POEM: "It Looks Like It Hurts"

It Looks Like It Hurts 


I.

I watch a friend 
killing mosquitoes
in a Shanghai restaurant
tonight with an
electric tennis racket
and yes me too
the slowing time
a minute watching
fifty years to remember
an owl came out at night
and I remember
the cat racing out
and still I wonder
what we would give to
go on living if we would
give up love and joy and art
and good food and learning
if most of us 
(say this very quietly)
would even give up
our minds

II.

It looks like it would hurt
but of course Coke is the real thing
and the consumer is always the sucker
Coca-Cola & Disney the perfect marriage

What do they need us for?
Do I really want Minnie’s phone number?
When she finally takes off her costume
she spends the next four hours naked 
Mickey comes home at 3am 
with a dozen stolen Cokes 

he mixes with Bacardi and passes out
she poses like Barbie for a minute
and then cries for an hour 
it looks like it hurts


© 2016 Rob Schackne