Formula-Happiness
by Odin Roark

How insufferable
The world’s audience,
That species of intellect
Repeatedly duped by the heart,
Where the mediocrity of life’s closing curtain
Renders reason and logic
A shadowy demise...unfulfilled in the wings.

Our species’ stage of many opening acts,
Where once major hits of mindful reward and achievement
Increasingly experience shorter runs,
Where losses are exorbitant,
Patrons of thought and debate
Made to feast on spoon-fed nourishment,
While their conditioned clapping habit
Continues to support false hopes of escape.

How tragic might this lack of understanding be,
Avoiding the unavoidable global tragedy,
Choosing to wallow in laughter and song,
Denying the mind’s inclusion as partner to the heart?

Might we be but an audience of escapees,
A populace of care-nots,
Of solipsistic narcissists
Ready to perpetuate a fast beating heart’s demand
For the promised reward…
At any cost?

If formula-happiness overwhelms and silences our instinct to think,
Might we be missing something?