James Moore Poet Narrative

Notes About The Poem

Soul Searching

Lately I’ve been wondering
What is it that brings up conflict
In my life.
I know it’s karma, the inescapable
Flow of effect from cause
But I don’t know what or when
That karma is.
The effect though reflects the cause
And that is enough to know.
Lately, only in the past few years,
My karma has been to receive slander
To be uncharitably misunderstood
And lied about,
And to have a slightly lynch-mob mentality
Break out amid former friends, 
Acquaintances and neighbors.
The effect is to feel outcast
And to want to yield to the flow
And go to the realm of outcasts
At least in my mind.
In my body I still resist,
Still defend my land and home
And reputation in whatever small ways I can.
But that doesn’t mean I understand it
Or even accept it.
The temptation is to go on the counter-offensive,
But what’s the good of that,
Fighting the flow of effect from cause
Trying to right a wrong
When everyone involved has their own web
Of karma, holding, supporting and binding them
In their own tangle of lies?
Maybe the way through 
Is simply to be through
With playing the game.
Not as a petulant child, taking their ball home
But as an old man too tired to get involved
Warmed and softened by the Sun
Resting just beyond care
As the sound of children patters in the background.

(8/8/26)

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