Friday, April 15, 2011

They Win But We're Not Playing


They’ll cash in big, real soon now, on real estate, hot stocks or maybe even gold
We never gamble, don’t buy new cars and so very rarely even go out for dinner

They still spend more than they earn on things they casually ruin, then quickly discard
We saved enough to retire early but we continue buying their new castoffs at the thrift stores

Five days a week and fifty weeks a year they toil in nondescript obscurity
We’re making more than that on just the interest from our nerdy savings

Got to have that flash new sports sedan and the latest giant whatever screen TV
We live large and free driving old cars among them - And they do not even see us

Chained to credit cards and mortgages, their spoiled children act as a heavy ballast
It’s so nice to be debtless and not even have any rent to pay…except for health insurance

They march at precise and artificial angles laid out by simpering project managers
Finally cast aside for good, our days of narrow specialization are done at last

Heading up and moving out on all those weekends which are so quickly forgotten
We spend months wandering this land, often just trying hard simply to avoid their herds

Loading up on lattes, Big Gulps, and drive-thrus they spend freely and grow fat
We buy the good stuff raw and cook it up ourselves, while sipping an inexpensive tea

They get real work done on their cells even while languishing for hours in endless traffic jams
Our slow pace infuriates them on their busy ways to their latest very important tasks

Their children cannot read or write despite all their attentions and the latest in meds
We wonder every day at the shabbier world their parents are de-constructing for them

They get news between commercials and their opinions are spun from clever sound bites
We spit out media pellets like our dogs cough out the bitter pills we place into their food

They save a lot at Wal*Mart while imports rise in proportion to jobs disappearing
We find that which lasts, even in the modern world, still remains the best

They push each other’s buttons to get their readouts on phony litmus issues
We play acting like we really care about either side of their deliberately false choices

Living for today was always real exciting but what do they remember now?
The fast times they enjoy have passed us by at last and we are not sad to see them gone

They are happy being spoon-fed their fundamentalist, evangelical beliefs
We are free to contemplate the terrible emptiness that approaches so very fast

They love fireworks, making noise and the excitement of crowds of clones
We search for peaceful quiet places, trying to fit in without making a mess

They eagerly suckle on all the pious bullshit RE: ‘ThE greatest country on the planet’
Now we hide our passports in shame traveling to places they cannot find on maps

They strive so hard to make their unique mark within the confines of the herd
We regularly get the crap kicked out of us by them for being a little different

Their rights include free clean air, unlimited good water from their taps and cheap garbage removal
We see what people in upstream places pour back for the towns down below them to enjoy

In their constrained view it’s animals and trees versus people, jobs and our sacred way of life
We are cursed by the belief that we are destroying the very web of life that supports our society

Ancient, ignored and irrelevant history slides along, an ancient 10 to 15 years behind them
We consider some of our thoughts in light of the estimated age of the universe

Theirs is satisfaction in fertilized, poisoned, over-watered factory bluegrass
We look to experience climax forests with their food chains entirely intact

They want either money from the government or the right to kill any wolf they see
We want their welfare cattle to stop abusing our federal lands for next to nothing

They search for the cheapest factory foods, never mind its manner of production
We want to eat cleanly, morally and sustainably and will gladly pay a little more to do it

They never miss reality shows, packaged corporate ‘big games’ or special presentations
We found if you ignore them, such bees quickly stop buzzing between your ears

They idle their SUVs in air-conditioned comfort awaiting their fast food orders
We try to find the shade when it’s hot and stir up something cool to drink

Their patriotic acceptance of our dEfense costs us nearly a trillion, every year
We see no justification in spending more than all rest of the countries combined

They feel safe driving overpriced, inefficient dinosaurs designed to wear out quickly
We enjoy our tiny fuel-efficient cars, full of gizmos and very comfortable

Make theirs quick, hyper-sweetened, greasy-fat-laden and heavily caffeinated
We’ll have the more subtle, smaller, whole-grain, homemade portions, please

They pursue angry recreation in noisy, smoggy, devastating gas-powered toys
We hike, swim, ski, surf, kayak, board - And can still hear our surroundings

Theirs is a world of backbiting, political intrigues and private boardroom schemes
Our quiet search of self-discovery reveals the destruction spreading out about their footprints

Their god commands they conquer the land and treat its creatures in any way they deem fit
Our beliefs tend towards mutual survival within largely intact ecosystems

They feel safe behind locked doors within brightly-lit, gated and patrolled communities
We camp alone in empty places and draw peace from the starry stillness

Their god moves about in his mysterious and fundamentalist ways
Our god has no will or message and neither watches over nor awaits us

They leave a tattered, overpopulated world to their very special children
We blew off reproduction in protest of their vast and thoughtless destruction

They plaster their faces, get botoxed and send their poodles off to the spas
We push aside most of their designer castoffs pawing through the thrift stores

Their new 300 horsepower SUV gives them a sense of pride and security
Our aging Japanese economy cars simply make more sense to us

They flaunt their financed luxuries in hopes all the world will be impressed
We hide our wealth and travel like burnt-out gypsies on pilgrimages to real experiences

They look away when they meet us walking, say in the grocery store
We try to ignore them in their idling mortgaged cars, talking noisily on their phones

Their giant empty second homes are where their families might someday gather
Our persistence retains the access to the public lands they are trying to fence off

Their children fuel the market for garishly colored cereal shot through with sugar
Cheap hot dogs and pus-like white buns would go bad if it were only us buying

They have rolled more long term credit card debt into their houses than they are worth
We sold our place before their greedy speculative bubble began to pop

Their taste for excitement, color, noise and crowds keeps their senses full
Our search for quiet peace and tranquility always begins with avoiding them

They sternly lecture everyone that maintenance of the economy must come first
We just don’t see how this wasteful circus could play on for a thousand years

They control the human landscape and to them so-called progress is quite inevitable
We will be extinguished due to their actions, right along beside them

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