Mirror Image
some find joy
in buddha swag
in overspending
on winding paths and
perennial gardens
the happiness
of others is in red
hats and gold coins
minted with
the king's deceiving face
you say to me
in fervent rebuttal
that these choices
are not the same
that i am guilty
of facilitating
a false equivalence
of morals
steadfast perhaps
you are
in your belief
that you alone
can summon angels
to lift the stone
*
what flavor i might ask
do you prefer your savior
more kin
to desert
than to sea
a lonely mountain
where ancient oceans
long ago subsided
an empty ark
once paired with life
now abandoned
on jagged rocks
an immigrant prone
to rage
and violent acts
quick to flail
the air and leave
a small part
of the world
beyond repair
a hero of
indeterminate race
hanging on a cross
perhaps you hope for one
who only does unto others
or have the deeply held
conviction the world
is better left with
no saviors ever
*
humanity
one hot mess
of imponderables
has it always been thus
does the craziness extend
to the entire plenum
would we be better
somewhere else
or gone forever
are we a small
evolutionary mistake
in a big space
or do we
as some theoretical
physicists suspect
make it all up
*
marvel from your small
speck of the planet
at the direction the arc of
our unnatural history twists
starving children
abandoned dogs
felled trees and
interminable wars
flashing on pixels
shot by who knows what
asking for cash
detritus piling up
like national debt
and days passing
like borrowed time
try all the while
to maintain a stoic face
a fanatic resolve to do
what you are told
god put you here to do
which if truth
is what you’re after
adds little more than
another piece of trash
upon the heap
*
if we are made
in the mirror image of god
then perhaps we are
looking at god backwards
what about a crawl
through the looking glass
to ask your soul
with all your passion
what you are here to be
to watch with open
eyes and hearts
to listen with
unclogged ears
and a mind free
of judgments
and pre- and
mis-conceptions
for the answer