-The Self-Righteous Sermon- By Nick Wentzel

Jazz guitar spills from the bar

on the first room temperature night

of the open mic. 

Porch lights glow like artificial stars

and a shamelessly preachy dude bro

who is surely unaware of himself

is proselytizing about the pitfalls

of self-righteousness

to an audience

held captive but less like ‘captivated’

and more like they were stuck captive with

nowhere else to go and 

nothing else to do. 

And he smiles brightly,

as if he has just won supporters

or more like he has invented the concept of philosophy. 

He is outwardly proud of the 

puddle deep point he has made.

All the while, free form jazz guitar 

spills from the bar like spilled beer or spilled ego,

and coats everything he has just said in an air of 

complicated riffs and loops.

And somehow, 

the bebop blues has failed to undercut

the message of the dude bro,

as he wrestles with the straw in his drink,

grinning. 

Self-righteous people go to hell, 

he mutters to himself, self-righteously

Nick Wentzel, more commonly known and referred to as Frick, is a poet and spoken word artist residing in Southern Indiana. He enjoys writing mainly about love, loss, and the all-encompassing feelings in between, but has a slew of poetry at his disposal on many topics. You can always find him at The Bokeh Lounge, the third Tuesday of every month, performing for Poetry Speaks, the longest running Spoken Word Series in the state of Indiana. He is always available for readings and bookings and can most easily be found on Facebook.