Unmissable - for Peter

This poem was written after years of watching my brother, Peter, trying to forge a place in the world for himself. He struggled with depression, with above-average-ness and with being misunderstood. Some might say he lost that struggle - I think otherwise...

Unmissable
Yet unnoticeable.
I see you.
Tender is off
Your agenda,
Gentle giant
Turned defiant,
Society
Didn’t respect your piety:
Wanted more variety.
Put off
When they scoffed.

Conformity
Was absorbency,
Sponging,
Plunging you
Deeper into
Their conditions,
Darker seemed
Your ambitions,
The harder
They tried,
The faster
You defied,
The further
You sank
Down, down, down
The rank.

Rebelled
Or repelled?
Depressed
Or repressed?
Your affliction
Or society’s contradiction?
Expecting
But never accepting
Infecting
But never deflecting
Wanting
But never giving
Dying
Without really living.

Disappointed
By the disjointed
Frustrated
By the futile,
You feel fragile,
Intimating the intimate
But you’re intimidated
Instead of love
War,
Instead of fun
Bore,
Instead of respect
Neglect,
Instead of life
Strife.
You suffer
Through a buffer,
Content with discontentment,
You strive for nothing more
Than being alive.

Your potential
Is exponential
I wish you could see
How great you could be
If you’d let yourself
Do more than just mess yourself
Up.
You could erupt, escape
From the deep, dark depths,
Find the hero inside you
And muster the strength
To be happy,
To be free,
Come and live
On the fun side
(With me! :) )

Binned

I
Men, brave, sneak in
War, waged on exposed woman
Unarmed man shot. Killed.
Buried at sea
(Conveniently)

Hurrah!


II
The Pied Puppet leads the march
Justice has been done
God bless America!
For justice, for taking life
For killing another’s wife.
An eye for a lie

The Pied Puppet mesmerizes
The crowd
Cries and raises
Their banner - star-spangled
Freedom sneaks
And bravery strangles

The Pied Puppet proclaims:
"Truth - take it and eat!
It may turn the stomach sour
But it will taste honey-sweet"

III
Defeated.
Who?
Enigmatic enemy
Flesh pounded
Aromatic tale, like
Pentagonal cordite

Demagogues point
True North;
Though navigating by that compass
May lead in fool circles

Spin into control
Of - by - for the people
but which people?
Those more equal?

All the world's a stage
And all the people in it
Merely being played.