poem of the day 05.02.14

like movie stars

i feel like a movie star

feel like a walking, talking piece of shit

because there are cameras

everywhere that i seem to move

huge television screens

reflecting common dullard moments back at me

at jobs and on street corners

in the aisle of the grocery store

while i’m trying to figure out what sort of dead flesh

to fry and shove down my throat

there are cameras in the park and on public transportation

telephones that can be plugged into computers

to trace my calls and your calls to me

because i’m not alone in this

you’re all movie stars too

filmed walking down the street

picking your nose and scratching your ass

oscar winners are we

so important living our humdrum lives

that these mendacious pricks

are recording our inane phone calls

mining the data for random product placement

or turning it over to the government for posterity

why in the hell have we become so interesting

to the corporate interest?

to the workplace surveillance boys

with their high-tech boners?

to the politicians who only need our vote

once every so many years?

when did this happen?

if you’re going to record our every move, folks

maybe you should wine and dine us first

use the camera to seduce us and make us feel special

so we don’t feel like such whores

in the wake of all of your shadowing

so we don’t feel so hunted down just trying to buy a sandwich

come on, big brother

make us feel like movie stars

strolling along this big film set that you’ve created

this paranoid paradise of the damned

posing for a shot on the red carpet

before you film us walking all the way home

and while we’re probably sleeping too.