He sits livid
In his armchair,
Staring at the TV,
Where people are
In the streets,
Holding signs,
Chanting slogans that make
No sense to him.
He mutters something
About ingrates
With no right to
Protest against a
Good man just doing
His job, and what about
What those people do
To one another.
They’ll fight
Tooth and nail
To give tax breaks
To their cronies –
The one percent –
Who already own
Most of everything
But still demand more.
They won’t do a
Thing to help
The real people
Doing the actual work,
Deluge up economics.
A promise of a gift
Made in confidence.
She’s never told anyone
About it and has
Never seen it
Become reality.
Fading away into
Memory,
Immaterial,
A gesture lost to time,
Obscured by
Secrecy.
Once in a while
She wonders
What it all meant
And whether it
Ever even
Existed.
Well-scrubbed children,
In the latest fashions,
Play without a care,
Eagerly returning to
Their desks to learn about
All the wonders the
World offers them.
Children in hand-me-downs
Selected from a pile
In the corner of the room,
Run around in a bare
Playground, going back
Inside to share
Outdated books.
Keep quiet.
Don’t you know that
We’ve always done it
This way and we don’t
Even whisper about any
Other options.
Change is not something
Contemplated often in
These circles, if ever,
Just the same old
Boring perpetuation of
Everything that came before,
Without any thought to
Improving any of it,
The same results
Choking off all hope.
She sat at a shrouded table with
Semi-strangers jabbering giddily,
Animatedly ignoring or interrupting
Each other’s narratives.
The clatter of silverware on china,
A haze of perfume and nervousness
Wafting over occasionally. A nod of
Acknowledgment, smile of recognition.
When will this end? All rise for the
Hallowed oath, a group of like-minded,
Like-thinking, like robots, enjoying the
Luncheon of superficiality.
On his deathbed,
He croaks out something
That sounds like,
“I love you,” to his
Daughter, having been
Unable to express it at
Any other time,
A sadly hollow gesture
That would have
Meant much more if
He had had the courage
To say it along the way.
Glorified dualist vision,
Good versus evil,
Us against them,
Our people distinguished
By excellence and virtue,
Theirs huddle in
Laziness, barbarism.
Manichean perspective,
Forced tension between opposites,
Only one true good.
Disparage, separate, deprecate,
Dismiss with animosity.
Unworthy of consideration,
Cast aside unceremoniously.
