Modest house on
Tree-lined street,
Unassuming hodgepodge,
Practical apartments,
Utilitarian dwellings,
Tidy to a point.
Bike ride up arduous hills,
Humid air invigorating
Youthful lungs,
Blue sky contentment.
Knock on door,
Heartily welcomed.
The harrowing
Uncertainty begins,
More of a screaming,
Piercing pain that won’t
Go away no matter how
Many aspirins one takes.
Trying to ignore it,
Hoping it will go away,
Pretending it’s not going to happen
When it inevitably will,
A return to different times,
Shocking dissimilarity.
Unreachable minds,
Roiling with contempt and
Inordinate callousness.
They will never
Dig deep enough
To tell us why.
The two pass on the
Street in front of a
Bank, neither sees the
Other, one on her way
To an assembly line
Job, the other entering
The building and walking
Into a well-appointed
Office with a plaque on
The door indicating his
Special title, his
Exceptional position in
Society because of all
The money he lords over and
Others don’t. He chuckles
With a colleague about
Haves and have nots,
Winners and losers,
Survival of the fittest,
Ruling class diversions.
I know when I talk with you that
You’re thinking of the next thing you
Want to say or how my words may be
Used to gain some advantage or
Make you look good in some way,
Perhaps subtly put me in my place,
All else is bothersome, undesirable.
A wilted, one-sided relationship where
One person’s self is stolen by
An unquenchable, uncaring void.
Letting go once again,
Such a routine ordeal,
Bidding goodbye to so many
People and places dear.
It might get easier,
Though it really doesn’t,
He just pretends to
Get used to it,
Pieces of his self
Left behind.
Not sure what to do,
Knowing that it could
Be a catalyst for all
Manner of suffering but
Also morbidly curious.
As usual, an inner struggle
Ensues between giving the
Benefit of the doubt,
Believing in redemption, or
Realizing that some things are
Truly better left unexamined.
Even the best intentions often
Do not turn out well
Because they never have before
And nothing has transpired
To make this time any different.
She worries about
Absolutely everything;
Wreathed in a
Cloud of trepidation,
Myriad menaces,
Nothing safe,
Constant vigilance against
Threats real and fabricated,
She bequeaths all this
Wonderfulness to her children.
I remember the moment he
Referred to me as a competitor,
Collaboration pettily smashed
Into a million jagged shards.
Inflated ego,
Simmering insecurity,
Infirm sense of self.
Rapacious hunger for
Power, prestige, position,
Civility – camaraderie – a casualty.
Close the gates, boil the oil,
Needless battle begun.
No words exchanged
Where normally there
Would be many.
An empty space,
A house razed,
Missing.
This is the same
Place where they
Laughed together.
Sitting around
Talking about nothing
In particular,
They notice that
They’re physically
Stronger than them;
That they can impose
Their will through
Force rather than
Negotiation or
Compromise.
They get to work
Creating the edifices
Of submission and
Control; shameless
Institutions designed
To maintain the
Imbalance of power.