Human Condition

You speak — again —

Expecting, hoping
An embrace
Touch
Understanding
Empathy, sympathy
Even a nod —
Acknowledgment

And what do you get
Criticism
Complaint
Condemnation

Every time

Even when you don’t speak
And just walk
Just sit

That’s what you get
Criticism
Complaint
Condemnation

Do you then speak —
Or don’t speak
Or just disappear

Disappear

That’s what you’re left
To do

Are you not
In the wrong place
At the wrong time
With the wrong person

Or are you
Being needy, wanting
Wishing what is beyond —
Outside of what the other
Can offer
Has

Even then —
Where do you go
What do you do
Stick around —
Or leave

Speak —
Or don’t speak
Sit —
Or walk

But this is nothing new
Is it

Is this not why there are pubs
Man-caves, sheds, garages outside
Is it not why there’s beer
Whiskey and drugs
Video games, movies, dramas
The endless scrolling

Is this not why there are dating apps
Workaholism, extreme sports
Affairs, red-light districts
Ashrams, rehab clinics
Self-help empires
Religious zealots
Political fanatics
Clubs, hobbies —
The billions
On social media
Every moment of every day

All the games of power
Professional obsessions
Displacements, projections
Regressions, sublimations —
The entire psycho-pharmaceutical-spiritual complex

The miseries
Of those trying to escape
From one place to another
On leaky boats, in oceans —

And of those
Bombed, brutalised and caged
Illegitimate children, family courts
Lawyers, police and judges
Prisons

Would a happy man —
Any happy man —
Who could talk
Was listened to
Without being
Condemned
And criticised —

Ever go out
To create such havoc

Is this disconnect
Not the root
Of it all

And must it be
Not so —

For there is not
Nor has ever been
Any possibility
Of connection

With another