Do-ocracy

Last Friday I visited the local office of the Department of Labor to reopen my unemployment claim. This will be the third time in two years. One consistent thing I notice every time I go there is the lack self-pitying, woe is me expressions on the faces of those filing claims. There is a sense of acceptance of their situations. Resolution and determination of iron is in the hearts and minds of my fellow unemployed brothers and sisters. There is a faith that we will survive and a realization of what is of true value. We are strong and will do what must be done. We save the whining and bickering to the politicians. It seems to be what they do best.

I wrote this while waiting in line.

Woman with four children

ahead of me

in the unemployment line

properly quaffed

for a day

at the office

she no longer

occupies.

This is America

not the one

my father fought for

not the one

we learned in school.

This is the one

we stagnate in

for these four children

to rebuild

with clawless hammers

and broken

shafted

pickaxes.

This is the America

we have come to love

to pledge allegiance

in all her malignancy.

Patiently waiting in line

for the surgery

to divide she and we

from the pox

that assails her.

For the record, politics from either side of the aisle gives me a splitting headache. They seem to be the source of our problems rather than a means for change. A friend of mine uses the term ‘Do-ocracy’ meaning if something needs to be done, do it. Someone needs help, help them. Don’t dawdle, don’t quibble, if it’s the right thing, do it. Just shut up and do it. While I’m tempted to skewer all of the corrupt politicians, lawyers and CEOs and release a profanity filled tirade, I’ll squash that ember. They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We are all human beings and were I on the other side of the power equation, I don’t know if I wouldn’t become corrupt too. There is no us and them. We are all one. Beyond our eternal souls, all we have is each other. I just wish we lived with a system that was based on humanity and compassion rather than the zero sum game it is now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know, I’ll go back to smoking my hookah now.

Independent vermin

snacking on smoked sturgeon

lying in court room

because they never heard

the real version

Goldilocks and her Grandma

on the stand for murder

got christened with a hammer

then the judge

called a holiday

In the court room most distressed

time had come to take the test

so I lifted up her dress

to expose her curly flintlocks

But the geometry of her cemetery

was to say the least contrary

to the expectations of the many

and disappointment of quite a few

The garden of Eden had been eaten

and the snake was within speaking

the masses were hastily retreating

because the carnival was dead

Insane minds formed a posse

nailed Jesus to the crossy

buffed and shined their lacquered vernacular

and discussed it over coffee

Righteous wimps on sinking ships

stormed the court room with effluvium

‘Stop this noise, give us our toys

and we’ll create a more perfect union’

Screaming turned to crying

rhetoric turned to whining

the insipid started lying

and the failed kept on trying

‘Squelch this nonsense’ cried the snake

‘This crap is more than I can take

this snowballing virus was never my intention

when I perpetrated the insurrection’

‘Please have mercy on my ears’

displace, I plead, my darkest fears

before the storm sirens begin to wail

before I swallow my own tail’

‘Stop please stop!’ he squealed

in beseeching tone

‘Have mercy on this earth

and leave my mother alone!’

Until next time,

All my love,

Max