the big top

words like medicine, 

law and news are now suspect.

when meaning gains a certain belief status

as front-stage truth symbols,

there is a backstage of actions undisclosed.

comprehension is suspect.

truth does not present as simply so, anymore.

there is a wider scope 

of unseen marionette strings attached.

linear thinking is not equipped. 

observation does not render backstage intent.

presentation becomes a projection,

a labor of how to be perceived,

for not all of truth can fit in one's mind.

contradiction and paradox are ever 

fighting with the janitors of logic 

and the gardeners of trust 

as their worst enemies.

they are like unsightly germs and weeds.

we have sustained opinions to protect us.

we know what we think fertile is.

we know when goodness is ripe.

we expect permission to be straightforward.

we accept that rhetoric is like a crossing guard. 

naiveté doesn't have a need to wear shoes,

for the world is as known to be a safe place.

that is the premise of our concept of awareness.

how can words like

medicine, law and news become suspects

of wrong endeavors,

of projections of false truth,

of persuasions of economic fraud, 

of positions of untold directives of function?

why next you'll be telling us, 

that television is used as an addiction process,

that money grows on the trees 

of minds bent on personal wealth 

as relevancy beyond belief.

thinking would then become

a mixed-media circus.

and we would all have to realize

or for sure, question,

well, how big is the tent we are in?

and when and how does the circus end? . . .