Autogyro

Reality war movies

The politicians write the scripts,
choose the locations
and cast the players.

The generals select the score
and direct the scenes
but they never seem able
to envision the ending.

The soldiers play the roles,
kill the children
and suffer the wounds.

No matter the outcome,
the politicians write
rave reviews.

Missed Instructions

I don’t remember when they handed out the instructions
on how to be a man. I may have been drawing or playing
with toys, but I never learned how to be brave
or competitive or seductive or persuasive or decisive.

I know what those qualities look like but I can never
seem to assimilate them into my persona.
They feel like clothes I will never grow into, a sport
I will never master and a language I will never speak.

Retirement Time Warp

Time simultaneously slows down and speeds up.

The days seem long even as the weeks fly by
and the months evaporate into years.
My memories are long evening shadows
cast behind me at the sunset of my life.

How many days, months, years are left
before the sun drops below the horizon
and my thoughts and accomplishments
fade into darkness?

Spiritual Illness

Our society is not well.

America has developed a spiritual
illness that is eating away
at our collective soul.

Our desires have become infected
and developed into a fever of
selfishness and self-entitlement.

Our lives must be filled
with continuous excitement,
indulgence and fulfillment.

Our avarice has become so great
that our pleasures overrule the
basic needs of other humans
with whom we share this planet.

There is no vaccine.