Bad Parenting Is Habit Forming Poem by Ted Sheridan

They are the blind who see, they are the deaf who hear and the mute who speak
They are the disadvantaged, the disabled and the challenged
They feel everything but remain unsure of what it is they have touched
They seek God but find evil in practically everything he created
Living in the world they imbue themselves with deadly force
Thereby condoning the destruction of all living things through apathy
They are the dead and dying who hold no spiritual value outside of power
Masses of flesh on bone and with no substance of being yet still maintaining
They have been given a supreme dominion over all creatures
Including those of artificial intelligence and chemical imbalance
They sing psalms in a need for relevance but their penitence is out of tune
Carrying big sticks they beat the world over the head with love and understanding
And then with club feet and iron hands they abuse the privileges of such authority
They are the forgotten statues standing in the unfrequented parks of unbiased truth
Covered with the defecation of generations who have since migrated for the winter
That is now upon us all…
They are the blind who see, they are the deaf who hear and the mute who speak
They are you and me who have given birth to the childless and barren canvases
Of poetic license


(2007)