the vanquished lay screaming
blood dripping all over the tracks
a tale of rank deception
with a maniac at the throttle
and damnation in the boilers
trailing smoke and scrap metal
it became clear to the mindful
you can't stop a train with bodies
it will potato peel your skin off
and noisily eat your liver
while you grok the new data
we squander ourselves daily
at the stadium dome-o-plex
the howling hooligans lusting for blood
and they by jiminy got their fill.
you don't shed time like a layer
the 300 decapitated that preceded me
were prone to outbursts of dire warning
its more than a game for compulsives
they play Russian roulette every dawn
the best of them last 5 days
with resurrection just around the corner
stoic echoic prosaic Prozac
before the world nothing
before your birth nothing
the same old nothing question
his prayer was bless the quiet night
which only got him blasted through
the arbeit macht frei swinging gates
by the Bureau of Infinite Statistics
which obviously didn't want to be
in the modern world anyhow
their disinfectants no longer potent
at the required level of nuance
and the antifreeze froze at room heat
the goblins outside the wire
caught the shrapnel in Jai Alai baskets
glued his shattered remains together
with hammer blows and headbutts
and he could totter on both feet again
not so much affluent as effluent
yet still the luckiest man alive
somebody's mascot apparently
shadow occasionally on the screen
a little less self dialog
said the projectionist
hi res wifi high five he went on
the highest resolution possible
aren't we supposed to get smarter
as fast as we can

From "Pageant of Naked Mischief" available on Amazon