Trying to make
Sense of it,
No answers forthcoming.
Another mind,
Impossible to decipher
Without help.
Silence,
Absence of
Understanding.
Change was the
Single most frightening
Thing to him.
He had always been
This way and didn’t
Want to modify it.
He was utterly
Miserable and
Desperately unfulfilled.
He’d hang on
Just a little longer,
Until it was all over.
All he’s able to
Feel is the fear
They keep driving
Into his already
Frazzled brain,
A constant pulse of
Anxiety and dread,
Pictures of horrible
Things happening
Everywhere, too much
To assimilate in any
Other way than panic,
Insidious affliction.
Her fate was decided behind
Closed doors. After some time,
They emerged from the chamber,
Delivered her sentence, a
Ruthless slap in the face
Administered by pusillanimous
Minions immune to truth.
A gaggle of feeble followers
Reinforcing each other’s
Frailties, susceptible to
Manipulation, incitement, the
Sustenance of the prostrate.
I wish I could assert
How unhappy I am
When I’m around you,
How my throat closes
And my chest hurts
When I think of spending
Any length of time
In your vicinity,
How your presence
Makes me think of
The innumerable times
When I was crushed
With complete disregard,
Laughed at as I lay there,
Screaming for help.
I’d like to say all
These things, but
It will never happen.
Ungracious, unkind, unaware.
Hubris dripping from every pore,
A disproportionate sense of value
Engendered by early deprivation,
A yearning to feel important.
Please tell me how great I am.
I relish every compliment and promise to
Turn it into a creepy exercise,
A child dancing awkwardly
For adulation.
The small try to inflate themselves with
The breath of the compassionate.
A constantly burning engine requiring
More and more fuel to maintain its
Sad vanity.
A fragile crust of civility and
Self-satisfaction.
Practiced posturing.
Faces contorting laboriously,
Success stories volleyed
Back and forth, each more
Ungracious than the last, an
Ostentatious display of nihility.
Settling into oversize furniture,
Numbing drinks in hand, a
Selective catalog of books by
Small spewing minds, an
Overweening intimation of depth.
A flurry of strained graciousness,
High-school like social disgraces.
Scratch the surface to reveal
Festering unease.
Everyone could see it was over
From the moment they walked in,
Sat down, looked at their hands and
Exchanged silence heavy and
Uncomfortable. Nobody said anything,
Including them, and no one would for
Eternity and then some, perpetuated in
Forthcoming generations.
One small man jumped on another
Man’s back and started pointing out
The imperfections he noticed.
One small man scrutinized another
Man’s face and told him he was
OK looking at best.
One small man picked at another
Man’s scabs, reopening the lacerations
That had been healing.
One small man laughed at another
Man’s mistakes and went home
To an empty interior.
