the little stories
by Roberto
Lavidez
little people of
different class
and different
ideology
busy with their
own lives and
their everyday
problems
undaunted by
what might
have looked
to others as
an ignominious
departure
renouncing
the nostalgia
and the desire
to coincide
to be digested
and absorbed
in a mosaic
that shows
marks of haste
gross carelessness
and universal
feebleness
assimilation
obnoxious
to a free
community
remained fraught
with tensions
and constant
struggle
evidenced a
mentality that
harkened back
to the past and
experienced
sadness
the way the lion
assimilates
the lamb
when he eats
him
assimilation
venturing into
a grandiose
circularity
where no one
can undo
in his lifetime
the results of
centuries of
exploitation
and violence
it continues
to turn toward
that which it
seeks to escape
it continues
to come up
behind itself
a lifelong
discourse of
grievance
each pirouette
is in its twirling
only the mark of
another pirouette
totally other
and yet the same
the process of
lifting up people
the bestowing
of benefits
upon the needy
the weak and
the backward
these are all
reflected from
the perspective
of assimilationists
the benefactors
and writers of
the little people
©robertolavidez2014
deer life
by
Roberto Lavidez
life is
too short
the book
is too long
riddled with
repetitions
unintentional
rhymes
jangles
even solecisms
a vast
progressive
tide of
humanity
symptomatic
of the
degradation
of energies
but like all
bad stuff
it is conjured
with eagerness
and passion
deluding us
into thinking
that we are
in control of
our choices
as cynical reality
steadily usurps
and degrades
the main character
divesting him
of his once
rampant
creativity
by the
imposition
of a
universal diet
in which
colors
are made
uniform
locked
into rhythms
of the
native ennui
unable
to generate
an understanding
of who you are
and where
you are
in the world
the look
a combination
of fear
confusion
and chagrin
on the
author’s face
told the
whole story
like distant
echoes on
the wind
of reported
history
pretending
to be not
alarmed
by its
apparent
incomprehensibility
the unwillingness
to embrace
experiment
which might
contribute
shock waves
and celebrate
the stubborn
ambiguity of
unpleasant
things
what is radical
and pure
becomes
tainted and
familiar
sees changes
as threat
denouncing it
as obnoxious
repugnant
detestable
repulsive
revolting
as a
claustrophobic
nightmare
the reticence
and constraint
makes him
a remnant of
a vanished age
he is frozen
in panic
like a deer
caught in the
headlights
of an
oncoming
truck
©robertolavidez2014
uncommon doxa
by Roberto Lavidez
neither assuming
that he knows
right from wrong
nor the very
distinction
between internal
and external
turning the
inside out
and letting
the outside in
the unwary
and uncritical
neither seeing
pale shadows
of reality amid
vertiginous play
of reflections
nor believing
knowledge
without any
substance but
a modification
that gives new
bent and twist
to the same
we all resemble
people lost
in the dark
stumbling
inexcusably
always making
plenty of
missteps
neither involving
convergences
nor clashes
evident in
the inexorable
rhythms of
history
society’s
corruption
and despair
the obstacles
that impede
knowledge
the shortness
of human life
and all proper
affection lay
vanquished
only a more
powerful
sky deity
could keep
the monster
of sterility
and death
within
its bounds
and keep
Socratic
homilies
from
descending
into the
ridiculous
neither
damaged
souls
nor stained
by their
earthly
experiences
could reduce
ancient gods
to venerable
fables or
metaphysical
personifications
of natural forces
man fixes
his gaze on
the things of
the eternal and
unchanging order
neither giving
something straight
a new bent
nor inclination
nor twist
he was taught
that he was born
and must remain
unfree and unequal
by something
immobilized
and notoriously
susceptible to
graceful rhetoric
and to pity
neither speaking
one’s mind
nor taken seriously
neither responding
nor opening up
nor contributing
to recapitulating
human existence
he ponders
the origin of evil
the will of god
and the drama
of creation and
salvation
by the same
token
he maintains
the position
contrary to
reason and
experience
and ends up
being a bastard
or an orphan
to the what
he suspects as
common belief
©robertolavidez2014
floating
in a void
by Roberto
Lavidez
what a
labyrinth
is the
human head
that one
cannot make
certain of
the truth
indignant
with rage
and fueled
with an
almost
maniacal
sense of
self-
importance
unmindful
of own past
misadventures
pronounced
them rather
quixotic
it seems
no longer
to have any
basis of
its own
and to
float in
a void
without
recognizing
the actual
series of
events as
they
happened
it is altogether
a matter of
indifference
at a certain age
how one is
launched
into
eternity
it is far
from knowing
even in an
approximate
way
the nature
of man
and societies
pieces of
the plot
do not
appear
to fall
into place
or the course
of history
might have
followed
a different
course
the bond
which unites
the cause
to the effect
is reciprocal
to an extent
regardless of
the human
suffering
caused
by the one
and the
human
advantages
offered
by the
other
one
could
be driven to
imbecility
in such
a milieu
like
nonentities
concocted
according to
university
recipes
are useless
in practice
theories so
completely
entangled
with one
another
that it is
not easy
to perceive
where one
begins and
the other
finishes
there appears
to have
something
of a turf war
inside the
head of
professorial
riff-raff
to take
control
of its
brain cells
without
subtle
ingenuity
of mind
the most
senseless
misapplication
of human
effort
is the
complete
nonsense
that contributes
to a sense
of social
solidarity
©robertolavidez2014
giving birth
to oneself
by
Roberto Lavidez
the world
is being
sundered
between
two poles
one is held
by the
powerful
the other
is left to
the powerless
the idea of
man’s dignity
and power
the idea
of man’s
worthlessness
and nothingness
have become
enmeshed in
a net of means
and have lost
sight of ends
falsifying history
in a way that
has served
the people
in power
while
silencing
those who
have suffered
injustice
swept along
relentlessly
by the wind
unable to hold
onto any ground
experiencing a
blackness like
an empty sky
shrouded in
utter darkness
the horizon
of change
is circumscribed
producing songs
that reflected
the rage
of those who
began to feel
increasingly
marginalized
greed is not
as is often
assumed
rooted in
man’s animal
nature but
in his mind
and imagination
suppression or
indulgence
in it
would be man’s
alternative
the comprehension
of the naked
awareness
within which
everything
is contained
man’s main
task is to
give birth
to himself
he must be
his own
watchdog
recognizing
evil and
using his will
to fight it
he could
choose to
live the
hidden
and austere
life of an
ancient
contemplative
where all
these things
around us
go away
seeing life
and death
as if
in the palm
of the hand
all substances
are false
and untrue
a mirage
in which
the universe
evolves and
disintegrates
one phenomenon
arises and
another stops
as wild waves
rise and sink
back into the
calm of the
ocean
©robertolavidez2014
