The Walking Wounded
The bulk of them are on their phones, of course,
Their eyes amused at times, at times intent,
__But mostly pretty dead.
There was a time when life around them meant
__Something, had warmth and force,
But now it’s something clicked upon and read.
And others as they pass seem lost in thought,
Though thought is largely absent: they’re just lost:
__In anger lost, in grief;
In memories whose borders can’t be crossed;
__In lessons never taught
And credos that are really unbelief.
And then there are the homeless, silent sad
Or mumbling mad in all their urgency.
__Their lives are antonym
To ours we tell ourselves consistently
__As we, far better clad,
Go mumbling to the office or the gym.
Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Agape Review, America Magazine, Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, U.S. Catholic, Grand Little Things, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and various venues of the Benedictine monastery with which he is an oblate. He is editor of the Catholic Poetry Room page on the Integrated Catholic Life website.
The Walking Wounded’ by Essman is superb.
It reasonates with all of Society or whats left of it!