Falling off the Cliff
a poem meant to be spoken
In the style of the late Jerome Robinson
4-25-51 to 2/5/03)
Let’s not be talking ‘bout the fiscal cliff
How about the fracking cliff
the global warming cliff
the bears running out of ice and
hurricanes where they never were before cliff
the ain’t hardly no more union jobs cliff
the endless endless war cliff
the lets have the US make enemies
in nations that ain’t even heard of us cliff
Don’t be worryin’ ‘bout Wall Street
Wall Street is Hell Street
and it’s getting too damn hot for
Der Teufel himself
Don’t be planning fundraisers for the Pentagon
the octagon, the octopus has
tentacles all around
and if they run out of nowhere to go high school grads
they might look younger
hell they might even find a way
find a way
to use all them prisoners we keep accumulating
why pay for them when they
can do a dying job for us,
a killing job for us
What about the Media cliff
when was the last time you heard
truth from them
when was the first
time
when did Cable news become
another word for fiction, for opinion
when did our newspapers
stop reporting the news
maybe news stopped happening
maybe we all have equal rights
and none are left behind
its all repeat and repeat and
groundhog day again again and again
As Yogi Berra said
“its déjà vu all over again”.
When did Poetry fall off the cliff
and why didn’t anyone tell us
when did art and money become interchanged
meaning no change at all
can anyone still Rage Against the Machine
can they
does it matter
When can we go to our local Moneyplex
and not see blood, guns, and explosions
I go to the movies
to get away from my life in
suburban Swarthmore
But most of all
what about the lack of leadership cliff?
Two names one party
Two names one party
we have fallen off the duopoly cliff.
have we fallen and can’t get up
or won’t get up
In November 2012
Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein ran
for President with
cough cough alternative parties
you know “those people”
but we can’t ever look at someone
who might spoil the spoilers we elect
and elect to finish second
we can’t elect to look around past all the cliffs
we’re much better off
just getting to the cliff
and jumping, jumping, jumping-
Bob Small
12-6-12 revised 12-8-12 then 12-26-12 and finally 9-22-13
robertthesmall 