Meddlers

 

 

Busybodies, they are here, there

and everywhere. Vigilant

to a fault in ferreting out

instances where they can intervene

knowingly proffering

an unsought solution to an

absent problem. Quite possibly

these are insecure personalities

seeking attention even admiration

certainly affirmation that what

might elude others is plain

to their way of thinking. They

have all the answers to all

the questions that bedevil society

quite aside from the fact that

no one has sought their opinion

and when it's given it is viewed as

an inappropriate and irritating

addition to a situation viewed as

quite complete as it is. They flatter

themselves as philosophers. Those who

prefer civility will grimace and pass on

while others with justification will

plainly reject the gratuitously smug

interference with a well-chosen

phrase of contempt. Perhaps we see

in ourselves a glimmer of the very same

predilection successfully subdued

a discomfiting awareness of a

similarity between ourselves and the

maddeningly insistent bore society

collectively holds in contempt.

 

 

Definition of a Jerk

 

This is a message

to the anonymous bicyclist

who bristled at being named a jerk

and then went on to diligently

prove that he wore the

descriptive with distinction

when he refused to give way

and permit two elderly

strollers along a forest path

to resume their blocked perambulation

preferring to have them stand

before him while he argued

unpersuasively that he most certainly

failed to fit the model of a jerk

because he had slowed down

considerately, he emphasized

and murmured excuse me

and his close passage did not warrant

being labelled a jerk even though

the one who credited him with

that soubriquet alerted his

companion seconds before 

she was likely to become a casualty

of an impending collision.

You are the sow's ear

that the term fits like a silk glove.

 

 

Forbidden

 

This is your government/s calling. Not to 

seem impolite but there are certain verities

now to be emphasized in a sudden new world 

we have inherited. Your mucous membranes

are your very own affair. Keep it that way. 

Lubricating emissions from facial orifices 

whether by song or sage advice are no longer 

part and parcel of social fare. The dulcet tones 

of your voice must henceforth be muted -- at 

a distance. Verbal dexterity is admirable and 

texting is its mode of transfer. Do not abridge 

the distances recommended. Do not have the 

temerity to disobey health authorities and 

municipal bylaws for the penalties will be 

swift and painful. You may remain in the 

comfort of your home surrounded -- or not 

-- by meaningful others. You may not exit 

that domicile other than for vital affairs which 

must be brief and necessary. Furthermore 

we regret to inform you that access to various 

venues are off limits for ... the duration. Gyms

public parks, pubs and restaurants, hairdressers

golf, sport arenas, concert halls, museums, art

galleries, libraries, colleges and schools. There

are rules to be followed. You are not to gather

but you may contact us when you see others

that do. You must not: have a heart attack

contract cancer, be seized with a stroke, feign

appendicitis -- for our hospitals have geared for a

crisis. On the other  hand you may become

infected with COVID-19 in which case you

will be welcomed at your local hospital

emergency room. Be well, stay safe. Over and

out.Your faithful servants, here to help you.

 

 

Twilight

 

As though aware 

of its role as intermediary

twilight enters cautiously

assuming nothing

leaving assertiveness to its successor

knowing diplomacy as an

asset. At first unnoticed

it insinuates itself

between a day of sun and warmth

...this spring day so pleasurable

to those populating the landscape...

and the unknown darkness

of night. The transition

ripe with the stealth of guilt

depriving all who note the dismay

of another day gone

to make way for night

while twilight

slinks away 

its assigned task

skillfully completed

no hard feelings

simply doing its job

sinking day into night.

 

 

The Great Few

 

They are vanishingly few 

in number yet their will-o-the-wisp

presence illuminates the world

as does the sun bursting

behind dark clouds

those dark clouds a metaphor

for humanity's dense and dark

unwillingness to open

itself to the light of reason

choosing instead the ever

renascent sinister dim corridors

of ignorance. Those shining stars

with their clarity of vision

each brought humanity closer

to an end-goal of thought

and action unobscured by a web

of suspicion and hostility 

hoisting the occupants of the

world toward the pinnacles

of science, philosophy and art

selflessly using their genius to

benefit all before their bright light

of being expired. While they are

venerated for their exceptionalism

exalted above the common man

the burden of civilization

time and again exhausts the great

uncommitted in a conflicted

balance of self and the other

building once again the pyre of

hateful bile singeing no one's

conscience in a world aflame.

 

 

Abject Grief

 

Grieving complete with accusations

of suboptimal care for the

elderly. Not an instance of

familial elder-abuse in the usual

sense, however ... rather a family

decision to farm out care

for a beloved senior

someone's father

someone's grandmother

for this is an era when the aged

dread the inevitable. Not in

this instance only the inevitability

of growing old and infirm

but the family council's decision

that none among them has the

time and empathy to spare

to invite a beloved father or mother

or both to live among them directly

in the family home for there are so

many distractions in life calling

for attention and aspirations to be fulfilled

let alone duties to one another and one's

offspring, there is no room nor

patience to spare offering a respite

to white hair and curved spine.

There is huge profit to be gained

by entrepreneurs offering TLC

by ill-paid attendants trained to

empathize with family and proffer

necessities to the vulnerable aged

in this new era of loving neglect

when the responsibility of infectious

death can be laid at the doorstep of 

care homes, bereaved families beating

their breasts with outrage that their

dearly beloveds' needs were failed by

others ... their trust betrayed 

just as they betrayed their elders'. 

Introspection

 

In all fairness, in point of fact actually the greatest

likelihood in the answer to your inner-directed

query is that yes, there have been insurmountable

barriers, the very emotional distance erected

between yourself and others that have dictated

over the years none may enter the inner sanctum

of your privacy. Not that you ever harboured

intention to shut yourself away from others

nor be as gracious and social to others as you

expect civil people to be. Your sense of self

is that of an introvert willing to be socially

compliant while spurning a more robust and

open invitation to others to feel comfortable in

your presence. You too much value the comfort

you find in your own mind while assessing the

mindset of others, finding them wanting on all

but rare occasions. So vanishingly rare that one

person alone ever qualified for the open position

of soulmate and with that presence none others

might apply even for lesser appointments. Well

then little wonder is it, that you feel a palpable

coolness in a long-familiar voice, someone you

once fantasized would become an intimate, a

friend sharing like values. For in fact this woman

who married your son is as remote as you have

always been. She too inherited that gene of 

psychological seclusion, comfortable in her own

choices, one of which is maintaining distance

discretely, courteously but firmly from you.