SOMETIMES, I AM TIRED OF HIDING MYSELF AS A MAN
IN A SOCIETY THAT THINKS A MAN’S PAIN DOES NOT EXIST…
EXHAUSTED FROM FEELING LIKE I AM NOT ALLOWED MY TEARS…
CONFUSED ABOUT WHY,
IF WITNESSED IN THE PUBLIC’S EYES,
I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO CRY.
FRUSTRATED WITH THE THOUGHT THAT, AS A MAN,
I CANNOT SHED MY EMOTIONS
ON MY PARTNER’S SHOULDER.
PRIVATELY ENRAGED AT A SOCIETY
THAT THINKS VULNERABILITY IN A MAN
IS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS.
THINKING TO MYSELF,
“HERE I GO,”
WITH ANOTHER PERFORMANCE.
ANGRY AT HOLDING ON
TO A FALSIFIED SMILE
WHEN I’M HURTING.
SO AS I WRITE THIS POEM,
IT IS WRITTEN FOR ALL MEN—
A READING FOR YOUR HEARTS TO MEND.
AND KNOW
YOU HAVE PERMISSION
TO BE ALL VERSIONS OF YOURSELF.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
Parent presents herself as distressed, concerned, loving
Major caregiver to child who appears perpetually sickly
Child’s symptoms are exaggerated
Worse yet, sometimes falsified by mother
She might contaminate the urine samples
Child gets better in hospital until mommy dearest visits
What is happening?
Nurses are the first to suspect
Doctors do not want to think this way
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
A mental illness whereby a caregiver
Starves or poisons child
Sadly, many of them are health professionals
Wanting others to consider them saviors
As they save their child once again from the cliff of death
If a time and place is different
for them to fire off their weaponry,
to lie and win against a significant.
What keeps a similarity in liability,
to lie and win in a predicament
where skill is an absolute necessity?
Bold and without a last abatement,
I see through the lies of industry.
Bold and without a past abashment,
wouldn't be paid a cent currency.
Seen by gross pure aggrandizement,
violent potent a cologne adversary.
Laughably, an obvious despondent.
Is there no end to one so lairy?
A stone thrown, I notice your salient.
I won't resemble the tuning veeries.
Even no pruning, losing an assailant.
The truth is tied up in flimflammery.
Path set by the trying time rodent.
Cocky, peacocking varies ostentatiously.
Read past the first half constituent.
Go pass-through a proof for checkery.
Auction of nonsense falsified Rembrandt.
Author a snow cipher meeting misery.
What beauty is (to the geometrist),
has the shape of the Golden Ratio.
Beauty is courage, the defiant fist
of a protector fear can't overthrow.
Beauty, also, is Hector's promised vow,
to defend city, child, and princess bride.
What beauty is, moves Priam, to not show
his ire for Paris's treach'rous regnocide.
What beauty is not, is beauty falsified,
by artifice and insincere, harsh light;
what beauty is not, is show turned on worldwide,
that's streamed, displayed, and wirelessed day and night.
However, beauty is what frames your face:
which e'vn shames Helen of the Trojan race!
Oh say can you see blood soaked
Baltimore reeking of falsified documents
blood soaked levies oh say can you see
corruption over board Atta Mohammed
and Bin Laden brought to trial on this land
oh say can you see veterans crying while
domestic abusers dine in Caribbean pajamas
oh say can you see our beautiful flag torn
tatters lifted rasing all doubt as truth balance
gravity a surety of peace no organized crime
could ever devour with falsified documents
orchestrated to assist abusers and target
the victims of domestic violence oh say can
you see Francis Scott Key galloping over the
bridge chanting the red coats are coat they
came dear and falsified documents data breach
to harm disabled veterans and their families
waarheid thee uncharted endeavor of fraud and
waste have mercy on us and on the whole world.
And our Flag was still There .
falsified ashes
uncharacteristic dust
synthetic flashes
artificial wind blows rust
plainly felt when life goes bust
Because I'm gifted with your vast confidence
Because the past makes a better present tense
Because all our trust was built on confidence
Because handing you floral glass represents
Because your presence relaxes me when tense
Because finding caring and believing in one another was no coincidence
It must have hurt when you felt my permanence
It's very hard to find someone of substance
Remember you made the choice of consequence
Betrayed me tearing down our accomplishments
All the while frustrating me; providing reprehends
Believing your intuition; showed malevolence
You're just another form of falsified acceptance
I'm better off; our goodbye was of no consequence
For far too long I have denied myself a life of joy, prosperity, and the understanding that I too deserve happiness despite my mistakes
For countless years it seems I have mentally digested a falsified definition of who I am and allowed my potential to be malnourished-
feeding my mind with welcoming thoughts of unworthiness.
What of these thoughts of mine that encapsulated me?
What of these tangled webs of self-sabotage that stagnates my growth?
You see, there's power in the mind but that power could sway either way-
dominantly viewing ourselves with a positive perception or lack thereof.
However, between the two lies a balance of acceptance-
by embracing all of who you are;including the imperfections.
So, no more will I hide within the shadows of self-doubt-
holding me hostage, unable to step into the light
I dismiss the idea that I have nothing to offer the world
How dare me think less of who I am?
How could I be so oblivious to how special the powers that be have made me?
Of course, I'm not perfect. But who is?
Its my decision to be happy
It's my decision to LIVE!!!!
For far too long I have denied myself a life of joy, prosperity, and the understanding that I too deserve happiness despite my mistakes
For countless years it seems I have mentally digested a falsified definition of who I am and allowed my potential to be malnourished-
feeding my mind with welcoming thoughts of unworthiness.
What of these thoughts of mine that encapsulated me?
What of these tangled webs of self-sabotage that stagnates my growth?
You see, there's power in the mind but that power could sway either way-
dominantly viewing ourselves with a positive perception or lack thereof.
However, between the two lies a balance of acceptance-
by embracing all of who you are;including the imperfections.
So, no more will I hide within the shadows of self-doubt-
holding me hostage, unable to step into the light
I dismiss the idea that I have nothing to offer the world
How dare me think less of who I am?
How could I be so oblivious to how special the powers that be have made me?
Of course, I'm not perfect. But who is?
Its my decision to be happy
It's my decision to LIVE!!!!
For far too long I have denied myself a life of joy, prosperity, and the understanding that I too deserve happiness despite my mistakes.
For countless years it seems I have mentally digested a falsified definition of who I am and allowed my potential to be malnourished-
feeding my mind with welcoming thoughts of unworthiness.
What of these thoughts of mine that encapsulated me?
What of these tangled webs of self-sabotage that stagnates my growth?
You see, there's power in the mind but that power could sway either way-
dominantly viewing ourselves with a positive perception or lack thereof.
However, between the two lies a balance of acceptance-
by embracing all of who you are including the imperfections.
So, no more will I hide within the shadows of self-doubt-
holding me hostage, unable to step into the light and dismiss the idea that I have nothing to offer the world
How dare me think less of who I am?
How could I be so oblivious to how special the powers that be have made me?
Of course, I'm not perfect. But who is?
Its my decision to be happy
It's my decision to LIVE!!!!
Who is the master in this frivolous farm?
Crystalized chaos should cause some alarm.
Irrational ideas with no common ground,
Stifled by silence and its deafening sound.
Superior smirking with falsified pride,
Deceit of the rule book, which we must abide.
Glorified garbage, manipulation intact,
Forces at work amid the attack.
Crippling calmness disguising the deed,
Menacing caution that one must concede.
All-encompassing threats from the master at hand,
Conforming to pressure with repeated demand.
Ready to enter, the sheep tightly packed,
Pledging assurance, the odds are well stacked.
Damned are the stock with nowhere to go,
Just a floundering farmer with a poor cattle show.
03/07/2022
Keeper of the Flame
Edward Ibeh
Control elucidates your very needs
As her breath wisps you away
In a single plight.
You find yourself savory
With such delight.
As your needs are fulfilled
With a single grin.
Forgiven are the sins
She forces on you.
As security is essential
To your survival.
Withdrawn
Your will to flee.
Ever-growing
Your falsified love.
Regret is not in your vocabulary.
As her breath wisps you away
In a single plight.
- Caroline Youngless
07/26/2020
Today they believed the lies
the distorted truths… the accusations… and wrong-doing cries
the created fabrications which are easy to consume
conceptualizations and distortions… abundant and abloom.
Responsibility once assumed… but now rarely seen
reality now falsified… made convoluted… and obscene.
And the beat goes on….
as the mind is twisted
like that character… on Prodigal Son.
And while these false narratives appear
which the perpetrator wishes that all will embrace
the ego desperately asserts and manipulates
loyalty and trust is what it requires, and necessitates
but the soul is slaughtered… beaten… and no where to be found
and truth is tossed… lost… by perplexing theories which abound
while delusion….
leaves nothing but despair and mind confusion.
And life goes on….
the mind twisted
like that character… on Prodigal Son.
Glass of my life is with elixir of truth
I choose its pious bitterness
Over to the sweetness of lies,
To activate my neutral taste buds,
To irrigate dried cells of my throat,
To enlighten my naive soul,
To quench my thirst for life
I want to be true on reality of soil.
Let poison of truth eliminate illusion,
I choose its mercy on me
Over to storms of destruction,
To destroy specks of misconception,
To block veins, they flow through,
To remove flesh with faulty deeds,
To amend falsified becoming me,
For union with the honesty of soil.
Resourceful - conjuring bulk from brain brew
Remorseful - predictable poetry, spirit sinking
Perception - radically alters the same view
Pareidolia - open gate self driven thinking
Eradicate - enclosure - thwart cliche profanity
Enigma - drifts in layers of conciousness
Hallucinate - haunts the bridge adjoining sanity
Hypothosise - solidify vapour responsiveness
Fabricate - concocted charade materialised
Fantasy - unreal ideas give desperate relief
Establish - beyond bounds to tantalise
Erroneous - concealed, reveals new belief
Rampant written critters eat readers' expectations
Sabre tooth tigers exude from woodgrain exuberantly
Thumping words stir rainbow disco illumination
With sage persuasion, topic prospers convincingly
Slices of vivid visuals leave consumer inflicted
Scenarios spring suddenly, scorch on impact
Rage and rapture entwine, rapid zig zag ballistic
Buffed poem friction, grazed reader attacked
Written: 29th July 2020
Submitted for Contest: Pareidolia Poem
Sponsor: Craig Cornish
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