No Hypocrisy or Self-deceiving in

            Esthetics

Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse  modern poem  contemporary poem

When Jesus speaks, the monasteries chant

And convents count their beads.  On Georgia’s roads

His words are turned to slogans.  Preachers rant

On radios.  They blare in hellfire codes.

When Buddha speaks, the nuns put on their robes

And shop for vegetables but not for flashed

Eternity.  A temple abbot probes

Scrolled texts, but gold satori feels abashed.

The emperor philosopher counts “wise”

To be accepting of one’s lot in life

While being just and kind.  Most others prize

Strong struggles, striving, manful strains, and strife.

..But beauty knows no lying.  It is true

….Or not.  For it just reverence is due.

~ Phillip Whidden