RICH MURPHY

Party Time USA

"The Spirit of History is out walking." – Czeslaw Milosz

Every state similarly celebrated
when the Cold War entrenchment ended.
The malicious refugee manipulations
by the Nazis and Communists
penned for good in history books.

The faithful social engineers
from the church Orthodox Capitalism
doused with free time and no self-worth
and then tossed in the match:
opioids and alcohol.
Any industrial solidarity,
unionized or otherwise,
burst into service sector entrails.
Basalt scorched through towns.
Children screamed into the streets;
parental tailings staggered behind.

Victory sucked at the climate,
the oceans, the banks:
the opportunity for a Forever
World Fair … absconded with the tax funds
to gated communities and bunkers.

Slag-populated cities empty
into landfill cemeteries.
Refrigerator boxes and tarps
house enough for survivors
while generation baselines shift
until new normal settles in for encampments.

 

 

 

Dosey Doe Folk

 

By the time the win-win Jujitsu dance partner
wakes to back pain and to fake-change,
the hoarding class helping-charade has moved on,
squeezing salve from the justification apparatus.
Next season the cha-cha may register for billionaires.

The Raise Hell School for foot tapping students,
who wear invisible ink targets on t-shirt backs,
believe that the choreographer after handing out
the permission slips cheers on sidelines.

Every four years another pivot professional
promises to alter or to stop, and the amateurs
trip over scripted lines stretched before each step.
After the fall, the search for spare change
begins again for the hoofer in the dark.

 

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