High on an End Note

beneath the commerce chamber
and the uncanny paint-peel front
and the every way that man can make
a meaning out of touch

behind the compost culture
and the chatterbox colloid crew
and the radio jockeys reining
another remix of the news

beside the “journey is the destination”
self-help guru hints
and the counterfeit meditation
and imposter prophet
prints

beyond the tempest of temptation
setting sail to a cardinal sin
and the rot of the spoiled victor
and the daily pyrrhic
win

there is a residue
that I wish could say
in a simple “A is for Apple” kind of way
to make you understand:

the point of this infliction
the problem of the crux
the crisis at hand

to make you see:
what the mystics and the mountaineers
were never supposed to suppose

that above all else, I remember what is true
all the loneliness in knowing anyone
all the boredom in knowing anything

and life’s one best-kept secret:
that the peak of disappointment
is to reach the summit


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