Uncomplimentary Role Play

is what happens when we take actions
and issue instructions that trap the people
around us into acting out behaviors
that reduce our good intent to nothing
but a slowly grinding effort-fulness.

Television

is the life-in-a-box
for people who lead
boxed in lives
and don't want
to get out of them.

The Quiet House

The clock ticks,
the tap drips,
each at different speeds to the other.

Two friends sit apart,
both absorbed in private musings.