poem of the day 11.21.08

happy

we are happy
for the dumbest things,
for the best parking spot
at the grocery store
or for a printer to work
at our lousy jobs.

we are happy
to sit stuck in traffic
two hours a day,
listening to pundits pontificate
political nonsense,
as we drift toward our
daily death.

we are happy
and we smile a lot.

we are happy
to sit in the same seats
to stand in the same lines
to eat the same foods
in the same bad cafes.

everyday
all the day
the same thing.

we are happy
with banality and repetition
with the status quo
with everything staying as it is,
you in your corner
me in mine.

we are happy
to eat in restaurants
and drink in dismal bars
to pay for shitty hollywood films
to have the same kind of sex
(when we can get it)
to live in the same neighborhoods
and hate the same people
who have the same cars
who mow the same lawns
and who vote the same way.

we are happy
with war
and we are happy
to have the same ugly children
running and demanding,
as we watch the local nightly news,
to cheer for criminals hunted down
while murderous idiots
in positions of power
make our laws
and send our kids off to
die in some foreign desert.

we are happy
to die like fools
working for someone else’s wealth
happy to piss each day away
for two weeks of vacation
and lackluster health benefits.

we are happy
to be blind
to be cheated
to be raped
to be murdered.

we are happy
with this human jail
and we are happy
to let it all fall apart,
to let the fragile meat grinder
break,
our flesh and bones mangled
just enough
for us to stay happy
to come home
to the quiet and absolute boredom
with nothing but the evening paper
and the blue light of television
to give us comfort.