Poem: In the Kingdom of Invisible Threats

 

In the Kingdom of Invisible Threats

 

sly anxious heads

scramble in official indecency,

trapped and gruff

under a suffice of polite surface.

 

such neat, preened miens,

postured to deny any garland of greed;

as if the world turned on a daily smile,

and gutting the future was rational.

 

when not asked, they say,

yes yes yes,

a freudian slip,

obeisant and automatic,

as if the taste was intense.

lies can be toothsome 

if pretended not to be had

by those who inflict.

 

better to toe-kiss the haves

than the cesspool of the ruck.

peckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeckpeck

in a jangly tangle of texts.

and toss the rare honest thought

back into that prison of bland dooms,

far beneath you.

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4/26 ... editing along ... 

3/20/26 .. more eds, no surcease

8/1/25 changed a few words

7/1/25 ... heavy mods