On my daily walks I am beyond

The inexorable reach of headlines

Months ago I left Facebook and

Made a cheap vow to ignore the gridlock

In our sorrowful culture

 

But the screams and charges sneak through

Like the guilt of a favorite character

Who comes face to face with her own complicity;

When grief came – seeping in

Around the edges of her being –

The openings she is unable to conceal  

 

Today, in my rented depression,

Grief dressed for battle and screaming

Hatred and death in the streets

Overshadows that

Overworked and overlooked

Emotion — love.

Loving one another should be so easy, right? 

Wrong.

Our hearts remain an

Unprofitable wilderness;

Barren, drought-stricken stretches

Of leather bent on

Destroying that which we

Cannot control

 

We all are simply the people we’d like to think we are –

We measure our goodness by what we

Don’t do

Like

Where we don’t

Go

Who we don’t

Include

 

And we fight inscrutable, defensive battles

All in service to the ego

Making us

Mechanical

Flavorless people

Unable to acknowledge

The alchemy of delusion