day ONE THOUSAND and SIXTY NINE

2019 Manger Scene

Ten days before Christmas
in a big box store
florescent dystopian feedlot
of the Plasticene era.

An assortment of bedraggled
polyester beasts
shuffle through the ruins
of their lives
in pajama bottoms
and shoddy slippers
at one in the afternoon
with that just got out of bed
quit caring a long time ago look
of misplaced dignity
slumped over shopping carts
stumbling drunk on their phones
trawling the vast acreage
of disposable gizmo’s
surplus trinkets
holiday bait
and neatly stacked
stockpiles of crap.

Digital coupon clippers
jam the aisles
with befuddled needs
besieged by desperation.

These are the fleeced
soldiers of capitalism
wounded in action
dead on their feet
vanquished
in pastures of plenty.

Outside the gates
of this pristine hell
a Salvation Army sentry
rings his bell.


--Stew Jorgenson