ReXsume

By Jacques Fleury

[Originally published in Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self]

Objective:                   Seeking a position to be over, under or next to someone;

                                    Willing to fill any opening or position…

Education:                 Certificate of participation in “group” activities

Experience:                 Been around the block a few times…

Skills:                          Can touch my lower stomach without using my hands

Achievements:                       Never been arrested for seX crimes

Hobbies:                      All things done in the dark

References:                 See attached list for numbers of satisfied customers!

The Only Way to See the Stars…

By Jacques Fleury

[Originally published in Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self]

I often wonder why I smile even when sad

Thudding of my heart hearkening back

To recidivist scars running my fingers

Over the scabs abrading the cut of the

Blade and making my way in a world full

Of hurt people who hurt people

A pejorative and abortive choice

So smiling instead of snarling helps me

Remember even if bliss turns to distress

To see the stars is through the darkness…

Possible Causes and Effects of Cited High Blood Pressure

By Jacques Fleury

[Originally published in Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self]

If your Father died of heart disease

If you have Sleep Apnea

If you have irregular sleeping schedule

If you are overweight

If you have a late night binge eating habit

If you take caffeinated Energy Supplements

If you Drink Caffeinated Tea and Hot Chocolate

If you Use heavily salted spices like Chicken Bouillon Cubes

If you’re not getting enough “regular” cardio exercise

If you’re inconsistent with your daily meditation practice

If you ruminate about the past: its afflictions and perceived malfeasances

If you harbor resentments regarding sociopolitical and racial injustices

If you feel constant stings of Minority Stress through Micro Aggressions of racism

If you are BLACK!

Random Musings about Submission

By Jacques Fleury

[Originally published in Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self]

Let’s just begin in

medias res…or in the middle of things…

You see, we had artistic differences,

I was the artist and they were indifferent…

“Thank you for your submission…” but I never 

Submitted!

At least not in the way that they wanted me to;

If I wasn’t fiscally challenged, I would board a jet plane

And head for a luge run at Saint Moritz Switzerland,

A psychotically dangerous sport;

Maybe they’ve driven me to psychosis!

Luge, a sport rooted in Germanic tribal wars against the Romans;

Bored aristocrats on vacation looking for a distraction;

Although I am distracted by my own tribal war here in America,

I am nothing like a bored and puerile aristocrat…

This landed me in a mawkish quagmire of self-pity;

In my mind I absconded into a journey of devilment to topple my torment;

Writing can be an exercise in discernment that you are inevitably

Obliged to submit for judgment; that is if you expect to make

An impact other than justifying your own derangement due to

Maladjustment…

“Your writing is not a good fit for our publication” was the nadir of my existence!!!

What did I write to warrant such specious offerings you may ask?

Well I wrote from the voice of an ignoble omnivorous muskrat

Whose sexual identify is non-binary;

Both a strumpet and a sthumpet!

And as an exponent of socio-political justice wrote hither and thither

An apocalyptic reverie about mutant muskrats;

A germane allegory or political fodder for the purpose of unveiling

pejorative prejudice;

Deciding to introduce a foreign element into an established

Yet insecure environment so to demonstrate the ensuing behavior

Of those who deem themselves superior;

The muskrat representing the only POC or person of color

In an all-white order where WASPS Rule!

WASPS being descendants of

Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestant Males

Feeling their long history of imposing their cultural values and

Socio-political power over “the other” that is

women and minorities…

Threatened by a neo-progressive era geared towards changing the status quo;

Clamping down on their suppression in retaliation to the

Nascent and unrelenting movement towards socio-political

And economic progression and equality

In this American Nation!

“Thank you for your submission

But your work is not a good fit for our publication…”

Really?!

So here I am, randomly musing about not being chosen…

Am I just a titular poet?

A deuteragonist in my own story?

When do I get to be the protagonist hero despite my AFRO?!

When do I get to be the plucky character in epics akin to

19^th century iconoclastic South African king Shaka Zulu whose heroic story depicted

How he united tribal factions to create notable states and powerful African identities…or even

Anglo-Saxon and French epics like Beowulf together with Le Chanson De Roland?

Or even the archetypal Mesopotamian great:

The Epic of Gilgamesh;

Regarded as the earliest prototypical literature and the second oldest religious text…

“Your submission is not on par with our vision…”

Really?!

Even in the midst of global

Dissention and division?!

So we had artistic differences…I was the artist and they were indifferent.

But I decided to muse about it to manufacture

My own moment,

Fashion my own non-contentious and all-inclusive literary faction,

Where ALL postulatory voices are worthy of publication;

Because the acrimony of exclusivity is

A damnation!

I will continue to submit but NEVER to their behest for 

Submission!!!

Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian-American Poet, Author, Educator and literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest book “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” and other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of  Wyoming , The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, amazon etc…  He has been published in prestigious  publications such as Muddy River Poetry Review, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at:  http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.