Beauty Killed the Beast

I had every intention of titling this month’s poems in alphabetical order, but best laid plans, eh? I started off thinking about “beauty.” Good “B” word, right? And then one of my grandfather’s aphorisms sprang to mind: “Pretty is as pretty does.” This poem sprang from that and a conversation about the hypocrisy of certain “good Christians” and politicians and how there’s a psychological term for their particular, self-loathing brand of judgmental hypocrisy. “Pretty” isn’t it. Nor is “beauty.” But with any luck, you’ll follow the mental processes to see how we got here from there.

Reaction Formation (an Acrostic)

Righteous in hypocrisy, they think to
exculpate themselves, 
accusing others of their flaws, defining
crimes where none exist
trying to deflect self-loathing
images held dear, judging, demonizing
others in their zeal, their quest: to
nullify the hatred turned within.
​
Fathers, mothers - stand
outside the need to make a tiny
replica, to form of nascent clay a 
man or woman in your image. Only God’s
allowed that power —
that perfection you’ve dared judge 
immoral, turned a well-honed weapon
on itself. Devoid of love, the world can
never make itself anew.