Extroversion: Looking Outward

What’s on tonight?
The same old thing
Going into work
And coming home again,

Listening to some news
About war and injustice,
Efforts to bring peace
And reduce the general unrest, without success,

Major swings in the world’s
Economic fortunes,
Money changing hands
Through the electronic counters,

People crying for justice,
While powerful nations
Sit it out and wait
Watching the course of fate,

The hand wringing never ceases
But no action takes place
As the violence picks up the pace
And refugees race to escape the devastation,

It’s a puzzle to me,
How anyone can be free
When nobody does anything
To ensure it comes to be,

My compassion grows
For all those
Who’ve gotten in the way
Of the bombs falling every day,

May they all find refuge
From this terrible situation,
May we all find a method
To put an end to the carnage
Before it’s too late for all of us.

Extrinsic: Pressed

Feeling just
A little bit tense,
Due to recent events
Set in motion,

Not sure
How it started
Or who
Is ultimately responsible,

But, in any case,
I’m jittery
And my back is sore
From holding tension there,

The muscles contract,
As if preparing
For some sneak attack,
From behind my back,

Which coincidentally
Is how it feels,
When one gets caught
In between the hub and the tires;

I feel as if
I’m getting squeezed
Between the wants of others
And my needs;

Difficult to please,
That’s how people are
But that includes me
I suppose,

How people ever manage
To get along
Is a mystery sometimes,
The answer to which
Nobody knows.

Extricated: On the Way Home

Busy day:
Shooing pigeons
Off the balcony,
With the old, red-handled string mop,

Now, making breakfast
And out to the market
And back again,
To put the groceries away;

On and off
The phone
And then,
Made a list for the pharmacy,

Off I go again,
Enjoying the mild weather,
A pleasant spring day;
Don’t get many as comfortable as this!

Walking about with ease,
Watching the grass green
And new shoots
Of vegetation gleam;

Everybody’s energetic,
The sky shouts, “come and get it!”
This beautiful blue
And the sun shining too!

But instead I get stuck
In the store,
As I cannot locate two items
And only find one after a long while

And then the store
Has some peculiar accounting,
Which takes time to figure out before,
I’m finally out the door and heading home.