O Mister Eptitude, Where Hast Thou Gone?

Ungainly yellow edgy indecisive Mister Linearity,

his awkward too-long arms in an inept embrace

around, as if attempting to protect, the blunt

amorphous softy Mister Tenderness in front of him,

makes at least a show of wielding both as tenable

together: symbolically contrasting soft pink feeling

with the steely forward clear decision-making mind.

Although from his position as thick cushion guarding

nervous Mr. Linearity’s exposed bare chest,

we find that the inert and blunted Mister Tenderness

seems less protected by his putative protector

than he’s shielding his protector with himself.

Senseless tenderness mixed with confused abstraction

won’t stay long upon Sir Logical Intention’s shelf.

So the blobby business each of us proceeds to pry

and cobble into usability by conjuring new archetypes

and fable-arts to lineate our Motives and their sharp

Component Parts – as characters in allegories saddled

with cute honorifics such as Sir and Mister - tries now

to provide a guide as helpful as John Bunyan’s tale, listing

animatedly what we should do effectively and morally

to bring about agreeable results. But no Pilgrim’s

Progress here. No single thing exults as clear solution;

no outcome doesn’t throw its complicated shadow.

We’re left with bad old Sirs and Misters, listing in

the sense of losing balance when they take the barest

step. We don’t find only Mister Linearity’s embrace

of Mister Tenderness inept. Nothing left is ept.

.