Will time halt when the Mayan’s long calendar ends?
Or is it a mere cycle, a hoax disclaimed by all scientists alike.
A misnomer believed to have held truth,
such as Pluto being a planet, or a tomato a vegetable.
Will the tornadoes sweep away all the lies?
spread out on the west’s open plains.
Will the oil seep into the veins of politicians?
So that they will know the pain inflicted.
Will it **** the lives of those without health insurance?
Or will it reach out to the moguls of New York?
Where will the old shrimpers go?
When their skiffs are broken down,
on the abandoned Gulf Coast shore.
Where does anyone go to be safe?
Safety is hidden in the ashes of the towers,
intangible as democratic peace.
War news blaring form chrome flat screen televisions:
when will our troops return?
Death tolls pile up like discarded lotto numbers,
yet you keep playing with chance:
hoping for that jackpot to flash in fluorescent lights.
Yet victory is bittersweet when tainted by blood of the innocent.
Osama Bin Laden’s death calls for celebrations,
yet the war still rages on.
When will America be restored to pre-9/11days?
Or is it irrational as solving the 15 trillion dollar debt,
that escalates as the housing market plummets and gas prices rise.
Can you recount a time that it was under 3 dollars?
What has happened to America?
As I walk through the supermarket now,
California strawberries 6.99 a pound?
“Can I get a federal discount” my father asks.
He carries the satchel leaden with letters and packages,
although he is appreciated like junk mail.
3,700 post office closes their doors,
I notice the news article you tweeted.
I text you as I walk down the aisles,
oblivious to the techno music that plays,
and obese children beg their mothers-
for that candy bar with blood mixed in with cocoa beans,
from the African child wage slaves that harvested them.
This is what America has become.
Michele Obama tries to end obesity,
but we all know it is a fruitless claim.
As television ads are imprinted in their brains.
Ronald McDonald noted and not MLK.
We are too caught up in our fast paced lives,
to teach our children how to read,
it’s not our job we decide.
Caught up between late night snacks and filing away-
our dreams on the shelf, so they are not seen.
Ambitions lie in the cracked linoleum tiles,
in this supermarket neglected for countless years;
since no one cares, all that matters,
is profit, a quick fix.
You can’t just slap a Band-Aid on it America!
I can still see your wounds.
Cash or Credit?
“Credit” I say as I slide the sleek plastic card,
my I-Phone hums in my pocket.
Steve Job died? I hear Obama’s remark:
“He changed the way each of us sees the world”
Did he really?
My perception of the world is in accordance to Wi-Fi locations:
Skype contacts, Facebook posts, hashtags-
#TechnologyHasTakenOver.
I talk with the causality of a text.
The glow of screens and keyboard strokes barricade my reality.
I realize this as I read your enumerations.
I read articles of what states pass gay marriage,
and wonder who you would have married?
I wonder if you would have help Emerson,
pick up New England’s shattered pieces after Irene?
I wonder if you would have protested Wall Street,
since you are the 99%, the common man.
Would you have advocated for immigrants’ rights.
Fought the tarnished racist ideas,
corroding the Statue of Liberty’s ideals.
I spray paint the words of your poems,
On the brick buildings of every city,
trying to restore America.