Can’t do anything about him,
He marches to the beat of
His own something or other,
Doesn’t listen much to what
Anyone is saying at any time,
Prefers instead to just launch
Into whatever he wants to do
At that particular moment,
Regardless of the outcome and
In spite of what it might do
To the real people around him.
Threatened by someone,
For any reason,
Yet again, as always,
The latest sacrifice to his ego.
He pretends to be friendly
While surreptitiously making plans
To remove the offensive interloper,
Bane of his existence,
Pretender to the throne.
Tilting back in his chair,
He smiles to himself,
Admiring his own cleverness,
His natural ability to
Beat them all,
Vanquish imagined adversaries.
Begrudgingly dropping off
His kids at the summer program,
Only after repeatedly being
Asked to by his wife,
Without consideration of
Arriving too early and forcing
The staff to act as babysitters,
An interruption in a life where
He’s never had to think of
Anything but himself,
Throwing his weight around,
Never asking for permission,
Everyone there to acquiesce to
His every imposition.
Once he had
Dehumanized them
In his mind,
He was able to rationalize
Any abominable act,
False piety
Obscuring any
Remaining misgivings,
A brutal harshness
Familiar to him and
His accessories,
Furthering the cause.
Misery seeks its own level,
Infirm ghouls gather together
Celebrating their ghastliness,
Projecting onto others
What they know to be true
About themselves but
Desperately try to hide,
Hysterically lashing out at anyone
Who sees through the ruse,
Soused in fear,
Animate wounds
Perverting truth and decency
To avoid feeling the same pain
They’ve inflicted on others for so long.
Instead of healing,
They choose to
Inhabit the nether regions
Where outwardly normal monsters
Work out their darkest pathologies
On innocent bystanders,
Sociopaths preying on
The vulnerable without even
A hint of remorse,
Festering, rancid inner wounds
Oozing fetid pus,
An avoidable cataclysm.
At what point
Did we lose it,
The ability to
Care for someone
We don’t know and have
No vested interest in?
How did we become
A people who aren’t
Moved by the suffering
Of a child or the
Struggles of a neighbor?
Benevolence supplanted by
Angry faces creased
With bitterness and
Disappointment.
Disgruntled brutes
Regretting unfulfilled lives,
Meaningless existences,
Spewing hatred
Instead of love.
With every shingle-lifting gust,
The unwelcome wind pummels the
Humble dwelling. Inside, a small,
Elderly woman wonders how she’ll
Pay for the damage, times being
What they are. She shuffles
To the stove and turns on a burner,
Carefully setting the tea kettle on it.
Another series of indifferent blasts
Rattles the walls, nobody calls.
It’s appalling
That there are so many
Individuals in the richest
Country on Earth who
Couldn’t care less if
A human being is homeless,
A child doesn’t have
Enough to eat,
A person is crushed
By a giant corporation,
Or someone dies due to lack of
Critical health care;
This is not the type of
Thinking that makes
Nations great.
