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.
Relationship hindered by
A single careless action.
One thoughtless moment:
Unplanned, unconscious,
Blundering, impulsive,
Disproportionate, reactive.
The slight nudge that
Changes everything.
A cringe that won’t
Leave her alone.
She wishes she could
Take it back.
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.
No one in this family
Ever asks anyone else
A question,
All they know how to do
Is talk at each other,
Professing to understand everything
Without possessing any information
Beyond their own
Narrow notions.
Should anyone speak up,
Share his or her own point of view,
Disrupt the centuries of
Toxic patterns,
They’ll be immediately
Ostracized.
His condition worsening,
He goes to the doctor and
Finds out about a
Drug that will help him
Feel better and that the
Pharmaceutical company has
Inflated the price of by
Five thousand percent for
His convenience and well-being.
Nobody talks about anything
Around here,
It’s not allowed.
Follow the rules
Without questioning,
Keep your thoughts to yourself,
Set aside any critical thinking.
A sullen figure sits in a chair
Devising random ways of
Imposing arbitrary whims
That never keep him safe.
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.
Fed up with the system,
Joins some friends,
Protests against
Leviathans swallowing
Human beings whole.
His head
Driven into the ground
By polished boot,
Shielded enforcers of
Boardroom decisions.
One man, such a
Threat to
Deception perpetrated
By carnivorous
Overlords.
He chokes up when
The flag appears or
A certain maudlin song plays,
Chauvinism welling inside him,
Wiping away unrelated tears,
Experiencing feelings
Conspicuously absent
When he’s administering
Merciless beatings
To the victims in his orbit.
