beneath the commerce chamber

and the uncanny paint-peel front

and the every way that man can make

a meaning out of touch

behind the compost culture

and the chatterbox colloid crew

and the radio jockeys reining

another remix of the news

beside the "journey is the destination"

self-help guru hints

and the counterfeit meditation

and imposter prophet

prints

beyond the tempest of temptation

setting sail to a cardinal sin

and the rot of the spoiled victor

and the daily pyrrhic

win

there is a residue

that I wish could say

in a simple "A is for Apple" kind of way

to make you understand:

the point of this infliction

the problem of the crux

the crisis at hand

to make you see:

what the mystics and the mountaineers

were never supposed to suppose

that above all else, I remember what is true

all the loneliness in knowing anyone

all the boredom in knowing anything

and life's one best-kept secret:

that the peak of disappointment

is to reach the summit