Friday, August 5, 2016

poem of the day 08.05.16

the robbers

my wife and i joke sometimes
about what would happen
if our apartment got robbed

of course, this is no laughing matter

but what would the robbers think
if they waltzed into our place with its 26-inch tv
that you can’t even watch foreign films on
because the subtitles are so tiny

the vcr/dvd combo for christ’s sake

cd in stacks like ancient roman ruins
and books…goddamned books everywhere

the tech: a pc and laptop, both six years old

little jewelry on hand and clothing fraying at the seams
t-shirt and socks heading toward a decade

no cash on the premise

and a seventeen year old cat
who’s random shit piles they might step on
as they case the joint

what would these thieves even take?

expired light beer and jug vodka in the fridge
half-empty ice cube trays and questionable sour cream

original art in yellowing stacks on cardboard desks
that the shitty poetry mags don’t even want

the action figures taken out of the packages

those poor burglars
picking the one apartment in all of brooklyn
whose whole life is one obsolete technology after another

all of that expert criminal activity wasted on this?

sitting here now, feeling like a luddite, a relic
i wonder how it is that we even live here

how maybe we should go out and get the latest technology

smartphones and ipads and fitbits
and watches we can talk into like spies

devices that will wash us and brush our teeth

a sixty-five inch LED smart television
that tracks what we watch
a blue-ray combo that streams like a mighty river

go top shelf and buy prepared meals online
update the wardrobe and go name brand
stuff some cash in between the couch cushions

get a boutique pet or even cable

go on a real, honest to goodness
credit card bloating, downhome american shopping spree

get drunk and go to bed with the doors wide open
to this crazy sweltering city
and see what happens

a vile purloining of all of our new fancy possessions

or just waking up the next day
feeling hungover and  hollow

like something else much more dear to us
had been lifted and taken


                                                

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