Proof & Contestant #1 by Keith Landrum

Misery gets deep, so deep honestly. People have to be honest about their misery. It is the only way to get better. Doctors practice their livelihoods on this universal truth. Within the truth of misery there is salvation. Rescue from misery feels great though the diagnosis takes a while. Nobody can truly hunt down and defeat misery. Keeping misery at bay is hard enough, though not entirety impossible. Within the miserable life there may be no escape at moments, but this is an illusion. Community remains at the ready to help anyone in need. Healthcare, hugs, these are things to help with the misery to allow a person to find the sun in the sky after so many cloudy days. Left in a haze misery tries to find its way back to a person. With enough time and practice misery will grow weaker, more forlorn, and ready to latch onto another. To find a community of misery is easy. No matter what misery knows what to do to let an entire group of people suffer in unison. In a way it is even easier to be miserable with people, because at least in that case there are witnesses.

Confrontation rules the nation. Nobody wanted it to be this way. It simply happened. Whole social mores are exported via small digital impulses. The ways that contestants compete adds to this desire to be something much more in their face. Explanation points convey the point. Yells live in these unruly forms of punctuation. Presenting a civil face results in little blessings. By shouting, screaming, yelling, these garner attention. Across entire eons of time people have said “they just want attention. don’t give it to them.” Yet every generation relives this ridiculous notion, the idea that they can avoid the trolls. Nobody wants to feed the trolls yet the trolls are so insistent, so pervasive in such a realm. With attention the troll grows stronger, without attention the troll grows louder. Juvenile is but one way to gather attention to a person, to point out that they exist on a higher level, a louder, more obnoxious level. Trolls also have their own audiences, for the troll’s work always feels amply suited for somebody. Audiences enjoy seeing the latest antics of the troll, and how the troll manages to upset so many while seemingly doing so little. Just a little push is all it takes for the troll to take over.

Inspiration:

https://www.philosophicalidiot.com/keithlandrumpoetry

Original Post:

http://www.beachsloth.com/proof-contestant-1-by-keith-landrum