*****
Recorded Reading: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gisx2826ustebjk/caught.mp3?dl=0
*****
caught
in the sucking grip
of ego
not really your fault
everyone points to it
for “success”
your tv
your radio
your FaceLook
all of them
point
unceasingly
to
ego
now you’re
stuck
all of your attention
is on your own face
all your interest
in your own gestures
mannerisms
tones
the question
is my character developing
in the direction
of he whom i admire
has been replaced
in our spirits
by the question
do i look
like that ad
act
like that sitcom
outshine
my best friend
in the eyes
of people i don’t care about
no longer is it
am i worthy
now it’s
am i
hot
caught
stuck
your attention riveted
not by your-self
you despise that
no
it’s all
about
your mask
how…
uncomfortable!
how boring
mundane
unnatural
how it blocks you
from rejoicing
in the beauty around you
always asking
am i more
beautiful than that
no magic can reach you
past your busy
calculations of
appearance
playing petty
parlor games
in the drab anterooms
of all the sparkling
palaces of the universe…
when you’re ready
good and ready
sick to your stomach
of inhabiting the barren sterile
loveless friendless lands
to which you are brought back by ego
again and again
and again
in an
endless
feedback
loop
of increasingly
jaded
disillusionment
there is
a way out
you say you
want to know
what it is?
naaah.
you’re just curious
ready to curl that
jaded lip
like the young lord
in that one movie
(did you do it right?)
no, you say
you’re ready
ready for something real
an unguarded moment
free
to rejoice
in all the gifts that grace
your every single day
lost in love
among people
who are capable
of love also
not cruising
like so many baracudas
waiting for
one mili-moment
of graceless
unscripted
fatal
indecision
you’re ready
to run
with the wind
barefoot
happy
free
well
okay
i’ll give it to you
then we’ll see
whether you mean
what you say
or are just posing
some more
here it is…
sure you’re ready?
listen, then:
for one
moment
forget
about
your
false
self
get
really
truly
genuinely
completely
interested
in the person
across from you
that’s
the whole
thing
inanutshell
*****
This poet is physically disabled. Public housing being insufficient to her medical and creative needs, she is presently living, in order to continue working, in her minivan, publishing all of her works using one thumb on the touch screen of her smartphone, at an income of a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. She would treasure any donation you might care to offer ~ http://www.UgiftABLE.com ● #72D-31S
*****
Troubador of Verse 