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Take a Deep Breath, In Through the Nose


by Darryl Price


Now exhale, through the mouth. And know
this: I am the enemy of
your smugness, of your vanity,
and your deception. I am the

Beatle to your Rolling Stone and
the Rolling Stone to your Beatle.
I am the tear in the eye of
the elephant you tied up with

course rope and beat with hard sticks and
gouged with sharp hooks. I am every 
sad orphan's lonely name in a 

cruelly bound book in a locked and
polished cabinet. I'm every 
traumatized sea creature forced to 
live unhappily in a glass 

bathtub or die. I am Batman

to your Super man and his woman's 
master plan to leave us drenched

and starving behind the blocked gates  
of Eden. I'm the enemy
of your greedy lust for power.
I am the enemy of your 

pathetic self-righteous bullying
ways to engage with the rest 

of the world on a daily basis

through violence and intimidation.
I'm the enemy
of the terrible lies you invent 
to enslave the truth to money.

Your pretend patriotism
to a jealous god of wrath.
Your imitation of love's heart

and soul. I am the coral reef
to your reckless plastic dump on
everything that grows everywhere
on the blue planet. I'm rooted 

in guardianship of the sad 
trees murdered for your chimneys.
I am the bird to your slingshot.
The endless slingshot to your endless 

kite of endless war. I am
silence within to your laughing 
weakly at the voice inside your 

head. You think as long as you look 
good, you don't have to care about
anything uncomfortable.
I am the enemy of your 

pitiable nonsense, your barrage
 
of insults aimed at innocent
noises, and your humorless
fundamental philosophy 

meant to keep out the poor. I am
the enemy of believing
in angels, but failing to see 

how blinding a light can become
when it keeps us far away from 

our own deepest wisdom. I am 

just a simple man to your self- 
interest in wealth beyond our 
common ground as imperfect human
beings living in a material 

world. I am full of 
hopes and dreams, but none that would find
us engaged in looting spring azures.





 

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