“Re-examine all that you have been told. Dismiss that which
insults your soul.”~Walt Whitman
Dismissing Insults
That would be karmic
if the soul could reexamine all that it’s been told
could dismiss insults
walk around as if
the world couldn't touch it
the crux of the matter
is the soul is not insult-free
nor does it wear a ball gown.
On most days
it has to pay the toll
before it can get out of jail, travel to exotic places
before it is free to move around the Monopoly board
accumulate properties
build wealth
behold beauty, wrap its arms around it, draw it near
It would get frostbite
here in New York
have to develop a tougher skin
build a bigger closet
to store all its stuff
especially now
since the earth is warming
The soul would need galoshes in every color of the rainbow
for the mad, wet, frigid Spring days here, for when its ego is insulted. The long
days when the puddles deepen to small lakes, reflecting back on the crooked
branch in its family tree
a snarled thorny Kiawe,
longing for a totally blank bank to rest on.
