The active shooter training is canceled
Because we live in bargain-bin hell
How dare there still be kittens
How dare a blue sky
And later a gentle green rain
When the mail arrives it’s full of crime scene photos
And ransom notes that seem to be for you
That’s more like it
You say to the worthless clutter
That is your home
Sooner than we thought the machines began to turn
Insanely as expected full of inanities believed unto death
And we lived through it all
Micro-paycheck to side hustle
On one streaming service the canals of a venerable European city
Clogged with the dead
But this was then revealed to be a dream dreamt by our betters
Who got married
Who flew into the capitol
And got captured by all the cameras
And got turned loose into our markets
It would take a lifetime to tell you how sorry I am
I watch the pointless rocket explode on the launchpad
I am handed a cup of rhetoric
I watch the show trials commence
Brad Liening is a poet living in Minneapolis and at bradliening.blogspot.com.
