the blameless.

at the age of seven, he remembers witnessing
the ____________ display
caused by a man's pride
and the methods he used to maintain it.

through a kitchen window,
he nervously watches
the old man
yelling to prove his point -

man's miscalculated notion of power
through volume always amazed him.

the old man's glossy eyes
begins to speak with both hands in the face
of his wife trying to calm him.
she willingly takes his harsh words
which she would wash from her hands
once he was asleep.



by puberty,
he became conscious of excuses,
rationalization - as a method of
excusing the things
the things that needed to be take care of.
he became conscious
of every man's need to be right -
and its ability to manipulate
the truth.

hurting everything in its way.


and by today
he becomes conscious of how pride,
blame, rationalization, and in our inability to be wrong
can strip the worth from us, inferiors...


he quietly watches selfishness fill their lungs

and

his,
as well.