December 31st, America

0

Get dressed to go shopping to buy more
Things to wear to get dressed to go shopping
For more things on sale to wear only once
Before the need for fresh fashion arises
&
Get dressed to go shopping to buy more
Jostled by deal-seeking crowds grabbing
The best on-sale items at minutes after
Midnight the foot-stomping lines now
Stampede.

Junk car my restaurant consuming food stamps
I also stood in line for, the skittering shoppers
Make their way rudely to greedy take
The shelves empty – ignore me – I haven’t
The obvious will or wallet to indulge
A buying frenzy beyond these cheap socks.

 

Marcus If has been writing and performing poetry along the Colorado Front Range for 30 years. He is the Headmaster of the Beyond Academia Free Skool in Boulder, a nonprofit group of over a dozen writers who offer free writing workshops every month.