Chasing Ambulances

The alarm sounds each morning
like a siren from an emergency vehicle
whose lights flash between the window blinds,
and the drive to work is like chasing
an ambulance to your own grave.

Working towards what appears to be retirement,
stuffing a mattress full of dollar bills to curl up on
to get a better night's sleep,
a little more cushion,
financial security.

But a bed that is too soft can make the back
hurt when you get up there in age,
so take the experience as a misunderstanding,
a rehearsal played out on the wrong stage.

I Mean...

(for Czeslaw Milosz "Adam and Eve")

Billions of years ago (I mean six thousand years ago),
when the universe was being made,
God must have anticipated Man's
future need for unleaded gasoline.

So on the third day of creation,
He made the seas and the lands
with large pools of petroleum
conveniently placed inside.
He looked at the work of his hands, paused
and said, "This was the worst idea ever."

As cars evolved (I mean developed)
from the Ford Model T to huge SUV's,
Man's dependence grew and grew
on this precious natural resource.

Hummers! Four Car Garages!
Seven Lane Highways! Traffic Jams!
But as the barrel prices rose,
so did his ego, so he started famines
and wars to maintain control
of this black gold.

Soon God's greatest gift to mankind
began to dry up across the lands.
We shrieked loudly and beat our chests
at all the oil companies as they
raised the price of gasoline.

Then something happened
that no one could have foreseen,
we all turned back into monkeys
(I mean...).

Two Lovers vs. A Forest Fire vs. A Book Burning

(for Richard Brautigan and Ray Bradbury)

Long, skinny legs
like twigs get tangled,
set fire to the U.S.
like a book burned
for its controversial words.

A country's pride and greed
swept clean by an act of love
that would cleanse
the many marks
of the Western man's sin.

And in each new Spring came
all things green
"and the leaves of the tree[s]
were for the healing
of the nations."

If God shall ever grant me sight

If God shall ever grant me sight

From each dark alley will appear a light
where the least of these are laid to sleep
upon a bed of cardboard sheets

I'll fill their bellies with food and wine
born from the branch of the Master's vine.

But when you grant this gift to see
and I choose blindness instead of Thee
hang me from your heavenly gates
to die from my own sinful flesh and weight.
And I'll watch as widows and orphans pass through
to live in your kingdom and remain in You.

ABCs of the Farm Bill

A americans love money and B by god at whatever price.
C courage comes from caring? or the other way around,
i D don't remember. E ever wonder what Jesus
meant by "love your neighbor"? the F farm bill gives subsidies
to large corporate farmers who in return overproduce crops.
H how might this affect others? nobody asks because
I ignorance is bliss. J just consider africa where K kids play in the dust.
L lay in the dust. M malnourished.
N no farming here, O only starving. with crop P prices so low,
africans can't compete. americans stay Q quiet.
R reacting would require caring,
and we would rather not listen to their S screams.