We find at our doorsteps
IN LARGE TYPE
The world as it is - full of strife, the ardent
shadows of uncertainty
Every street a dead end, And we are
crazed creatures, who hunger for cliches,
late night satire

As the plot thickens, we're caught making
faces at the neighbor's dog
Spreading cream cheese on bagels as we
dodge the brush fires of innuendoes Too
busy to notice that civilization
is at the checkout desk

When hope is a wooden decoy - You must learn
to listen to the woods Search every cupboard
for lost ambitions And when you're lonely -
Show no shame, beg like a dog
for any scraps left on the table

Too often we believe the fables
Watch, but nothing ever falls from the sky
As we wait for death's sweet revelations
We never read the small print
Never to have said
I love you, when we meant to say - I love you

The poor will continue to use plastic forks
Lose their money in vending machines
and bitch about the price of cigarettes -
How dare any of us stoop to their level of futility!
Blindfolded by poverty,
standing in front of firing squads,
unaware of how lucky they are
Because DEATH -
after all,
is only propaganda

Vladimir Swirynski has six books published, most recently Chipping away at the Fossil Heart. His other books include Red Lipstick & Stuck Piano Keys and Searching for a Shaman in a Land of Disbelief. He's a slam poet - two-time finalist in Cleveland, Ohio - who has traveled around the country and didn't begin writing until the age of 45.

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