I never suitably thanked

you blue man, I
was just a kid and
didn't know any better.

I was moving, just
turned eighteen. Got
one of those rent—
a–trucks,

twelve bucks a
day. My friends had
helped to load
me up, then

off I went.
Moving out of the
house for the
first time

into my own
place, a studio
less than twenty–five
miles from home.

I remember driving
toward the cement
overpass, speed limit
55, I was doing 60.

Wasn't wearing
my seat belt, and
missed the warning
sign. Then came

flashing red and blue
lights, police siren.
When I pulled the truck
over, ten feet before

the overpass, I could see
the fear in the police
officer's eyes. His hands
trembled, voice shook,

raised his voice at
me for a second. Put me
on another route. Told
me to be careful.

I went by the spot again
yesterday. Nothing's
really changed. Overpass

has ten feet clearance,
my truck was
twelve feet high.

When I look at
my children these days,
and their children,

I often think
of the blue man,
and what might have been.

I never suitably thanked
you blue man, I
was just a kid and
didn't know any better.

In Political Circles

Corporations are no longer
lifeless trifling things

They're now breathing fleshy,
spending millions
to turn deep sea blue

to pecuniary red
and to pick the black robed
mouthpieces who magically

brought them to life
in the first place and will
keep them thriving

While once insignificant
political things are busy
buying up all the free speech
that's out there, the average

Joe will never get
a word in edgewise, maybe
a consonant here and again

that's infrequently used
when demand is low
Some corporations

think (?) that contraception is
against religion (!)
then corporations trump people (?!)

as our high court disassembles
the constitution, like a high school
science project held together

by thin wires, and taken out
by the janitor with
the afternoon's cafeteria trash

Given all the servile flatterers
the things may elect,
the sky's the limitless

But in the meantime,
try to have mercy
on the poor corporation

Resist the temptation
to be a bigot