The Angler

The Angler

The personality
is as many-layered as an onion,
composed of the nestled, silken petals of a rose
or do you suppose it is instead
an empty vessel to be filled up
or the surface of a hollow balloon
on which to stick pieces of stuff
- consumer fluff -
and thus construct
a self

which is personal
intimately individual
and cannot
be commodified.
That you can buy
the hip, the cachet,
the power, the beauty, the cool
that advertsing promises
is a transparent lie
you wish you could believe
but you are not deceived
you are afraid
to cast your fate
in search of your
self

The personality fishes
in the great inner river
of choice
called
Stream of Consciousness

for
aptitudes, qualities, imagination,
attitudes, thoughts and behaviors
the intimate manifestation
of the unique lingua franca
which comprises
the
self

which is NOT
the alienated, egotistical individual
numbed by the narcotic of consumer culture
the pre-made, to-be-paid-for array
so cunningly displayed
with which a caricature
of character
is constructed
the easy way
via the cooption of substance by style
in service not to the quest, but the dollar
sacrificing self for someone else's profit

in an attempt to fill that frightening solitude
of which we are so very much afraid
the stillness
the silence
the wading
in the Stream of Consciousness
which is the only place
authentic choice
can be truly and freely made.

Turn off
the televised commercial tirade.

Breathe freely.

Cast for your
 self
with choices
patiently and undistractedly made
in the murmuring of the water
  NOT dust
of which we - and our brains -
are primarily made.

The Self
is The Angler
not a fish
to be lured by the bait
of Capitalism's
sad, tawdry trinkets.