visionLess
by Ismael Jimenez
Life existing within a framework confined by outside definitions
Trying to think outside a box constructed to be an intellectual trap of insignificant banter
Directionless in a sea of misconceptions and unintended confusions
How do you understand a system only meant to be understood
Cajoled by false passions of consumerism
Measuring self-worth over what’s just a packaged good
Swallowing humanity with unsustainable growth
Bursting at the seams of limited thoughts
Spiritual value added up in a paradigm that leaves us all broke, beaten, battered, and alone
Generations of years past trying to be
Just treading water
Breathing the air poisoned with an atmosphere of inhumanity
Corrupting our children
Blinded by a system developed and reliant on vanity
Reflecting insolence in a mirror image of the unseen
Described, misinterpreted, perpetuated by insanity
Incapable of any change
Seeing only what is presented as reality
Bamboozled by destructive forces
Informed by their own submerged identities
Incalculable struggles
Constructed on the backs of others misery
If I refuse to go along
People ask what’s the matter with me
Inquiring if rebellion is more important than my family eating
However both are not mutually exclusive
Rumors circulate underneath imposed fantasies
Screaming wake-up
Yet the feeling in the gut remains empty
Seeking nourishment in many places
Masks of hidden disillusionment leaving jagged edges
Optimism provided only through the lens of privilege
Attempting to reconcile the feckless ineffectiveness
Existing in in an exclusionary village
Where our children riot
While enemies of justice manipulate anger, frustration, and hate
Pursued as justice of life devalued
Self-negated
Flowing deep down wretched escapes
Burning the midnight oil dying in our collective sleep
Words unspoken
Sold to the highest bidder for dirt cheap
Ismael Jimenez is a history teacher at Kensington High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Ismael joined the Philadelphia Writing Project in 2014 after attending the ELL Invitational Summer Institute.