On Society

El Vicio de Amor

~ Iyan Igma

I don’t smoke or drink or bite my nails,
Huff fumes, or sniff paint or glue.
I’m not a glutton for junk food or snails,
Nor do I sleep soundly the whole day through.

I avoid drugs as if they are a plague,
And I don’t even gamble with my life.
I don’t call in sick for faux-ague;
My words don’t bludgeon or cut like a knife.

I’m known for my valor and sincerity,
For being selfless and full of virtue.
I’m not full of lust or venality.
In fact, my only vice is loving you.

For everyone honestly seems to think
(As if they honestly thought I cared)
That you have caused my brain to shrink,
And I’m intoxicated, crazed, and impaired.

Your Sweetest Taboo

~ Iyan Igma

Their prevailing accusations
Were of temptations I ne’er knew.
I never entertained the thought,
For such evils I did eschew.

But long and hard they accused me,
Believing their railings were true,
And after a while, I gave in
To embrace your sweetest taboo.

And now I only wonder how
I e’er lived and loved without you?
Their accusations are fulfilled;
Now there’s nothing I’d rather do.

Every Soothing Iniquity

~ Iyan Igma

With sin and darkness as my bedfellows
I rested trouble-free and calm,
And every soothing iniquity
Was my soul’s own healing balm.

With Satan as my comrade,
I had such faithful company.
My heart was ne’er sorrowed nor sad,
And I faced life courageously.

But when I tried to lie in faith
Amidst such Christian company,
My face grew long and my heart wan,
And there was naught to comfort me.

To Quote Bobby

~ Iyan Igma

Expletives but show ignorance,
No matter how great your disdain.
Show your linguistic incompetence,
And you show how small is your brain.

‘Tis finer far to belittle
And see them wrack their mind in pain
To just understand a little
Of your comment. They’ll go insane.

How much better to crush esteem
And never once raise your cool voice!
You’ll find their pain’s the sweetest dream,
Since anger’s no match for remorse.

“It’s a poor man that only can
Spell or say a word in one way.”
Fools can only insult a man
With just a handful of clichés.

In Secrecy

~ Iyan Igma

No matter where it is you go,
And the secrecy you maintain,
And who you think would never know,
And how much you trust in your brain,

There’s always someone watching you,
Seeing the things you thought you did
Free of the askance looking view
In the soul’s conspiracy hid.

And as they spy they start to smile
And think of whom else they might tell
The perverted version to, while
They conjure up false sights as well.

Even innocuous actions
Face gross misinterpretations
By those who see mere fractions
With the worst imaginations.

The First to Go

~ Iyan Igma

Innocence is your first friend
When you bump into this world,
Getting quite the concussion.
It finds you fetal and curled

And whispers sick lullabies
To make you trust everyone.
And suff’ring from amnesia,
Confidence is easily won.

Life and friends start to betray,
And everything is just show.
Abandoned, abused you find
Innocence was the first to go.

strangers as strange as me

~ Iyan Igma

my neighbors’ kids are home alone
the sweet one’s 5 the angel’s 3
i scolded them for opening the door
to strangers as strange as me

and as i walked across the street
to my dilapidated abode
a tiny thought entered my mind
which incessantly does goad

the scum of the earth worst parents
who beat their kids and scream
can still wind up with the best kids
while of kids i may only dream

so maybe if i weren’t such a nice guy
and merited no self-dignity
i might have great offspring
and therein lays the irony

Los Estandartes Tuyos

~ Iyan Igma

“Friendship is a delicate beast
That you must tend with utmost care,
Because, if it ever escapes,
You’ll wonder if ’twere ever there.”

You told me this, though much too late,
After I’d let false friendship grow.
There was ne’er reason to warn me,
As it’s something I well should know.

Time passed like strangers lost in mist,
And my little faults were revealed.
Though I’d been self-sacrificial,
Our relationship I had killed.

How? I fin’ly withheld the blade
I’d long used in sacrifices
Of precious, intangible things,
Being sure the past suffices

To build a strong rapport with you.
But you forgot all I’d given
The self-same moment,
And our shallow bond was riven.

That is to say when I perform
In a manner which pleases you
And live up to all your standards
We can be friends; if not it’s through.

De Facto Despot

~ Iyan Igma

I lead only by accident
And circumstances uncontrolled.
After all, I’m too arrogant
And unfeeling to maintain hold

On power through legitimate
Means, and therefore I never try.
But somehow I’m chance’s inmate,
And to serve I’m forced to comply.

No one would willingly choose me,
But it seems they’re as stuck as I.
We’ll make it through this hopefully,
But I wonder, “How, when, and why?”

Honor in Ages Past

~ Iyan Igma

O Honor, I knew thee ages past
And trusted in thy great constancy
And let thee influence all my acts.
But whatever has happened to me?

How could I forget thy great friendship,
Since it made a real man out of me,
Someone others and I could respect
For integrity and loyalty?

How is it that I could run thee through
In a cursed moment of thoughtless rage?
Thou hast gone on to join chivalry,
And I’m stuck in this accurséd age.