In this world newfangled
the roots of inequality
run deep, twisted, tangled
enmeshed in frivolity
Kept the hope of the poor stifled
while by the powerful rifled
Averting our empty eyes
Q: “Why are you not putting on a mask?”
A: “I’m not culpable for your health
I’m self-reliant, so do not ask
also won’t be blamed for my wealth!”
If this is how some of us are
how did we stray so deep & far?
Q: “Still thinking we’re better than this?”
A: “We’re no effete Swedes or feeble French
so, World, come give U.S. a kiss!”
(albeit amidst conceited stench)
Thus we keep up the narrative:
Pretending to empathize
high-handed & declarative
averting our empty eyes
Masklessness leaves the Covid threat cowardly vague
while masked have we not faced that we’re all in a plague?
Rushing & gushing from dawn with brawn
Armored in dress-for-success clothes
limbering our lashing tongue
cleansed out our bargain-sniffing nose:
Ready reach for the next rung!
Sharpened our elbows
we’re ready to impose
If need be bulldoze
in order to foreclose
Brashly we sally, again, out the door
as clueless as ever of what’s in store
Freedom to be dumb, Te Deum
Yes, too much to ask:
Don’t interfere
we won’t wear a mask
too cavalier!
Then haven’t we sacked
any & all fact?
With all lies stacked
lost all sense & tact?
Facts are too socialist & abstract
won’t let such ungodliness detract!
Up hill slowly I pedal lowly amidst a few drivers who verbally meddle
I regularly pedal up a steep, narrow, winding, two-way, two-lane road occasionally ‘causing’ drivers to wait due to oncoming traffic before passing me. Judging from some cars ‘riding my rear fender’ & the rare occasional driver’s remark or gesture perhaps I’m viewed by some drivers as an annoying traffic impediment? Others may perhaps be capable of ‘feeling my pain’ (here in aging legs & lungs), while by most ignored? So goes our human experience at large.
One irate driver yelling
“You’re obstructing traffic!”
on mission Cyclist Quelling
then adds gesture graphic
While another in civil quirk
rather cheers my modest pace
by affably calling “Good work!”
with welcomed patience & grace
Thus the human clash goes
between those empathetic
and those in restless throes
sounding off homiletic
Of course up to anyone exposed
to try act safely & stay composed
Holy cow, is she my beef?
As a ‘meat lover’
I crave & ache
and left to hover
til teeth in steak
Won’t go without
meat which my sweet treat
Surely bean sprout
not been grown to eat?
What’s a slaughtered calf or cow
must we not all die somehow?
Too burdensome an act having to look up a fact?
Were we only wilful
but gotten pompous, prideful
(while albeit skillful)
supercilious, spiteful
Ignorance is far from bliss
When we stare in to the abyss
facing Death’s contagious kiss
affections gone gravely amiss
Still to look up all facts
applying logic, fairness
are such burdensome acts
risking tinged by awareness
Why be bothered taking time to reflect
when prefer to just accept or reject?
Not back to that normal!
What might just have been understood
had we learnt from history
(not been hoodwinked by Hollywood
or engaged in sophistry):
We must slow the back-to-normal urge
for were it even feasible
would be no solution, merely surge
something purely appeasable
As the erstwhile normal was the cause
for the Covid wake-up call, of course
Empty words galloping in wild herds
I’m tired of debating
even just discussing
discord turns deflating
finding all nonplussing
My words stream
unfittingly
yell & scream
earsplittingly
Too many empty words
keep rattling along
galloping in wild herds
they just don’t belong
Worn out finding myself discordant
so pursuing where I’m concordant
While our attention is elsewhere
Gained quite the stage presence
that Virus wily & vile
Might its omnipresence
the Power Elite beguile
as trade-off to crisis protracted
when our attention got distracted?
Stole away our concentration
on workplace exploitations
on our climate abdication
on cruel deportations
Elbowed out our awareness
of corporate giveaways
societal unfairness
injustice in too many ways
Rarely been better times
for scamming & high crimes