Disclosure

image borrowed from stannsbandstead.blogspot.com 

Disclosure

“A man’s highest moment is when he kneels in the dust, 

& beats his breast, & tells all the sins of his life.”--Oscar Wilde.

Confession

walks hand-in-hand with

Confusion.

Confession is good for the soul--

but              relative to what?                   We all harbor darkness within

                                                     the etherial epidermis of our essence,

                                           and those ebony stripes, that weave abstract

                               patterns within our psyche, are unfortunately forever

                    in flux, mysterious shape-shifting multi-highways constantly

       changing both direction & configuration as the sensory

                    storms of thunderous emotion roll over

                               the vast prairie of our personality.

A murderer confesses his deed

to a priest, or a sin-eater,                       and somehow, miraculously,

                               that is enough to provide absolution, forgiveness,

                                          or acceptance?        Hell, no.

Confession is often aligned with morality,

a Muse, an impetus for disclosure,

as an intense reflection of our

childhood lessons & experiences.                We are taught, or conditioned

                                                          to only verbalize those thoughts that

                                                 are socially acceptable, tinged with candor,

                                             good manners & common sense.

Do we need to exercise the rites

                   of confession for ourselves

                              as we allow our selfishness,

                                                        arrogance, &

                                                        ignorance to cast us

                                                        in the role of asshole?       Probably not,

even though psychologists tell us

                                    that self-delusion can be prevalent. 

Confession is too often mixed up with

apology, regret, guilt, repression, or depression,

so just who does it serve?

Do you really think that God         in any of his guises         really cares about

                    the hidden festering feelings you may have

               regarding homosexuality, other religions, other races, sports

teams, same-sex marriages, or political parties?

In addition          the specters of truth, dishonesty, scamming, exaggeration

                     abuse & ego all join the posse of participants

             when the urge to purge, to confess rises up

like waves of nausea,

like bile or acid reflux,

             as you prepare to spew your perceptions,

                       like projectile vomiting of sin & misdeeds

                               to someone,

                               to something,

                               to the clouds, the crows, or the wind.

We are painfully aware 

that the police, or terrorists are quite capable

of beating confessions out of innocent people, yet we persist

                               in the fallacy that confession

                               can successfully masquerade as a solution. 

It’s just more complicated than that,

like trying to reduce evolution to Darwinism,

or cosmic consciousness to Genesis.         Sure, confession can/should

                       be a tool in our survival kit, but

                 we should never let that tool be misunderstood or misused;

        like using a claw hammer to brush your teeth,

or scratch at an insect bite with a hand saw;

for Confession flies in the same flock as Faith,

& it is just as hard to define

utilize, or completely understand. 

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets Poetics

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