I never knew how excruciatingly
Uncomfortable things could get
Until I opened my mouth and let
My inner thoughts take flight.
The ensuing deluge of silence
Underscoring the deep rift
Like a jagged rupture in the
Landscape extending to the
Horizon and falling off the edge
To crash upon unyielding ground.
A person arrived at a wall,
Stared straight at it and said,
“This is a wall.”
Another person arrived at a wall,
Stared straight at it and said,
“I wonder what’s behind this wall.”
A third person arrived at a wall,
Looked to the right, looked to the left,
And walked around it.
On a day much like this or
Any other, he went down to
The laundry room and met the
Love of his life.
She was everything he dreamed of,
He couldn’t believe his good fortune
Until she said something that
Changed him.
Apprehensive, he stepped back,
Unable to make sense of what he’d
Just heard. He replayed the word in
His mind.
A greeting, followed by a smile, was all it
Took to remind him of every hair out of place,
Past failure, pulsing uncertainty,
Step forward, hello.
There are times when my mind goes
Blank.
There are times when my heart goes
Numb.
There are times when my feelings
Hurt.
There are times when my anxieties
Crush.
There are times when my insecurities
Debilitate.
There are times when I consciously
Redirect.
After the
Heart attack,
He gained an amazing
Lack of revelation.
Instead of celebrating
Good fortune and the
Gift of life, he
Doubled down on rancor.
Much to be done,
More wealth to amass
More people to
Gleefully crush.
And so he was asked if he
Would take a look at himself and
He graciously declined as he always
Had and kept living his life as he
Knew how. A time came when his
Mettle was tested by circumstance and
He was again encouraged to examine
Himself and he blithely put it off another
Day until it was time to pass and he
Lay alone wishing he understood
Who he was all these years and why
He hadn’t tried to find out.
Nothing is more important
To him than preserving
His laughable facade of
Strength and authority,
Even the loss of
Important relationships is
Not a deterrent to
Maintaining a lie.
He dies weak and alone,
The way he lived.
In comes the destructor with
Righteous carriage and
Assured gait, a gift not
Beholden to human niceties or
Cumbersome compassion.
Methodically eviscerates all
He dislikes with swift saber
Strokes of skepticism and
Tantrum. He knows the way and
Will get it one way or another.
Waiting on heightened alert,
Ready to spring into action in a
Millisecond against foes real and
Imagined.
Shadows appear where none exist,
Certainty eclipses rationality,
Bravado masks fear unattended and
Believed.
Things being done
As they always have been,
Unchecked exploitation
Conceived when there were
No other considerations,
Decimating everything
For profit.
Growing movement,
Compassionate, resolute,
Rises from the ruins,
Understands we don’t have
To kill each other,
That we’re intelligent
Enough to thrive together.