Askew

It's not a science fiction film, or
Some alternate reality

Not a place of dreams
Where the details are of no consequence

This

Is where we are
When we're awake
And it all makes less sense than the other

Nothing
adds up here

Though we never question it
Not just the smaller details;
Continuous power, clean water, a toilet that always flushes, or
an endless Internet 

Yet, it's the giant things that leave us scratching our heads...

The vacuum of value
The hollowed out people, still
Collecting paychecks
And a shortage of paychecks

Shop 'til you drop and the mortgage
Is past due 

Fiscal cliffs and the government's
Still spending

The stock market rewards our vices
More than innovation and 
good health

The news is entertainment
And the ratings are up,
Way up

A doltish american socialite headlines
For getting pregnant
Where Newtown recovery
Is way down the page

Our soldiers return
with PTSD,
and sadness,
and loss, 

and are rewarded with
displacement and neglect - 
hidden
within short lived patriotism
and "feel good" propaganda
not for them
but for
Us
to hide our own 
guilt 
for not being 
there

A Serviceman is thrown in prison when he freaks
Out in public - that's the treatment
The new program

senators, congressmen, presidents, and governors,
living Large 

Teachers and Policemen
Starving

"Try" and "But" have become
new action words
in our capital
Over "will" and "must"

Blaming the past is everywhere
It's boring
Maybe we should blame the future
Since we're not learning from the past
Anyway

The average family can make
One hundred pounds
Of trash
Per week
...or more if it tries
Yet our streets and suburbs are mostly clean

And the world spins one thousand thirty eight
Miles an hour
Rotates around the sun
And the seasons still
Change

Somewhere, someone, is
Laughing