shrug of
silence
by Roberto Lavidez
there is
something
in man
capable of
overcoming
the most
abject miseries
nothing great
has ever been
accomplished
without courage
and lucidity
being able
to foresee
all the
consequences
of an act
placing the
desired result
beyond the
realm of
possibility
it does not
arise in some
intellectual
intuition
or theatrical
deduction or
pretensions of
the operations
of formal
understanding
we refuse
to let ourselves
to be torn
between the
thesis and
antithesis
discouraging
reinvention
of the wheel
as a square
or triangle
but there is
no answer still
to the final
question about
how we reach
absolute
knowledge or
any example
of the
incomprehensible
with all
the errors
contradictions
and hesitations
that such a
confrontation
at the theoretical
level implies
there is just
an unbelieving
shrug of silence
as no one
ever claimed
that life
is easy
reducible
to the
metaphysics
of presence
©robertolavidez2014
despised
and desired
by Roberto
Lavidez
in order
to survive
one must
want to
survive
the essence
of power is
to be able to
make things
happen
in this world
which exists
only in our
conception
people can be
emotional
and far too
irrational to
be entrusted
with delicate
matters
meeting
the basic
human need
for dignity
and meaning
such as
the evidence
confronting
anyone with
open eyes
they gamble
away
the sun in
a night
as if hell
was so very
far off
crank doctrines
continue to
flourish
providing
overall
intellectual
integration
for disparate
actions
at dizzying
heights of
abstraction
theories have
appeared with
the passage
of time
each jostling
the others for
the spotlight
ideas flash
through
the brain
penetrating
consciousness
in a mired
meditation
on life
love
old age
death
everything
is remembered
by the
poor soul
tormented
by his
tumultuous
instincts
ones that
are despised
and desired
at the
same time
©robertolavidez2014
into the
deepest mire
by Roberto Lavidez
in a world
without
absolutes
wisdom
degenerated
until it
gradually sank
into the
deepest
mire of
monkish
superstition
and ignorance
there was
the aggression
not of anger
but of despair
the aggression
of loneliness
the end of
which one
could not
possibly
foresee
with roots
exposed
like claws
crept up
the sand
like crabs
penetrating
the rhetorical
fog that has
engulfed
the issue
life to some
is dependent
on sunlight
to others
upon darkness
reminding one
of his greatest
guilt in all
sorts of
extenuating
circumstances
which have
become
rationalizations
for uncertainty
in reaction to
the challenge
of the radicals
that we must
seek for
the key to
the great
mysteries
of humanity
more than
mere knowledge
in the realm of
abstract thought
to create
the basis for
compromise
perhaps
there is some
small comfort
in that
the idea of
not having
lived at all
or having
to die
far from
being complete
in the miserable
remnants
of books
is sabotage
that's what it is
because nature
doesn't know
how to make
dead people
come alive
©robertolavidez2014
the bored
man
by Roberto Lavidez
the bored man
reduced to
a mere means
to a replaceable
magnitude
finds out that
he is bored
ventures
momentarily
beyond the
bounds
of reason
stretches
his mind
until it
falls apart
in idiocy
the problem
looks to be
especially
acute
grounded
on something
that is
non-contingent
associated
with a great
logical muddle
miscalled
an irresistible
impulse and
therefore
uncontrollable
if it is thwarted
it will bulge
or leak
or mutate
through the
cracks
the product
of neither
wild probability
nor divine
action
he debates
about the
source and
content of
his morality
a victim of
a false and
distorting
perception
of the world
a vapour
a drop
of water
is enough
to kill him
he arises
like a
budding
yeast and
breaks off
absent-
mindedly
pondering
as the frontier
of ignorance
has been
reached
he inculcates
the trick of
reasoning
in silent
soliloquy
he forgets
his beginning
eternal as
the universe
itself
thus unsoundly
allowing
the nonsense
conclusion
to be drawn
©robertolavidez2014
we are all deserters
by Roberto Lavidez
it was like
a dream
when you are
a little child
always full
of lively
chattering
and laughter
thoughts had
great trouble
merely becoming
spoken or
written words
the present
did not exist
and the future
was inconceivable
everyone was
walking around
unfiltrated by
the forms
of sense
exertions
produced only
a parody
of strength
there wasn’t
panic
there wasn’t
fear
there wasn’t
desperation
as songs
of birds
collided with
the cackle
of baboons
there was the
element of
the mystical
and the bizarre
in the
phenomena
of this world
of vain effort
and illusory
appearances
so now
you have to
wonder about
the role of
false memory
and delusion
we are
all deserters
all shams
more or less
throughout
our lives
everything
decays
wears out
dreadful
outcomes
seem to be
connected to
a warped idea
of divine justice
compatible
with the
mental disorder
of passionate
sorrow
if there is
nothing good
left in the
destiny of
a person
he or she
will die
as flames
danced
with the
afternoon
breeze
swaying
as if
in agony
©robertolavidez2014
navigating
the
rationale
by Roberto Lavidez
if we made
our point
clearer than
centering the
meaninglessness
of the creation
and destruction
of the universe
which would
supersede
all the lame
and broken
efforts to treat
the fragments
of reality
one by one
both deep and
subtle enough
to promote
questions
that there is
no ultimate
truth to be
arrived at
only different
perspectives
about what is
going on below
the apparently
innocuous surface
of everyday life
in which all
our hopes
like trapped
butterflies
end up struggling
too intermingled
to be caught and
pinned down
ambiguous
combinations
of good and evil
wisdom and folly
involving
abstractions that
remove us from
the everyday
abundance
of life
we must learn
to navigate the
rationalization
of human
brain power
and energy
the curious blend
of cold realism
and youthful
idealism
between necessity
and choice which
are transforming
individuals into
the transcendental
realm of mystic life
without completely
losing touch
with reality
if we made
our point
built upon
shared
responsibilities
and aspirations
rather than
indulged in
self-absorbed
and neurotic
fantasies
where the
hunting instinct
was stronger than
the appreciation
of beauty or mercy
©robertolavidez2014
implacable
impression
by Roberto Lavidez
there’s a
conflict in
every human
heart
in the
everyday
sense of the
mind’s eye
implacable
like printed
words
on the
knife-edge
dividing the
ancient world
from the
modern
evolving into
a state of
permanent
and endemic
crisis which
concerns our
innermost and
authentic being
an expression
of experience
by experience
holding trifles
of life in
derision
fascinating
as it was
repulsive
as exhilarating
as it was sad
as tender
as it was cruel
bourne beyond
the hurt and
harm of man
from initial
innocence
and curiosity
through
confusion
feeding the
fear and
misery
of those who
must watch
the nightmarish
hanging of
men from
bare trees
among the
slurred
consonants
and the flat
vowels
of the land
there is no
shortcut
around
this thing
as war goes on
in the distance
receptivity
of the senses
is very much
at stake
we cannot
tolerate
a mere chaos
of impressions
to consider
grievances is
incontrovertible
but the
disruption of
the psyche
and the
backdrop of
a darkening
world
is more
noticeable
as if the puppet
in the midst of
the scene
had gone astray
within itself
uncertainties
squandered
on ignorance
a fact forgotten
as it succumbs
to mind’s
insistence that
it be neither
true nor false
©robertolavidez2014
