At some level,
No doubt buried in
The deepest recesses
Of his psyche,
He realizes the words
Coming out of his mouth
Are hurtful.
Cold indifference,
All-consuming fear,
Learned at the
Receiving end of
Harsh punishment,
Propagated without
Conscious thought.
Every single answer on
A lovely tidy platter placed
Over a yawning chasm
Drawing every bit of matter
Toward its voracious mouth
Lined with sharp teeth and
Rampant uncertainties.
The stuff of life covered by
A gleaming lid promising
Complete absolution from
Experience, courage, joy.
Such a lovely family portrait,
Grandfather and Grandmother
With their arms around their
Beloved grandchildren,
Smiles beaming but not
Luminously enough to mask
What the family business
Does to human beings,
Darkness behind pretense.
The imposition of will
Requires no thoughtfulness,
Just the compulsion to force
Someone else to be a person
They are not, to demand
Adherence to some arbitrary,
Ever-shifting whim, fealty
To the pouting child who
Wants his toy right now.
There came a time
When it was virtually
Impossible to have
Any kind of civil
Conversation with him,
All traces of humanity
And rationality had
Been surreptitiously
Extirpated from his mind,
Leaving only an angry shell.
Raging at the driver
In the next lane,
Listening to an
Anger-filled voice
Exhorting hatred and
Violence on the radio,
Arriving at home to
Shout at his wife and kids,
An existence suffocated
By vitriol, fear, unhappiness,
Unresolved issues.
He seeks help.
The giant bird raised its wings and
Began flapping around in a dreadfully
Agitated fashion, scattering all manner
Of papers and sundries across the office.
Dodging the vortex of random projectiles,
Braving the windswept climes,
Bill from Accounting reached the culprit,
Soothingly petted its head, just a bad dream.
On a day much like this or
Any other, he went down to
The laundry room and met the
Love of his life.
She was everything he dreamed of,
He couldn’t believe his good fortune
Until she said something that
Changed him.
Apprehensive, he stepped back,
Unable to make sense of what he’d
Just heard. He replayed the word in
His mind.
A greeting, followed by a smile, was all it
Took to remind him of every hair out of place,
Past failure, pulsing uncertainty,
Step forward, hello.
He came home from work and
Settled in with a beer to dull the
Numbing monotony of his life and
Scarcity of hope or dreams.
He walked to the kitchen to a
Plate of food left in the refrigerator
By someone who would rather not
Be there for many reasons.
He walked back to the couch where
He anesthetized his mind with
Television and beer and nothing else
As far as he knew.
