TAKING SIDES
and why do you hate (democrats) (republicans)
exactly-
only hearing about them,
not talking with them,
hating them, for what
they're only more
people who don't know what they're talking about,
flipping on a screen
of one side
to believe
and the next day
relishing that
the same screen agrees.
people dislike an other side
because
someone else judged it
and they agreed,
upset when their side
is judged and
are there really sides anymore
when we all do the
same things
at the bottom of a hole,
too dark to see
POUNDING PAVEMENT
driving in cars on highways is the norm,
living in simulations is the norm,
spots for cars in a city
outnumbering slots
for human beings,
bands don't make bass but
computers, machines
pound their noise
into heads
eyes, ears, minds
oversaturated,
filling time,
no time to see
overviews,
totality,
what's happening,
no time
no time to be wise
fentanyl
lab made food
cause disease
more addictive than drugs- find em cheap on
every corner, every store, wrapped in plastic-
a by-product of oil-
because it's cheap
because it's cheap
because it's cheap to die,
they'll watch
they'll watch
they'll watch as you die
TEXAS
In Texas you'll see a field of grass out to the horizon flat and a couple donkeys while you hear a jet plane overhead.
You'll see a plane low landing toward a military base as the old yellow school bus rolls by.
Neighborhoods of identical houses in plywood uniquely priced.
Neighbors will forget to say hi. Rolling out trash bins on wheels to the curb and pay strangers a dumping fee,
they won't know your name,
dogs snarling at you from behind their gate, in Texas,
there'll be no sidewalks of people walking by, there'll be no choice,
more headlights growling, roaring than real eyes passing by, in Texas.
LIVE MINES
you would get everyone sick,
sick enough with disease that
they'd die- as to
(rid) (dispose) of the
carnage that would have
remained after a
disaster-
maybe you'd get
the government to agree,
to work with you,
because millions dead through disease
is easier on the mind than
the thought of piles
blown up, exploding
to dust-
gas pipelines-
laid mines
would be easy to do
if no one saw
you do it,
if they saw you
looking normal,
under their own eyes,
construction crews,
foreign builders
always building,
laying foundations, construction sites,
trenches
and laid mines
maybe you'd introduce
into the environment
the specimen-
named-disease,
toxins in foods, eaten willingly
addicting,
fentanyl pills made
at the seat
of the world,
in the east,
undetected-
would this be ironic
funny even
they say comedy is
tragedy
plus (after) time-
and live mines
Mann is a young writer from Texas. She has worked as a writer and analyst at the state's house of representatives and committee on appropriations in Austin. She spent the pandemic living in San Francisco to release through contemporary writings and illustrations. She believes poems ought not always be fluffy, but real.
