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Friday, July 5, 2013

METROPOLIS REVISITED




everywhere

in the city

it cost a pretty penny

to maintain

a standard that only a few aeons before

had seemed attainable



acquire squatters rights

in a decent slum

and the first thing you know

here come the homosexuals

with the quick dart and thrust

of their paintbrushes

obsessive butterfly shades

well  yes  it does look better

but.............



and then the trendy

nouveau riche

bourgeoisie

flatulent parvenu

who discard a twentydollar cigar

into the gutter

after three puffs

because they don't know how to smoke it

inflating rents

driving

the price

of a piece of property

                                                up

past all grasp of reason

of the universal man



real estate developers

quick to exploit

as a buzzard hawk

senses carrion

have vanity pieces

written into the local rag

which would sell

its grandmother

for the price of a barrel of ink



the ghost of herr goebbels must chuckle

when the city "relocates"

the homeless interlopers

as god bows to Mammon

they close the place at sundown anyhow

and padlock the tearoom doors



but the paddyrollers will shoot you

if you don't watch out

and you will not pass go

and they will not go to jail

and they can collect $200

"administrative leave"

and blood will out



while our future

is pissed out upon the street

$100 REWARD

LIONEL

RUNAWAY

SCARS ON BACK AND ARMS

AND PSYCHE

METAL RING IN NOSE

LAST SEEN WEARING

BLACK LEATHER JACKET

WITH PENTAGRAM ON BACK

AND AN ATTITUDE



and the congregants

hire their preachers

to wax so highly

in their chapels

of jesus the redeemer

not a social

activist among them



while the people

cheeer the garish colors

of the gladiators

in their temples

along the platte



and they will all go to heaven

in coral gables

and I will search for new slums

each more scarce than the last



i think of the land

i so swiftly left as a youth

and of the arbor with the sweet purple grapes



the gospel according to saint john

chapter eleven

verse thirty five


                                                            daniel wenger
                                                   2/97

 Re posted from Jan. 12, 2012

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