’s the
Electricity that
May be shut off.

Next month it
Could very well
Be a divorce.

Mentality

Having had the optimism
Flogged out of him,
He subconsciously gravitates
Toward the first thing that
Promises order and comfort,
Something he’s never had
Nor currently enjoys.
Pretending to feel better inside,
His actions direcly contradict
Blank pronouncements on
Virtue and character,
None of which exist
In his constricted mentality.

What Do You Do?

He interrupts his pronouncements
About her career to
Ask his thirty-five-year-old daughter,
With a puzzled look on his face,
“What do you do?”
It’s never been very important
In this family to think beyond
One’s own ego and
Care about what
Anyone else is doing,
That would require
Listening to someone else’s story,
Letting go for just a moment of
The need to control everything,
Command the stage.

Demeanor

No light emanating
From his eyes,
A rigid demeanor
Developed in childhood
When the glow was
Beat out of him by
People proclaiming virtue
While practicing terror.
Devoid of love,
He coldly leads his adherents
Into the abyss.