Poetry

Fear The Jungle

I have had no form lately.
No way to move ideas past
fleeting images and pass
them through to paper.

It's not that I have been unfocused but rather my thoughts seem to be
deriving from an extreme-concentration
driving on, continuing on.
With that close in mind I cannot stop
to write. If I do stop the thoughts
continue and there is no hope for me
to remember. My mind does not remember.
Which may be the only kindness to myself.
The beauty of forgetting is that you can
see something anew each time you see it.
I walked through the streets
today as a tiger. This
jungle was my domain and
I had a presence. One
that people feared and
I questioned whether,
in the jungle, the
instinct of survival
would be so strong and
necessary that I can
succeed in any endeavor.
Realizing that by doing so
I had people at my command
and that perhaps this is
the way that I should live.
This jungle is not easy. I
searched for the commonality
between myself and the other
tigers.

Some think the commonality is the pain of life
that this is a condition of the tiger. Some
think that it is our existence and our ability
to influence one another. But I know better.
I know that it is only that we are alive and even
that can be questioned.
I find myself tense from the hunting. My
shoulders began to ache
and I was feeling more pretentious than superior.
That is when it hit me
"I was hunting but was
not hungry." Hunting
without hunger is more
like fear and a tiger
does not fear. He is
relaxed and confident
and when he needs to
hunt he is not tense
but focused.

Can I possibly be a tiger and do what I want in this jungle without stepping on another tigers paw. Why
should I even worry about their paws? These are my
thoughts as I size up the other tigers. I move on
when they are fiercer and stand strong when I was
the force that they should fear. When I view the
human species I see them in one of two ways.
1. looking for attention in anyway they can get. This
gives them confidence that what they are doing is
valid and worthy. This gives them the attention
they need from the acceptance of others to continue
on and this leads them deep into the oceans, deep
into the paws of a tiger because they are not trusting
their own instincts but the encouragement of others.
This keeps them on top of the other human's at least
all those that are in agreement and accept this.
I see this pattern growing stronger and stronger while
people are learning of larger and greater ways to gain
attention. More intelligent abilities to gain
attention on a smaller scale as well. These can range
from large scale publication to loud voices in an
enclosed space. 2. When they are not working towards
attention or rather when someone else has it and they
need to steal some back to them the humans are jealous
of anotherâ€™s traits. Usually in the form of holding a
mirror for the other person and turning their qualities
in contempt as if they are a failure to the person.
Secretly each is admiring that trait, that
characteristic. Others will bring this out in the form
of flattery and
kindness and openness.
This too, is a work of art
for bringing the attention
back to them for their virtues.
Nobody is safe from the tiger.
No human body wrapped up in this
warped social setting is able to stabilize and not fall into
the paws of the tiger.
So striped and orange.
The menacing clown like
appearance of the face.
But when the tigers teeth
are pressing firmly on their
jugular, the human quickly
realize that the game is
not played by their terms
but at the terms of nature
and in nature there is not king.
Only presence.