study these maps
and atlases

find aerial views of
our current herds
of obscurantists

lose the shock and awe
and welcome to what passes
for us:

a faked enthusiasm
for intelligence
that skips over intersecting complexities
and human behavioral understanding
in favor of  belief in
Illuminati

when did we get so scared

when did we surrender
the spirit of Chautauqua

to rutting and beating our way
across information
toward specious theories
simply to excuse ourselves
from actual thought
from being pressed to action

what was in our hands once
we handed away to high and mighty
heirs apparent and
we lose and lose and are lost

maps and atlases
only help so much
the GPS device dumbs us

no more spoonfeeding
look up hard words
and then we have to talk to one another again
learn to read a landscape
strip myth from our eyes
start walking

with a glint and a purpose
and pitchforks
always pitchforks
if we can find them

if we can even recognize them

look it up