A strange unease from an
Otherwise ordinary interaction
Occurring at an unusual time.
Message with undertones of
Manipulation, control.
Not everything is well here.
Something else is bound to
Go awry, undesirable circumstance;
Wait for it and hope for the best.
It would have been nice
For someone to have asked him
A question on occasion,
See how he’s doing,
What he thinks,
Instead of the obligatory lectures.
Not a single instance
Where his voice was
Deemed important enough
To listen to,
A dreary one-way conversation
The only practice.
He learns how to
Feel unimportant.
His mind at an impasse,
What it’s like to see
The world in only two colors,
Limited palette of options.
Were there a way to persuade
Him of what happens when
The road narrows and
Reason vanishes.
So much more out there,
A vivid landscape
Free from the confines
Of strictures.
Used to getting his way,
He’s unable to handle
The most innocuous of
Challenges to his expectations,
There not being much,
If anything, to discuss
Once the terrible trespass
Upon his sovereignty has
Occurred, no doubt an
Intentional slight, meant to
Impugn him in some way,
Gross intentional malice.
He cries when he
Hears the song because
It reminds him of
Who he used to be and
How much he’s changed.
A person using another
For nothing else than
Momentary amusement.
Nothing here of any
Consequence, no
Respect, affection.
One of them wonders
If there is
Something more.
Both of them leave
Worse off for
The experience.
Keeping women down,
They call it tradition.
Telling them what to do
With their bodies.
Condemning them to
Second-class status.
Piety used as an
Excuse to subjugate.
If they’re on top then
Someone’s at the bottom.
Absence of light in his eyes,
Extinguished long ago
By the very people
Who could have kindled it –
Cared for him as a
Precious gift.
Some stories don’t end
The way we might wish,
Meandering in some awful
Direction instead,
Consuming themselves and us –
Unconscious coldness.
He doesn’t lack certainty,
Absolutely sure that
Hardness is the best path
To everything, it’s
What he knows, the only
Thing he recognizes.
I have the misfortune of
Watching a video of him
Giving a talk to an approving
Audience where he smugly
Suggests that there is
Nothing more to destroying a
Caring individual than to
Change the argument,
Cast the kind person as evil,
And then ride in to save
The day with shockingly
Simplistic and disingenuous
Schemes that hurt people.
