Line So Long it Reached the 1980’s
drove past the food bank yesterday
it appears to be the only bank
to have not been bailed out
i could have walked by the food bank
yesterday
but then i’d not be burning
freedom’s gas
reflected in my rear-view mirror
i saw the long lines
i remember the long lines
the free powdered milk
the free government cheese
it sticks with you
it sticks in you
it can define you
you remember back when
you didn’t just drive by the food bank
watching the same goddamn long lines
from your rear-view mirror
i did drive by the food bank yesterday
it appears to be the only bank
to have not been bailed out
***
Lessons in Life via Life Lessons
having been a dropout
my education suffered
though my knowledge quadrupled
having been a dropout
***
Waiting for Never
while Yemen waits for an end to the Korean War
Texas fears that Florida and Chicago
might one day get it
***
Apathy Class
my pen is digital
making my paper dependent upon
hydro-powered tribes
and
dead salmon
Mellencamp was my Boots Riley
Costco is my Walmart
buying a sweater at Goodwill is my poverty
turning down my heat kills most any apartheid
my pen is digital
making my paper dependent upon
hydro-powered tribes
and
dead salmon
***
Quoth the Pycnopodia helianthoides
“If it weren’t for all the mercury, decabromodiphenylethane, arsenic, lead, Phthalates, PCB’s, Nonylphenol, and petrochemicals in the water…I’m pretty sure I’d be more upset about whatever Seth MacFarlane said about anything.”
***
East 17th and Broadway
the t-shirt said
‘dick cheney before cheney dicks you’
the t-shirt was right
somewhere on another t-shirt
the truth is still out there
though
unfortunately for us
finding the truth on a t-shirt
is about as deep
as we’re willing
to go
***
Skate or Die!
with news that Hanford’s death juices were on the flow again
i thought it wise to recognize
the forgotten uranium mines on the Spokane Rez
their juices flow too
in fact
the death juices of the Columbia
have flowed for longer than
sequester
rhymed with fiscal cliffs
***
The Vigilant Lens 