poem of the day 09.12.09

the politics of paper

i cannot say no to them
these kids on the street passing out fliers
for politicians.
i always think they are doing this for some
important reason
like helping to feed their family.
in these economic times i feel as though
i am right in thinking this.
so i take the fliers as i move along
from each kid passing them out
and i think, well, i’ll just go around the bend
out of their view
and toss the fliers in the next garbage can that i see.
only i forget to do this and the fliers end up in my bag,
until i have an unmanageable pile of them
all of these benevolent, grinning political faces
taking up space in my bag
democrats and republicans
promising me this and that, and everything else
that they can think of
all because i wanted to help some kid out with his job.
it’s funny really, if you don’t think about
the waste of paper that is,
this political paper trail,
because i’m not going to vote for a single one of these people
not if they offered me chocolate and blow jobs
and a harem of puerto rican girls
not the city comptroller
not the representative that wants to do away
with gay marriage and health care
nor the one that supports the two
not even the mayor who has been assaulting
my mailbox for months on end
with a barrage of glossy paper that has killed
so many glossy trees
one fallen for each new one he’s promised to plant.
i’m not going to vote for a single one of those pompous pricks.
but i’ll keep taking their fliers
and i’ll keep helping out the kids
after all, somebody has to help quell the damage
that all of those smiling, reptiles on the fliers
helped to create in the first place
why not me?
why not good old grochalski?