Television and movies
Cheapened amusements
leave ordinary people
increaingly mute
when it come to
expressing themselves

Behind the superficial
loud noises of drinks,
bonding, and laughter
struggle people so lonely
unable to articulate
their lost thoughts and feelings

Incapable of imagining beyond
restrictive common set pieces

The habits of caricature,
cliche, and typecasting
reduce our vocabulary
to exaggerated few words
routine canned gestures
repetitive slang phrases

Emotions from fear to
love and indifference
jealousy, envy, and awe
anger and hatred, but yearning
compassion and more -
generosity of spirit

All have a facial expression, hand
motions, demands for reduction

When sarcasm passes for
humor and mockery
is considered equal
to critical thinking
we move farther apart
poor words build high walls

All our humanity is
flattened, uninspired
unsaturated washed-out
numbing monochrome shadows
limited in scope, echoes
of dull cheaply-made noise

March 13th and 14th, 2021