poem of the day 05.24.16

the accidental islamophobe

i don’t know why

but i got on this bob dylan trip

with my wife

as we were walking through the neighborhood

talking about bob

making all of these sinatra old timey records now

and how sometimes it just takes people longer

to become complete and total bores lacking in vision

my wife said,

you know, bob is playing a whole bunch

of those standards at his shows

big surprise, i said

another artists letting down the masses

with mediocrity and self-indulgence

she said, maybe people will revolt

people will take what’s handed to them,  i said

but it would be nice to see people shouting

hey, play like a woman!

play like a rolling stone!

enough of this old fart music!

of course, most of those songs are over fifty years old too

i bet bob would walk off the stage, my wife said.

nah, i said, he’s probably part of the zeitgeist now

he’ll probably stop playing and shout down to the crowd

fuck you people, this is donald trump’s america!

which i shouted out loud

just as two muslim girls met us at a crosswalk

having no context for why i barked such putrid inanity

they both gave me the dirtiest looks from women

that i’d seen in a long time

and then kept going their way

as we kept going ours

over battered sidewalks and sink holes

traffic and bass permeating another garbage-strewn block

all the refuse of life that ties us together

from the things that work so hard to rip us apart

not really saying anything

until we were far enough away

when i finally said,

i hope dylan at least plays jokerman

or maybe tangled up in blue.