A Society Named Desire
poet’s note: Online and personal discussion about what the recent Sanity-Rally in DC accomplished, and how much do The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and other shows affect change, helped prompt this poem.
“Now what kind of a queen do you think you are?…
And do you know what I say? Ha ha! Do you hear me? Ha ha ha!”
– Stanley Kowalski, from “A Streetcar Named Desire”
1
By the shores of gimme-gimme,
in the shining HDTV,
stood the suit with wrinkled forehead,
pitching products through his female,
then a voice came through the clearing,
with soft caring admonition:
Have you heard the news muse?
Can you read between the lines?
Decipher the Yang white space
along with the Yin letters?
Pay attention folks, everything that happens happens now.
What happened, happened. And what is going to happen
has not happened yet. Everything that happens happens now.
2
Gandhi walked miles without another man’s shoes,
threw salt over his shoulder and the empire backed off.
Václav Havel’s motto: “Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate.”
Simón Bolívar saw the future happening now.
But what about me? you ask. I’m not the type to do such things,
not Greenpeace brave enough to stare an oil-tanker in the face.
3
By the shining HDTV,
in the comfort of the homestead,
you can activate the synapses,
with variety of pleasures,
with your eyeballs grain-of-salt it,
crack your lips and shake your belly.
Laughter is activism. Ha Ha! Do you hear me? Ha Ha Ha!
i’ve been on to you media from the start,
i’ve been on to you corporate polluters and war-mongers,
and not once did you pull the commercial over this boy’s eyes.
So i say, Ha Ha Ha! Laughter is activism.
You come into my living room with your fancy perfumes
and food commercials where even buying a potato chip
has to do with getting laid, and everybody is made up nice
with creams and powders, and lo and behold, the place
has turned to Disneyland and you are Goofy.
And do you know what I say?
Print This He is a writer, small press publisher, and Turtle Islander. His work has been published worldwide and he feels no animosity toward Goofy. You can contact him via his literary website.