the development of dead eyes

see note for reviewers.

most people trouncing round the empire

walk with a sense of respect built by

the accumulation of things,

built by the constant reassertion of one’s

personality publicly,

pronouncing themselves a

functional

social

being,

as defined by these terms alone---

 

and the western world raps its head against the brick wall incessantly this way into a completely successful sense of oblivion.

 

but for those raised by trauma itself

for those whose “development” came from

concentrated neglect

 

(a way of intentionally denying a child

the things so desperately needed in order to

bloom into something that might walk this earth

with a decreasing sense of pain & bewilderment,

not one which increases these terrible realities

with each passing day)

 

what recourse can there possibly be?

what “way out,” what place to run to, what

overseeing caregiver arises,

when smothering actions win out in the

home, at school & soon

in the obligatory work force---

all which thrive in this context to

reduce, whittle & eventually

make such an individual

disappear?

 

“out of sight, out of mind”

is the policy practiced by our

delightful democracy,

whereby those who have been chewed up into a

purée of horror & dismay

by endless years of abuse, neglect, abandonment &

ostracization,

are swept off the streets into select garbage cans,

be them prisons, asylums or simply

underground.

 

what strategy does an individual have then to

fight back against what seems to be an unending wave

of mercilessness & force

driving the monster forward

floating on an ocean of indifference?

 

a self-medicant surfaces---

a person who takes it upon themselves to say

“i will not go out this way,”

knowing that absolutely no one else is going to

help them in such an endeavour.

 

this person strips themselves of the cast which has been

molded round them,

while the constant beating from the world

brought only severe bleeding within

understanding now that the rules that one is supposed to

abide by,

in order to correctly maintain a life according to the

status quo,

is just not possible anymore---

in fact, it has been made impossible

by the very system that wants to maintain it.

 

the “bad apples” must be recognized as such by all those

“good apples,” so as to keep these cute little bunnies from

jumping out of the basket---

and so a person finds themselves

“resorting” (as if one had a choice in the matter) to ways in which

a solution can be acquired---

the solution may come in many forms,

but the intent is always the same---

PAIN

MUST
BE
STOPPED.

 

self-anesthetization becomes essential to one’s survival

because the pain threshold of the individual

can simply not keep a person alive anymore---

the overwhelming will eliminate s/he who does nothing to

stop it,

and through the acquisition of means to an end which would

mean

a continuation of one’s life,

said person is able to continue.

 

here,

the development of dead eyes occurs &

the world spends its time trying to

stare into them,

trying to ascertain the reasoning behind what has

happened,

trying to

make itself feel better about itself

always avoiding the actual problem,

always blaming &

incarcerating,

blaming &

incarcerating,

blaming&incarcerating

blamingandincarcerating

blmmingndncarcerating

blmngndncrcerating

blmgndcrerating

blgndcerating

blndcerating

bldcrating

blcrating

blrating

blating

blatin

blatn.

bla___//////____//__/////________________________

Author's Note

“I’m pleased to be on a panel with somebody from the correctional service. I’ll provocatively state, however, that I’d be looking forward to find out what it is the correctional service actually corrects…in my view, very little. And furthermore, also, a professor who studies the criminal justice system. And I completely agree, the justice system is completely criminal, and it should be studied.”

-Dr. Gabor Mate---taken from the “Ting Forum on Addictions and Corrections” (Ting Forum on Justice Policy co-sponsored by The School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University), Jan. 23rd, 2011