Illusion of Civility

the sentence of silence
so few dare to ponder

untold worlds so scarcely beheld

presumed to be something
altogether non-existent
if even regarded in any respect

a consequence foregone
not of their own doing

encountered, in most circumstances
thought only a burden

this, by the very ones
who had begotten their very existence

at best, ignored
at worst, and most typical, degraded
ridiculed
teased
bullied
harrassed
taunted
mocked
thought of as nothing
the list goes on
without end
as they are made to suffer
without further thought

taken only at face value
and that, of what merit?

living, breathing, feeling individuals
of infinite complexity
reduced to the confines
of our grave misperceptions

tucked away neatly in alternate circles
so that we might safely know not of their existence

shuffled away into quaint little busses
a vacuous vaunt to avail our insecurities
by insulting our peers

and them
were we ever thus made to withstand the affront of their presence

how callous and cruel could we possibly be?

and to dare think ourselves as being human

humanity begins in our wasteland of disregard

it is there where we will find
the base truth of our sympathy
empathy
compassion

these words offer nothing
but titular arrogance

ever so smitten
with our sculptures of charity

nary do any of us stand to comprehend
the scope of our blaringly blatant indiscretion

if such is the case
that even those closest related
are most guilty of all
in their failure to see
what their own eyes bear witness to

in its full scope

then what hope
if any
do we stand as a species?

our civilization
can only be gauged
by our treatment of those
not given a voice

subject to the mercy
of choices
made by those left to speak for them

and by this
i submit
our civility
is naught
but the grandest
of all our illusions

[image credit: Georges Barbier]

Social MEdia

it is such a strange dynamic
these forums in which we gather
in a most persistent state
of idle incoherent blather
trapped behind these glowing screens
the hopes and dreams of every person
air as fleeting as a meme
subjected to flights of aversion
as it seems, the world awaits us
from the very place we sit
boundless escape from our sorrows
hanging at our fingertips
realms of plastic intimacy
ruled by unforgiving whims
wintry hearts that once burned holes
in skies that since have fallen dim
scarcely shedding light on truth
of how quickly we are forgotten
pittances of such regard
leave scars for which no time allots for
in the moment, fools are prone
to bleed expression most effusive
once it passes, who will fill the need
persisting in the ashes
~valiant~, are those who ride
upon a white horse singing freedom
“free” to run their dalliances
soon to show their heart’s deceiving
still, the truth is far more complex
for we all are hapless victims
seeking an escape from our extenuating circumstances
we present personas of our ideal’s interpretation
pandered then to strangers
in an undisclosed remote location
who we treat with no more respect
than we would a pop-up ad
for times we might need some support
when life has left us feeling bad
however, if they fail to answer
in a time we deem respectful
we become annoyed and then consider them to be neglectful
such brazen hypocrisy seems fitting for a generation
raised by television screens
and disenchanted baby-sitters
left without a precedent
of how to treat our fellow humans
honestly, what can we expect
but a state of social ruin
with so many channels of communication ever running
how we manage to engage them all
is truly something stunning
this, of course, is not the case
as countless people are left hanging
whilst we frantically relate
the tales of our spouse’s haranguing
maybe if we placed half as much effort
as we do complaining
into our immediate surroundings
life would be less draining
sadly, there is no foreseeable solution to this issue
therefore, i suggest you grab a box of chocolates
and some tissues

Telling Vision

in my youth I watched TV
but sadly, none had cared to tell
that it was not reality
and thus, my life has gone to hell
corrupting every moral code
with no second thought to decorum
just as every episode
taught habits for the social forum
shouting loud and slamming doors
why should I have thought this was odd
and storming off with goods unmoored
to steal them in the name of ~god~
flagrantly objectifying
women as the status quo
pathologically lying
to every person that you know
constantly berating fellow humans
brought so many laughs
however, when I tried to do it
people would then kick my ass
sneaking through my neighbor’s yard
in nothing but a ghillie suit
did not fetch the same regard
when fleeing cops in hot pursuit
still, I tried to understand why
my friends cried and told their mothers
when I poked their eyes and ran
I thought that they would laugh and love it
how was I to know that vampires
were not something that existed
just imagine my surprise
that Halloween I was arrested
no one told me using fire
to burn the evidence was useless
nor that sating my desires
was anything other than ruthless
pulling pranks to shame my boss
never quite had the same effect
for every time my job was lost
they branded me a derelict
the doctor didn’t find it funny
when I diagnosed his patients
and absconded with their money
just to fund my cat’s vacation
why is it that all I’d learned
would only seem to spur police
leave the general public spurned
and earn the ire of Catholic priests
acting disingenuous
was all the rage on every show
but people just turned murderous
when I would use the same MO
every single trope
that had taught me the ropes
on television
has since failed me like the time
I groped her and wound up in prison
when I tried to tell the judge
“But on TV it seemed just fine!?”
he wasn’t so inclined to budge
and now I must serve all my time
the bane of capitalist systems
causes damage far and wide
kids left without supervision
so their parents can abide
to that which Jesus most opposed
and though I might not be religious
much like him I don’t condone
a surrogate duly suspicious
children led by such examples
based on worlds of artifice
become far more than we can handle
with real life consequence
how can we punish the actions
fostered by our guided hand
just to furnish a distraction
so we can meet life’s demands
everyone should take a hammer
run it through their TV set
rise up in a Marxist clamor
before things get darker yet
it’s not right that we associate
our sentiments with falsehood
they can’t misappropriate our lives
then try to claim “it’s all good!”

Dispatched

dispatched
to the hungry umbrage
spindly wraiths
spill ruination
arms athwart
absorb nullity
boots and RIFs
soon disavowed

whistling timbres
so precise
held brimstone fists stripped
knuckled white
waried faith
lest bullets showered
dulled the Duster pastorales

plucked like florets
bare and breathless
strafing nightly
saw them felled
prowess at imperil’s onset
sweat poured down
a poor man’s brow
loud as telegraphed
impressions
dispossessed
like wingless flies

birds took to the sky
in errant
bursts of aril
none were spared
crimson horrors
void of rinsing
from the hands
of shellshocked minds

blind are days
since hell became us
land of freedom
man as god
sadist thieves
left grief besotted
rotting leaves
pinned to dead air

Rant On Usurped Offense

There is no merit in insulting others

We have no need for hurtful words
harmful thoughts
or vulgar behavior

Disrespect does not gain the respect
of those one deems respectable

For every person
whom our words and actions victimize
unwittingly or otherwise
causes our consciences to devolve
until we have devised our own demise

We would do best to just confess
and take responsibility for our own past
including every prior indiscretion

For until we do so
we will be incapable of learning
the lessons necessary
for us to further evolve

It matters not
the company in which we feel free
to reveal the horrors
that our hearts conceal
for there is no possible way
of ever knowing
the personal experience of those around us
which is no less real

Regardless of how well we may think
we truly know them

We cannot afford to risk
the pain our carelessness inflicts
upon the innocent
already victimized by flagrant negligence

Lest we are compliant
as petulantly defiant accomplices
appearing as though tyrants

Abusive words like “slut “faggot”, “fat”, and “ugly”
“stupid”, “bitch”, “retarded”, “dumpy”
“sloppy seconds”, “homo”, “freak”
“loser”, “sissy”, “pussy”, “weakling”

referencing things negative
by saying that they’re “gay”
and generalizing specific groups
from which to draw negative comparison
all of these insidiously vicious sayings
cause hurt
even if you’re ~just playing~
or ~just kidding~

Such offenses cannot be excused
as though unwitting

Be the person standing tall
who speaks up for both one and all
instead of slandering these victims
leaving them to take the fall

When you spew out words like “whore”
you open up Pandora’s box
for chances are
by all accounts that someone
amidst every crowd
has suffered from a horrid fate
of which they cannot yet relate

Thier trauma once again
is visited upon them
distancing them further still
as you insist
it’s your ~free will~
and that they should perhaps just ~chill~

Well, victims more than deserve freedom
but instead, they’re shirked and beaten

Human beings perpetually defeated
by a society so utterly unfathomably heedless

Their self-denounced abusers
asserting with such emphasis
their so-called ”rights”
which they imagine to exist
which tragically intend
to place their offenses
on those who have in fact
suffered by their offenses

As though somehow it were a choice
to have had lived through tragic fates
that innately instill
horrific post-traumatic feelings
fraught with fear
anxiety, unspoken pains we cannot see
suicidal thoughts now more distraught
and all of this for what?

So you can validate your selfishness
by disregarding poignant pleas
from broken-hearted victims
who now stand to suffer
ceaselessly as they traverse
this wretched, thoughtless universe
which treats the victims as the curse
and celebrates abusive verse?

So you can feel so free
to recklessly impose your putrid ignorance
like pestilence
you seem so curiously invested in?

As if you’re being bested
by the simplest of requests
as if it inflicts any stress
comparable to the victim’s duress
upon the advent of associative anguish
by abuse-inflicted reflex?

I truly hope that your own ego
is not such that you would forgo
even basic kindness and concern
for those who you might not know
for the sake of something so absurd
insisting these abusive words
should thus be heard
by victims already dejected and unnerved
presuming that your right to speak
should somehow more deserve protection
than the human beings
most of whom would never cause a scene
instead, they keep their pain inside
while you would flaunt your shameful pride

My friend
you need to get a clue
this issue isn’t about you

I beg thee
please get over yourself
and think for once of someone else

Don’t tread upon the mental health
of victims trapped in private hell

Dare not assume to know so well
the truths of which most never tell
precisely for the reasons
that you seem to be so much compelled
to stand here and defend
until the very death
with all your will
while victims still are made anew
but all you can think of is YOU

If only you would understand
these victims are your fellow man
let me restate that
ALL WOMEN
and since you seem unable
to consider things in terms I speak
perhaps were you able to see
these victims are as close to thee
indeed of your own family
and all your friends
who plainly see your indifference
to silent pleas
from all the pain they’ve suffered through
including that since caused by you
on more than one occasion too

But with your callous caustic mouth
and disregard, you’ve voiced aloud
the pain that they must always bear
has now become a source of shame
which further stifles any hope
for their plight ever to be spoken
which in turn allows for the abuse they’ve suffered
to persist perpetually
until they’ve broken

And for now
which you have as much as acted
as a type of willful co-conspirator

If you figure this to make them somehow less
then let us put it in your terms
so you can be the bigger person
which you then can ~prove~
by showing them that you refuse
to treat them like they’re worthless

Society has ever shown
that pain and suffering not known
to others is routinely thrown aside
its victims left alone

If we refuse to stand up tall
while watching others take the fall
we truly have forsaken all
and yet we dare to have such gall
to act as though we’ve any merit
whilst diminishing the spirit
of the hurt whilst acting
as though we ourselves are bold and fearless

HEAR THIS!

If you’re to know of courage
it won’t come from the disparaging
of those who’ve bravely faced such horror
life cannot replace
and yet you wear upon your face
a smirk so smug of such disgrace

Instead of wasting so much time
perfecting mindless schoolyard rhymes
that aim to somehow thus define
your status in the social climb

It’s best if you perhaps would try
to rise above the bottom line
and speak to others
words with kindness
in your heart
not by design
nor pantomiming words so cruel
that leave you looking like the fool
who disregards the circumstance
of extrinsic experience

Of these pleas do I grow weary
for they seem to breed contrary feelings
from the heartless egos
people cannot seem to let go

Understand that any time
you place regard for others behind
your own arbitrary wants
and then proceed to poke and taunt them
it will only ever serve to reveal
your own heart perverted
when such pain can be averted
you choose simply to desert them

The courtesy of politesse
is no longer of interest
for if you hear these words and balk
then I insist

thou must fuck off!