Many long months of
Forced inactivity.
Staring blankly
Out the window.
No longer part of
The regular world.
To and fro they go,
Living their lives.
Normality such
A foreign concept.
Stop and think for a moment,
Abandon superfluous encumbrance.
Up the mountain, through the
Penumbra, clarity unobscured.
A dark smokestack belches filth
Into a resigned sky. Trudging,
Servile to instinct and unchecked
Impulse. Clear away the dust.
A different type of energy,
One that comes from distant
Wounds, inflicted by monsters
Who were supposed to protect
Them, confidence betrayed,
A never-healing sore oozing
Mistrust, anger, pain directed
At everyone, for any reason,
For no reason other than it
Has never been acknowledged
Or dealt with so it can go
Away, recede into memory,
Leaving in its place,
Softness, kindness, wholeness,
Compassion, understanding.
Arriving at a place
Free of contamination;
Anger and recrimination
Fading beyond memory,
A growing sense of peace,
Years of toil culminating
In a single exhalation.
They walk into the place
For the first time in
Many years, expecting the
Same feelings to wash
Over them: youth, excitement,
Spontaneity, life in
Bloom and effervescence;
They quickly realize you
Can’t recreate what was
Once there, and locales
Like this only welcome
You once before moving on.
Walking into a room,
Unpleasant realization,
No one else like you,
No one shares any of
Your sensibility.
Unnuanced,
Coarse environment,
Guarded people
Hiding behind walls of
Small talk.
Saying the things that
Need to be said but are
Kept locked away as if
It diminishes their import.
They talk in a new way,
Leaving behind the secrets
And discomfort that
Choke off reality.
Possibilities unfurl,
A path hidden under the
Overgrowth, a new
Existence revealed.
I never knew how much I loved you
Until I saw you with someone else at that
Dinner party. Exchanging superficial
Pleasantries with the social climber to
My left, forced laughs, feigned interest,
A burning focus on your glowing visage.
Meet my eyes, acknowledge I mean
Something, that I wasn’t just some whim,
A forgettable dalliance until the right one
Came along and swept me from your
Consciousness, kicking an unwanted
Pebble from a manicured path.
Having been bullied
And demeaned by them
His whole life,
He takes his inner
Rage and directs it
Not at the people
Who’ve maltreated him
But rather at those
Who have always
Defended him,
Understood his plight,
Shared his experience.
Seeking approval
From cold conquerors,
Devotedly advocating for
And perpetuating the
Order that always
Has and will continue to
Keep him marginalized.
