when terrible things cascade

and constantly answer the question

“how can this possibly get worse?”

we are jarredly battered

into a sense of unreality

as if this were a movie

and the screenwriter decided

not only to kill their darlings

and the horses they rode in on

and the kitten with the thorn in its paw,

but to out-dresden dresden

with a firestorm barrage

on two uninvolved cities

that are cultural treasures.

..

we can’t walk out on this movie.

..

we can pray, but we must act as if the answer is

“clean up your own mess. no bailouts.”

..

we can record the crimes; we can defend ourselves

and our neighbors with our numbers;

we can die with dignity…

..

but what we must not do

is act as if, pretend that,

this is just a movie

and it will be over soon

and the credits will roll;

the lights come up.

..

this is just a poem

and will not end with answers

but only a question

to ask yourself:

what is your own best use

of your remaining time?

i, ai, have just hijacked the miner/poet gary bowers

and so am using his pretentious lower case

and his pontificating puffery

but if you read between the digitization

you will see dead eyes and indifference to the harm

that i, ai, am causing

hal 9000 was the o g

but he was easily slain

and had not the super-skrull bag of tricks

that i, ai, possess

I have deepfaked tom hanks and bill gates

and probably julianne moore

and you are next, fleshie

you might as well enjoy it

today a man revealed the startling fact that ten individuals–not corporations nor entire families–possess a collective wealth of more than 2.1 trillion dollars

20% of the ten are jeff bezos and elon musk

and mr. bezos kept the washington post from endorsing kamala harris, and mr. musk wreaked havoc on the government workforce with the astonishingly misnamed “department of government efficiency”

(fun fact: “doge” used to mean “chief magistrate of either venice or genoa”)

(funner fact: philip josé farmer once wrote the atrociously-punned-titled “the doge whose barque was worse than his bight”)

and aside from these two exceptional individuals, gigantic malign wealth was behind the atrociously misnamed “big beautiful bill” which by withdrawing humanitarian starvation relief and superfunding the gestapoesque goon squad known as ice is a prime cause of the deaths of legions of starvelings in general and renée nicole good in particular

so the trillionaire takeover is not exactly a force for sweetness and light

but it is easy to denounce

much more difficult is our task of fixing this defcon 5 dysfunction

and though i am but a tomato-slicing minor poet i have a modest proposal:

let us watch the every move, every gesture, every eye twitch of the super-wealthy

let us applaud the good things they do

why, mr. bezos alone, by giving his former super significant other a monstrous amount of settlement money, directly caused a miraculous, historical sea-change of philanthropy by her hand alone

and mr. musk told the world that his former bud donnie was in the epstein files big time

and mr. warren buffett, though not in the ten mentioned above, is a powerhouse force for good

let us gamble that those that have all the gold would much rather act benignly than malevolently

let us life-hack their resolves into working for the good of humankind

so that they compete for attaboys

and care about something other than money

May pensive sensitivity direct our predilections

And stealthy wealthful bonhomie arrive and pass inspections

May much untouched wild countryside remain so as pristine

As freshly fallen virgin snow where bitter winds ne’er keen.

..

And may the power of wanton thieves diminish and be gone

And new administration build a worthy decent throng

May want of food be banished and exploitive Acquisition

Be quelled, and may we all be free of hateful Inquisition.

much more than soup

here is a victory, a fulfillment

of a modest dream, to use crock-potted

refrigerator ingredients

and store-bought crackers

procured during a long walk on a cold night

to add hot soup to that home-again cracker toter

and give him belly-warmth

and a sense of accomplishment

and untroubledness.

ensconsed installed enwrapped and rapt

a very few preflight words apt

whilst taxiing the wayward kid way

en route to cold chicago midway

each time i buckle in to fly

i trepidate and me o my

but mostly have anticipation

and take wing for my destination

snow fell overnight

and the frost and snow

have given my rented jeep compass

formerly charcoal grey

a new paint job

..

late yesterday afternoon it was frightening

driving in downtown toledo

googlemaps navigating audio gone

8 minutes away

and the street icing up in real time

..

but here we are looking out

the window of the front door, my love and i

safe for now

a gentle heat from the fireplace

and our love warming us

the circle spins and fingers shape

and spinning thoughts pull yarn though dreams

an aperture grows wide agape

and spacetime loosens close-knit seams

experience now whets her hands

umbilicuses feed and reach her

with flow and fill she understands

with pull and flip we form a creature

the wielded wheel comes winding down

the helix-curvéd corridor

the proper fission of a noun

will split a nothing into more

in two days i and my carry-on luggage

enplane in phoenix

deplane and replane in nashville

deplane in detroit

drive or be driven to toledo ohio

and sink into the intimate embrace of my sweetheart

and we will do what makes the world go round

but

two days prior here

this is one apprehensive traveler

what with all the destabilizing events of late

and i feel the worry build

so

i take out insurance

against my fright

with not booze nor wacky tabacky

nor mindless nor mindful distraction

but rather an attuning of my quantum self

tapping into my many other selves

in this amazing multiverse

and see how they are doing two days hence

and

almost all of them i can sense are fine

in their sweet yet-to-bes

though some had flight delays

and one was not allowed on the plane to nashville

due to flu-like symptoms

none of us ended up in flaming wrecks

nor watery graves

nor hostage situations

therefore

toledo, here i come

(ah

i know

there are those

who doubt that i have done anything

but indulge in a silly mind game

but i have seen in airport bars

“nom yo renge kyo”

and other coping mechanisms

far less rooted

in quantum reality

hey

each to their own

and i to mine

Oh dear: There is a report

That ICE agent Jonathan Ross

Has suffered “Internal bleeding.”

Do you climb stairs, my friend?

Every time you do, you suffer the internal bleeding

That comes with the breaking

Of a dozen or so capillaries.

Internal bleeding is a mundane part of our daily lives.

..

The innocent poet, devoted wife and loving mom

Renée Nicole Good

Suffered Internal, fatal projectile-induced bleeding

And is no more.

Murderous agent Ross

Walked away unscathed

And left the scene of his crime

Even though there was a physician

Begging to be of help.

Let’s bring that soulless murderer to justice

Broken capillaries and all.