How Are You?

“I’m fine, thanks. And you?”

Is the common lie

We tell in search of shared illusion

Where bills aren’t due

And love is true

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Is the myriad world of pain

Found from a thousand wars

Against realities too large to vanquish

“I’m fine,”

Is the chorus of dying dolls

As their voices fade

In pull-string echoes

On a cardboard cutout stage

“And you?”

A steady accusation

In the ready-made role

Of those who perish

“And you?”

Brutus

Another hero laid to waste

By deaf-friend ears

Unable to listen

Over the din of the day to day

Though life drains out

From unseen wounds

Unquenched by

“How are you?”