Masquerade In the dreams and potential of youth, tomorrow holds shining avenues of success and adventure. The heart is full of compassion and optimism. And then, since idealism is mocked in the halls of maturity and tenderness frequently deemed impractical, the pursuit of security and acceptance brings about disillusionment and the gradual demise of innocence. Time and again, caught up in the momentum of modern life, there is the rupturing of the heart. And so preservation instincts arise, hardening the exterior and perfecting the mask. The mask serves us well - so pleasantly suitable. If the spirit should scream, have a drink. If the soul should grieve, take a pill. Just smile… the numbness will come. And now… what lingers of you or me? And what is the disguise?
The mask serves us well - so pleasantly suitable. If the spirit should scream, have a drink. If the soul should grieve, take a pill. Just smile… the numbness will come. My favorite part! This is very fine writing. --QP
Abby Hoffman used to say that nostalgia is just another form of depression (he meant too much of it of course). On the other hand, I think much maturity is just rationalizing the fact that we are dying of apathy-quitting transform itself through fear into "wisdom" No bigger graveyard than dying middle-class clinging to scraps of their former "prosperity" As hopeless as I often feel, I don't quite know whether this is a function of my own psychic design or the zeitgeist of the age or a combination of both-but don't all prisoners have faith in a key. I love where this poem is going; I think you could make the lines a little punchier or shorter; or expand them to whitmanesque length-but keep thinking about the nothing "selves" we strangely want to disguise. Maybe the guilt a sell-outs mask is ultimately designed by, will drive us over the obstacle of fear-driven preservation. Maybe...
You may be right. One thing is true about my mask, the older I get the less I pull it out. Some people think I'm strange and outspoken, but their opinion of me just doesn't hold the weight that it used to... lol. We have to at least TRY to stretch beyond the trammels of this modernity. Beyond what Max Weber called, "the disenchantment of the world." I believe it is possible to pursue personal growth until we eventually can find the meaning in things again. Thanks for your critique, I appreciate your suggestions and will give them consideration.
