scarecrow poetics/essays

What do we do to feel good now
How bad do we feel before we entertain decadence
In a store that masquerades as a village
Larger than a town that’s shanty
Shake hands with your neighbour? Mmm?
Sit down in a glass walled box with food from far away lands
Next to a conduit of water facing real estate
What's real about that estate, belongs to the man
Why does one smile when an robot approves your wealth
Only to fool you into believing with its automated stealth
Attaching status to a multinational acceptance
Acquiring grandeur through a plethora of plastic
We buy, we buy, goodbye to the melancholy
Wake up to the loss that was there previously
Doesn’t go away, no, loss lives in the shadows
And it can’t be paid off by capital one, two or three !
So I suggest what an old man said
When he was barely alive in his bronchial asthmatic bed
"You can smile at the sun and dance in the rain
Woo a lady with fine wine in southern regions of Spain"
But one thing you cant get these days and one thing that’s mine
Is some polish on a cloth to make old shoes shine

Stephen Monaghan © 2005.