YESTERDAY'S RATIONS
 

I.

They tell us the war might go for another decade.
I'll be fifty then.
By then we'll all be used
To drinking only bottled water
To consider in worshipful adoration
The suffering of others: the purposefully
Purposeless plunge of the knife into the aorta,
A quick glance
Over your shoulder. Yes, this moment too
Was captured, bound on film.

II.

You can relax. We're watching
You. And even the children
Skipping through arcs of water in the south-end
Parts of New Orleans, and the women
Sitting under palm trees, catching a breeze,
They too are being watched. A woman
Insists I work very hard at my job. I believe
Her. I write this down. She watches me.
I watch her watching me. This moment is brought to you
By your ego. I've been bullish on ego since
Bob's tip. He drives an 04 Silverado now,
The man's on his third wife
About a nose job. Mostly we talked about you,
Though, we watched videos too.
You should smile more. Straighten
Your shoulders. Your pants are too long.

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