Another Poem About More of the Same
the words rise
above the coffee
smells and soft
music like an
antiseptic cloud
and the words
rise from a collection
of women dressed
in black sweaters black
pants black boots and
they all look the same
but different
and their cars out front,
ski racks and
honor student
stickers, suvs and
minivans, envoys and
tahoes, caravans
and odysseys.
milk, one of them says,
I haven't given
Nathan anything
with milk in it for the
past two months. not
even grilled cheese
or macaroni and I
have to tell you, what
a difference it makes,
it makes him less aggressive
and I did this because
he was acting up in school,
fidgeting at his desk
cutting in line
and it was because of
the milk, I tell you, and
who wants their kid
to act up in school,
who wants that kind of
attention?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hollywood is Nothing More Than Hollywood
in between
jobs and
money was
an issue
as I was
cruising
the video
rental place
aisles
and I couldn't
find anything
worth giving
up a buck
ninety-nine for
and it was
so very
clear to
me that
I was and
probably
will always
be a loser
and that
Hollywood
is hungry
for your
money and
ideas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fair Trade
the bags says the coffee is
fair trade and I paid extra
for it because I like to think
I'm helping the little
guy, helping some poor
brown-skinned dude
in Guatemala get
a fair price for his
beans and I sip
that coffee on
the way to work,
from the suburbs
through the disintegrating
city where the bus stops
are overflowing.
I sip that coffee,
with pale and tender lips
attached
to a face that is white
and my coffee
is black and
coincidentally
so are the faces
waiting for the bus.
• David LaBounty says… I live in suburban Detroit with my wife and two young sons and there is more info on my very boring blog at http://davidlabounty.blogspot.com