Taking Yourself Too Seriously Poem by Raj Arumugam

OK, granted
you got to take yourself seriously
or no one will
but take yourself too seriously
and you’re like a cracking statue about to crumble

there’s too much really
of people running around
taking themselves too seriously
pushing themselves forward
putting their faces to the forefront
almost pushing it against other people’s arses
academic, analytical, intellectual,
so so deep
you’d think they’d have sex in public next:
one moment it’s the ‘me’ in crisis
and then next they’re an Old Testament Prophet
with thunder, lightning
and explosives
(presumably cos they don’t use expletives):
or they are World Teachers
oh such Avengers of Justice
each a Captain Planet or Guardian of the Universe
(you’d think – hey, I wonder what
these Heaven Beings will do if they were in power)
with faces borrowed from theatrical masks
Tragic Noh and ancient Greek Pathology
and they bring in such Morals
you’d think they are the paragons of Virtue

so smile a bit, wiggle your arses a bit
and dropp that cumbersome gravity, folks:
you take yourself so seriously
you’re about to go berserk