Tuesday, December 10, 2013

poem of the day 12.10.13


the gilded fry cook

i swear
that somewhere in america
there is a gilded fry cook
making fifteen dollars an hour to flip burgers

with full bennies
and two weeks paid vacation

a full-fledged union worker whistling
zip-a-dee-doo-dah as the meat fries
and the fat bubbles of the grille

or maybe that’s a myth they tell us

still
my wife tells me
that soon they’ll be paying the homeless
to become wi-fi hubs

it’s a little something to keep them
honest and on the ball

because we don’t tolerate quitters
we don’t tolerate the lazy in this country

but i’m not sure what i think about that

it’ll make a cool facebook status
for someone though

homeless dude stinks
but you can’t beat the connection, bro-ha

i wonder what’s next

we’ve made it almost a month here
without someone flipping out
and killing a bunch of random strangers

i guess i’m getting bored and complacent

i’m in need of an angry fix
in need of something to pass these end of days
a new chapter in this horror story
to curl my toes and scare me shitless

a deranged loner
hanging outside a packed mall
preparing his own doorbuster

uncle sam haggard and fed up
living on life support

a priest giving him last rites
while his lawyers give interviews
to the 24/7 news feed

another sports legend
jacked up on PEDs and steroids

maybe he could lose his mind
and kidnap a bus full of suburban kids
going on a field trip to a church

half of them wearing his team colors

he could hold them up for ransom somewhere
have it paid in euros when football season ends
so he could get the hell out of america

return them all unharmed and smiling
with autographed glossies

plead for mercy
plead insanity
play highlight reels until the jury is numb

lock him up and give him the best
health care imaginable

the kind that everyone gets here now
from the president all the way down to the fry cook

to me and you

and the homeless dude
with the wireless router
embedded in his brain.

                                                

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