ON THE WAY DOWN . . .

by

Ed Matlack (edited by Bobbie Hess)

Caught up in a net of ignorance,

the annals of history portray a catharsis;

therefore,

the loss of resilience is beyond stretch ability

according more stupidity to leak out.

Bowled over by an avalanche of chagrin,

inestimable bounds are torn apart

exhilarated by fiords of anticipated grandeur.

Expectations are “HIGH”—

results are lashed to a gunwale of despair.

Before a reality becomes so,

so does a fantasy exhaust its patience,

resolutely bargaining with its peers.

Perhaps, though,

a northerly flow of frigid lava

is diverted southerly

before an admiring group of substandard princes.

There should be no advance for the poor,

nor retreading of the rich

that are not torn

from the roots of pleasurable kingdoms.

Except, maybe,

for an occasion lost penny,

everything is accounted for.

Beyond a derelict, there are more strays,

all bound up in living horror

and in need of an atlas for direction.

Wherefore are they going—

these anti-Nature characters?

Undetermined spots of instant heresy

procrastinating aboard foundering ships of state,

they await a fate of unknown proportions;

beyond which loose tiles of hope

slither down from above,

crashing into upsurges of material

brought again to life by banal authorities.

Strangle the throats of aboriginal beings

and subdue an ecstatic purchaser of life’s nominees;

before their will be no art of conquest

but that which is submerged in bitter fate.

There is no cause and effect

to trap an ear of redemption.

So,

how come the instrument of organization

is allowed to prosper?

The trustworthiness of the world

continues to be downtrodden,

baked in their own clay pots,

each of them killing each other.

They become extinct.

Is this the only way to cleanse the earth

of contemptible vice?