Awash in turpitude, we turn prosocial impulse back to dross.
My Weltzchmerz is uncontained, uncontainable, williwaw:
Freezing solid my open heart while blowing free my soft hope.

Turpitude (noun)

Depravity or baseness, or an instance of this

WordSmith

Prosocial (adjective)

relating to positive or helpful behavior that benefits a group of people

vocabulary.com

Dross (noun)

metallurgy : the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal

waste or foreign matter : impurity

something that is base (see base entry 3 sense 1), trivial, or inferior

Merriam-Webster

Weltschmerz (noun)

sadness or melancholy at the evils of the world; world-weariness

Collins

Williwaw (noun)

a violent squall that blows in near-polar latitudes

dictionary.com

Love isn't exemplary; it's learning to be boring together.
But in every transition you fall sheer away from me.
Please don't lapidify "us" so all that remains is dust.

exemplary (adjective)

worthy of imitation

being or serving as an illustration of a type

serving to warn

New York Times

transition (noun)

a change from one state or condition to another

Britannica

Sheer (adjective)

so thin as to be transparent

unmixed with anything else

extending down or up very steeply

WordReference

Lapidify (verb)

to turn into stone

dictionary.com

If I close my eyes I can let his voice undulate over me.
Each syllable a makeshift raft in a sea of his doubt.
Beautiful waves softly crashing against his haranguing.

makeshift (adjective)

used as a usually rough and temporary replacement for something

Britannica

Harangue (noun)

a long, pompous speech

dictionary.com

Undulate (verb)

to form or move in waves : fluctuate

to rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence

to present a wavy appearance

Merriam-Webster

Solidarity is transmissible
	Contagious
	Catching
		Like courage
		Community
		And covid

The cadence of these times
Can only be marked in news articles
	Leaders’ genuflection to fascism
	Pedantic arguments over names on maps
	The reemergence of diseases once eradicated
	Self-owns turning into international armed conflict
I try to find a subtle hum
Within the protest march
To reset my jagged heartbeat
In time to hope

Solidarity is faith
	Intersectionality
	Acceptance
		The unfunded
		Mandate
		Of democracy

Solidarity (noun)

a feeling of unity between people who have the same interests, goals, etc.

Britannica

Transmissible (adjective)

(of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection

occurring among members of a family usually by heredity

inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent

vocabulary.com

Cadence (noun)

the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or activity, a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language, a regular and repeated pattern of activity

a falling inflection of the voice, a concluding and usually falling strain

the modulated and rhythmic recurrence of a sound especially in nature

Merriam-Webster

Genuflection (noun)

The act of bending the knee.

Servile deference; groveling.

WordSmith

pedantic (adjective)

marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning

New York Times

The frenetic chaos of our children
Sets my pulse to race
	Shoes, swim bag, snack
	My backpack is too heaaaaaavy
	Where’s my pen
	She kicked me, she wouldn’t stop pulling on me
	My tablet is out of time
He sits the picture of tranquility
Sipping coffee and reading the news

In symbiotic relationships
It always someone gets the short end
I get to be clean, they must do the cleaning
I get food, at any moment they may crush me
But he keeps saying
You can’t pick up just one end of the stick

I wish I could acclimate
To my children
To his easy parenting
To my brewing existential crisis
This is why we married
	Is it?  I thought it was love?
I can’t quite adhere to expectations
	What’s my purpose?
I’m full of dread
	Is this all there is?
We adhere so well you can't see the edges don't match
He sits calmly, drinks his coffee
	His anxiety never abates

Symbiosis (noun)

A close, often mutually beneficial relationship between different species, groups, or people

WordSmith

Frenetic (adjective)

marked by fast and energetic, disordered, or anxiety-driven activity

Merriam-Webster

Tranquility (noun) quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity

Collins

acclimate (verb)

get used to a certain environment or situation

New York Times

adhere (verb)

to stick to something : to attach firmly to something

dictionary.com

Women drift as floriferous
beauty fading
between men's words defining thee
as degrading

what protocol we accepted
that turns gender
into weapons that reduces us
to less tender

We are fierce and soft, smiles and smarts
more than my form
but some petroglyph depicts me
outside the norm

Flower fade, we evolve slowly
I wish for the
luminosity that will free:
let me be me

Floriferous (adjective)

producing blossoms or bearing flowers

dictionary.com

Protocol (noun)

a system of rules that explain the correct conduct and procedures to be followed in formal situations

a plan for a scientific experiment or for medical treatment

a document that describes the details of a treaty or formal agreement between countries

a set of rules used in programming computers so that they can communicate with each other

Britannica

Petroglyph (noun)

a carving or line drawing on rock (especially one made by prehistoric people)

vocabulary.com

luminosity (noun)

the quality of emitting or reflecting light

New York Times

I wonder when I started to disappear
When my opinion
	My mind
	My very existence
Became immaterial to you

I don’t mean you stopped caring
Or we lost each other in the labyrinthine demands
	Of modern life
I don’t think we reached the nadir of our relationship
Things were never
	Bad
	Just one day
	Nothing
		Like I was no longer there

Until I was just the angel water
	To perfume your presence
For other’s delight
And worn away by the end of the night

I wonder when I lost my shape
My voice
	Incommunicado but only to your ear
My meaning
	Wrapped up in your stardust
		And misery

immaterial (adjective)

lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other

of no importance or relevance, especially to a law case

not pertinent to the matter under consideration

without physical form or substance

not consisting of matter

New York Times

Labyrinthine (adjective)

Relating to a labyrinth or maze.

Intricate, convoluted, or confusing.

Relating to the inner ear.

WordSmith

Nadir (noun)

the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer

the lowest point

Merriam-Webster

angel water (noun)

An aqueous extract of various flowers, esp. rose, myrtle, and orange-flowers, used as a perfume or cosmetic.

Oxford English Dictionary

Incommunicado (adjective)

deprived of any communication with others

dictionary.com

If you lay quite still
unmoved by others
     their hectoring floats past as clouds
     their muzzing over you a simple rain
     their concerns just ants that climb past
eventually
the world opens up
     a cacophony silenced
     a clandestine arcadia reveal
     a breathe held until
the world disappears
and
you realize everything
everything
every thing
is perspective

Hector (verb)

to behave in an arrogant or intimidating way : to act like a bully : swagger

to intimidate or harass by bluster or personal pressure

Merriam-Webster

Muzz (verb)

to confuse (someone)

dictionary.com

clandestine (adjective)

conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods

New York Times

Arcadia (noun)

A region that is idyllic, pastoral: simple, peaceful.

WordSmith

Perspective (noun)

a particular way of thinking about something, especially one that is influenced by your beliefs or experiences

the art of making some objects or people in a picture look further away than others.

Collins

Dark is
In Spanish: Obscuro
where breath is held tight but spacious
failing in a perspicacious 
world making me narrow.

I find
Crepuscular twinkling
moments alone taking me back
awareness within not all black
release my first inkling

Between
what I hold yet inside
and what I build myself to be
and now soothed in obscurity
moon, me, rising with tide

obscure (verb)

 to make (something) difficult to understand or know : to make (something) obscure

 to hide or cover (something) : to be in front of (something) so that it cannot be seen

Britanica

Perspicacious (adjective)

having understanding and discernment

dictionary.com

Crepuscular (adjective)

of, relating to, or resembling twilight : dim

occurring or active during twilight

Merriam-Webster

Speaking with the high priggism
of the most cheugy libertine
he was the perfect specimen 
of modern software engineers.

Somehow through common enemy
Fought on the spoiled battleground of
business systems and broken scripts
we learn to be faithful allies.

Priggism (noun)

Priggishness, self-righteous moralism; excessive precision in matters of learning, manners, etc.

Oxford English Dictionary

Cheugy (adjective)

no longer regarded as cool or fashionable

Collins

Libertine (noun)

disparaging : a freethinker especially in religious matters

a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality

Merriam-Webster