They design
A world
Based on their personal
Thoughts, feelings, beliefs.
They design
A world where people
Exploit and destroy
Each other.
They could design
A world where people
Think, feel, and believe
In kindness, compassion.
Stunningly unaware,
He tramples over
Everything, everyone,
In his path,
Leaving behind a
Trail of devastation,
Suffering.
Not unusual,
Doesn’t like himself,
Incapable of empathizing with
Anyone else’s plight.
Deeply diseased,
Unable to feel for anyone,
Including himself.
Predictable,
Struggling to feel safe,
The monsters visit constantly,
Recurring, unresolved pain.
Turn inner fear and rage
Into outward contempt,
Cruelty.
Wake up much too early
Each day, get everyone up,
Make bag lunches,
Kids ready themselves for
Another public school day.
Coffee, bagel, shower,
Drive off to a place
She’d rather not be,
If she had a choice.
Smiles at everyone,
Cheeriness born of necessity,
Paycheck in hand
Every two weeks,
Choices to be made,
Shrinking pay requiring stretching,
Making do with less,
Another day on the treadmill.
Exhausted,
Arrive at home, prepare dinner,
Help kids with homework.
Alarm clock rings again.
In a serene wood-paneled office,
He moves toward a large window,
Blankly looks at the
Scurrying ants.
Ominous drums in the distance,
Perpetual bellicosity,
Continuous heightened alert,
Duck and cover
Regardless of actual threat.
Arouse hysteria,
Deflect attention from
Vast resources coursing
Into deep complex pockets,
Conflate with patriotism.
Countless homes disintegrating,
Children lacking sustenance,
Families crumpling to their knees.
Another extravagant instrument of
Strife rolls off an assembly line.
Reveling in their
Ordinariness,
Smug about their
Unsettling ability
To celebrate the
Mundane,
Exalting the typical,
Keeping everyone at
The same level,
Bland,
Compliant,
Weeding out those who
Don’t conform.
Kindly sit in the back,
Know your place,
Things are as they should be,
Don’t rock the boat,
What are you fussing about?
Seen but not heard,
Shadow passing unperceived.
Struggles of the
Past revisited,
Wound reopened,
Hadn’t healed as much
As we all thought,
If at all.
Turn back the clock,
Reinstitute reviled institutions,
Things were much better
Back then,
Before the unrest.
Death of enlightenment,
Adherence to propaganda
Instead of fact,
Denigrating science
For dogma,
Lifeless eyes,
Barren consciences,
The emotionless cruelty of
Sociopaths.
To see the world again as a
Child does, full of wonder and
Possibility. Endless fascination and
Joy from the smallest thing and each
New discovery. Uncontained energy and
Excitement. Absence of pretense or
Guile, living in the moment.
Not us, say Mr. and Mrs. Beatdown.
Peering through
The department store window
At clothes she’ll
Never own.
Figures sneering inside,
Watch the door,
Keep her out,
What could she possibly
Want in here, such a bother,
Why doesn’t she go home?
The car she lives in
Is parked a few blocks away,
No gas in the tank,
No transportation, no job,
Sorry about that,
Cost of living, you know.
