Sharp Edges
by Michael Doyle

The last eight years have been like a thrown gauntlet
Between the sadness and anger, it's been a punch in the gut
That serves best to divide this nation and world's minds
It is as if we've left our optimism too far behind

It is well publicized and has left a devastating impression
With all the murder, hate, and rising rate of depression
Drugs, alcohol, and suicide all push this world's despair
And it seems to me that we've forgotten how to repair

This growing and stark sense of ever-expanding alienation
When every mother's child cries out in their desperation 
Sick and twisted, like some kind of murder in slow emotion
It leaves me wondering about easier times filled with devotion

But it is Hell today when no one really knows others very well
And when we pick to settle in, we only find the Devil's details
Hanging by a thread, wondering when did America grow so mean
Let's slide past the venom trail and remember again to dream

This age reeks of menace and accusations of loutish conspiracy
Radio terror bleats its hatred mixed with heated hypocrisy
It's the polarization of the weak but loud, given a microphone
That shouts into the streets that we are born to be alone

Political dysfunction undergirds a wave of angsty anxiety
With hate-filled social media driving all of us a bit crazy
Most of this is self-inflicted and leaves us miserably alone
Not because we have to be, but from choices that we must atone

Instead of being self-righteous and loathingly hypocritical
Which among the publicly moralistic is not so very atypical
Maybe we should walk this walk back toward needed humility
Treating others as if it's okay to remember their dignity?

(c) December 28, 2023   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved