Give just once to
Appease conscience.
A small token of uncaring,
Doled out annually with
Magnanimous gesture.
Return home satisfied.
Problems and injustices
Solved with one pair of jeans or
A single meal.
Raised by nannies,
Occasional, stilted interactions
With figurehead parents
Pass for affection.
Sent off to boarding school,
Fed a steady diet of
Impersonal, cold axioms
Rendering her
Unable to feel a kinship
With people, animals, situations.
Never taught how to bond
With anything other than
A vague sense of superiority,
Underlying emptiness.
Self-contained – self-centered,
Isolated from reality,
Disconnected from others,
No need to consider them,
Let alone have any contact.
They become an afterthought,
Unimportant, inhuman,
Unworthy of any attention or help.
After all, she got none,
As far as she’s concerned.
To follow our dreams and live
Lives of boundless joy and fulfillment.
To freely celebrate ourselves and others,
Delightfully compassionate.
That’s not practical, say those who
Follow the rules, listen to others,
Do as told, muffle their muses, freely
Limit horizons.
Hardened heart – unwhole –
Hoarding all his stuff,
The kid in the sandbox who won’t
Share his toys,
Hunkering down —
Frowning uncutely,
All the other kids
Uncomfortable.
Grows up,
No change – same story.
Lack of introspection
Cultivating circle of harshness,
Advancing suffering.
Bully in a suit,
Lifeless face,
Anesthetized eyes.
I meant it when I said I love myself and
A procession of people walked all over me.
I believed it when I said I love myself and
Was mired in strife and broken relationships.
I professed to love myself with conviction and
Was sentence to repeat what I knew.
Locked away inside, me.
Silence envelopes, inviting reflection.
Peaceful, placid, pleasurable.
Letting go of the insistent bustle and activity.
Quietly pondering nothing in particular.
Comforting thoughts drifting into sleep.
Assaulted by the burst of a motor.
Every imaginable
Foible flawlessly
Executed with supreme
Cockiness, unbridled ego,
Shocking lack of insight,
Appalling hubris.
Condemn millions to
Substandard,
Painful lives.
Sleep like a baby,
In luxury,
Every single night.
Pang of conscience?
Start a bogus
Charity event.
Mind racing, head breaking,
Trying to find an answer,
Any answer. Programmed to
Believe in anything but me,
Directed to forego self.
Don’t trust yourself. Keep it to
Yourself. You don’t really matter.
Only we matter. Voices of reason
Tying my hands and muffling my
Being. Not myself.
Mind racing, head breaking.
Trying to find an answer,
My answer, unadulterated.
Desperately
Trying to fit in,
Appeasing their
Oppressors.
Young women
Parading around in
Outlandish, tacky
Versions of the
Garb of their
Conquerors.
Spirit broken
Generationally,
A sham display of
Civic pride,
Gaudy cartoon,
Misguided
Aspirations.
