Speed Limits? We Don’t Obey No Stinking Speed Limits
We’re revved up on Peet’s coffee
driven by Silicon Valley vanity
we’re unanimous
we’re equanimous
in our 24/7 disregard
for our city’s 25 mph limits
speeding up & down Middlefield Road
at 40 … 45 … do I hear 55?
making it our own private middle-finger-extended
joy ride except joy
takes backseat
to steering-wheel vise-grip grim-faced
horn-honking entitlement-ridden
desire to hear our phones’ digitized
cheery cheesy
voice of vindication validation:
“You’ve arrived!”
Gym Rats
Those who sit at the biceps curl machine
the only thing curling their lower lips
as they stare dumb at smart phone screens
reading news or weather or sports scores
or texting (Hey, ’sup? Just sittin’ here at biceps curl machine …)
or whatever they’re doing at the biceps curl machine
while not curling their biceps
oblivious of anyone patiently or not-so patiently waiting
indifferent to common courtesy & general gym rule:
Don’t Hog Equipment! as they set phones aside
to concentrate on yet another set of biceps curls
(or leg extensions or chest expansions or back & shoulder whatevers)
as if they’re Schwarzenegger at Gold’s circa 1975
concentrating on winning yet another Mr. Olympia title
when really they’re merely obscenely
overpaid GoogleFacebookTwitterTeslaStanfordHooverInstitue
Yahoos.
Poking Insidious Eye With Sharp Stick — It’s About Time
insidious eye, idiot box, boob tube
— high school teacher’s elitist
conceited critique of TV circa 1963
we conceded his point but point
proves moot, conceding TV’s voodoo
to attract distract mesmerize anesthetize
seduce with eyewitness news hope horror
JFK elected inaugurated assassinated
even witnessing assassin assassinated
boob tube, idiot box, its unblinking
insidious eye high tech narcotic
but what were poor addicts to do?
from Flintstones to Simpsons cartoons
from Alan Shepard teeing off on the moon
to loony Tricky Dick’s quitting befitting
first TV generation we’ve gone
from 12-inch black-and-white images
as snowy as Christmas in Saskatoon
to today’s Best Buy hi-def deities
like private theater sound and screens
to watch cops docs sit-coms stand-ups
mobsters Mad Men masterpieces
on Petroleum Broadcasting Service
celebrity WrestleMania megalomania
nine innings two halves four quarters
overtime all the time promotion
of conspicuous consumption
endless ads for painless perfection
of body mind spiritless spirit
even commercials for erections
9/11 replays on fetishistic loop
propagandized into war whoops
Fox News talking heads’ raging bull
talk show pablum Orwellian reality
canned laughs conned public
so many channels so little reflection
America’s got talent for short attention
with pox of pundits morbid mantra
if it bleeds it leads breaking news broken
enough is enough is enough already
more than enough staring bingeing
cringing cheering leering loathing
why now? because it’s about time
that’s all it’s ever been about
now or never never or now
at long last what took so long?
oh just usual lazy crazy hazy
explanations rationalizations
it’s about time except now
time’s far from fat and forever
far from its former self now
it’s lean and lethal like stiletto
blade or laser beam excising
or exorcising frontal lobe
when is enough much more than enough?
brain-saving no-brainer no time
like now turn off pull plug disconnect
reconnect to outside world inner you
overdue poke sharp stick into insidious
eye aspire to channel better angels
giving it up for Lent at 12 felt false holy
giving it up for good at 70 feels
freeing healing wholly healthy.