Marching
Together.
Sharing a
Hopeful vision
Of a time when
People will love
One another because
They are all
Basically the same,
Rather than hating
Each other for
Insignificant reasons.
The coming together
Of all people,
For all people,
Unity over divisiveness.
Stop getting
Your love
All over me.
It doesn’t feel great to
Have layers of
Pain thrust upon me,
Expectant eyes
Imploring that I
Return the favor.
Living at the shelter
With her two children,
She hears about a
Room for rent that
She can almost afford
On her earnings at the
Restaurant where she
Smiles at customers who
Have no idea she has
Nowhere to live and
Not enough money to
Change the situation.
Such a beautiful visage,
Alabaster skin, lapis eyes
Imbued with repressive fear,
Pervasive perplexity,
A delicate flower outraged
By the most gentle breeze.
An unfamiliar face
Elicits horror, bewilderment.
A dissimilar lifestyle
Summarily reviled,
Fortified with maudlin pomp,
Virtuous certainty.
Smile, keep up
Your poise and decorum.
Don’t cede an inch,
They aren’t like you anyway,
So pure, so kind,
So lovely.
During all the
Traumatic events
That year,
He tried to assert
Himself, let his
Opinion be known,
Ameliorate the terrible
Pain permeating everything,
Suggest a soft place
Instead of ragged hardness,
But all his efforts
Ended at the same dead end,
An impenetrable wall
Of hurt that no sentient
Being could surmount,
A place where the
Unconscious dwell.
Startlingly conventional,
Seeking simple answers to
Complex questions,
Ambiguity to be avoided
At all costs.
Aggressive, sneering
At anyone who doesn’t
Agree with him,
Projecting unresolved
Rage on bystanders.
Rigid, uncreative,
Profoundly unfulfilled,
Chasing the rush
That comes from
Following the herd.
The words that can’t
Be said because someone
Said we shouldn’t say them.
The feelings that can’t
Be felt because someone
Said we shouldn’t feel them.
The life we don’t live
Because someone said
We shouldn’t live it.
Walking through a
Large room replete with
Cheery people
Trying a bit too hard.
Slow-motion bubble,
A hapless figurine
Trapped in a snow globe,
Swirling storm.
Each smiling face,
Insecure diatribe,
Reminds him of other places
He could be, the dreams
He unwittingly left behind
When he decided to
Follow the safe path to
Boredom, uniformity.
They eagerly await
The family’s arrival.
How he loves his tousled,
Rambunctious grandchildren.
Looking out the window,
He thinks of his boyhood.
Pain and want become
Wealth and comfort.
Such distant images,
Times never to be relived.
He pauses by his study,
One small bit of business to do.
Distant decisions spawning
Unseen consequences.
Yet another family struggles
To pay the bills.
The opportunity presents itself
To do whatever he wishes,
In any way he wants,
No limits, constraints,
But for conscience.
Chooses exploitation
And lining his pockets
With their misery.
A trajectory foretold by
Ingrained years of pain.