We imagine that philosophy to flourish requires an interval of peace
But since peace has never obtained at any time the better to shield our incapacities
We employ a generalized first person and a generalized present tense
Like the interstate highway is now a local boulevard for our commute
And we prefer quiet for our meager lonely perilous moments of contemplation

Prophylactic fashions express docile compliance or untrammeled inconstancy
Sedate carousal or caprine bacchanal behind the fastened gates
Obstinately punctual observances of michaelmas candlemas and the feast of St Blaise
Bless this throat O Lord which thou hast created lest bone of fish obstruct it
Seafood platter crossed tapers ashes on the brow and silken hairshirt evening wear

And some think themselves brave enough to adopt theoretical postures
To convert to the third person under the aegis of deliberate oblivion
They say something or another or they’re trying to pull a fast one
Experimentally innovative only should you deny with merciless self-deception
The eternal return of the same that is of the same old shit the same old traffic jam

The old original original old
Ma’s home cooking with traditional dyspeptic seasoning for all your orobuccal manifestations
Painless [sic] dentistry home in one hour
Spare the rod and just don’t spare the rod
Kick your dog after naming it for your worst enemy

Or you can throw up your hands fuck all go for your own bad self
And linger upon the attempt to staunch the itch of self-interest
With purchases distractives exploitations impressions subscriptions likes and soporifics
The restless spirit of the age in mesmeric packets and hey there’s an app for that
And everybody knows if there is no mandated procedure then everything is permitted

Ballroom dancers have the right idea under the froward surveillance
Finding pockets of freshness in the interstices the featureless spaces between the bollards
Of the stale fermentative Solonic gestures the prescribed structures of affect
The brief exceptions that lurk within the reeking application of the fuller’s art
The jamais vu of contracting religious or commercial fibers the unexpected appositive

And yet problems persist with the exaction of for example the definite article
Those obviously arbitrary tributes of matching belts and shoes
The scoffing naysayers who insist upon the authorized pronunciation of pianist
Per-severing in their exi-gencies they too number among the ambivalent vulnerable
Move the passenger thrown from the car or let them bleed out on the concrete

I intended ironically my summary of the Treaty of Westphalia
How what began as conflict of beliefs became conflict of states dissolved with a quill
And show me the state where law and justice interoperate
Show me the ideal unsupplanted by the completely mendacious real
Show me freedom peace truth beauty love sense and decorum

But justice is no mere operation nor are beauty nor love nor peace mere functions
Truth must be something more than a state of mundane affairs
We perceive a medley montage of angry flux
A hurricane that drives pine needles through stucco walls
Please remain in your sticky seats for the duration of the horrorshow

And what of bitterness pain aching loss the wound that never heals
Hearing the beloved say I’ve tried but I don’t love you
Witnessing the grotesquery of a sweet aged one’s decay
In trouble at school in trouble at home
The death of a child

So the crux is this the question of volition
The hurricanes the wars of six days or a hundred or a thousand years the glioblastoma
These evils do not originate with our sole selves
Action always constrained but always dimly weakly possible
I’ve chosen wrong a thousand times but I hope to find the will to choose rightly

How sad to spend a life immured in bunker
Mockingbirds or friend or foe strike together hieratic poses
The weediest weed breathes nobility
A toddler flinches before the thunderclap and waits at window for another
Both culture and nature ample earnest give of a receptive attitude

See these paltry muzzy numbers hear these wonky tuneless tunes
Taste these sourbitter dainties feel these breezes’ humid boons
Dream the smell of that location where that one event took place
Love yourself and love your neighbor shedding tears is no disgrace