Counterfeit Humanity

by Joel Falconer

The veil is swept over the faces of the numb
A curtain of disruption and dismay blocked out
By the eyelids of darkness and novocaine
Little eyelids propped in front of a lump of grey
Matter pumping blood through vessels that
Could burst at any given moment
A lump that has been washed, scrubbed,
Scratched, scabbed, and hung out
To dry and decay upon the fence of ignorance

Vividly painted screams of pain and melancholy
Line the walls of the house of terrors, where
Humanity, each member, must book a room
And stay a time in agony and pain,
Slashing at the irony of the disdain
Of such a loving god, who (imagine
that, both loving and disdainful? Someone
has it all wrong)
Bears the name of hypocrite and counterfeit

Finlandia and Black Label, the names of
Friends from histories and pasts that don’t
Stretch back so far as the broken memory
Represents them as having done
Lies filling in the gaps and treacheries
Missing from the record of a punished and sordid
Soul whose torture is the torture of living just one more day
And pleasure is the fantasy of just
Quickly and quietly slipping away

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If you'd rather we did all the hard work, you're in luck. Here's a list of articles that are related to this one:

• Human Nature
• Pain & Suffering: do we need it to create great art? Part 2
• ‘Rats’ - Kozanotra Episode 2
• Review: The Imitator - Lena Semenkova Feature
• The Plague of Ignorance