NEED BE WITHOUT

Have to re-do the been stuck,
Gig-less out in Kansas,
With nothing but pre-orders,
I have to face the weather
Grounding every flight,
Cancellations are on-board,
I sit in the palace of bone dry
Cement mixed overhead,
In-house and de-layed
To a place farthest from de-light,
The deep-fry and the de-caf
Keep my stomach peaceful,
No mind and no matter
What the heart is made to face.

PASTEL BRUNCH

Who choose these feet to run over
Our old separations, the old seasons?
So much has slipped out and now
It all slips together, forming
Mountains of consumer confidence
Pressed together in order to fool
Naysayers of the current economic state.

Here come the heroes and Santa
And no one else for Easter,
Your rabbit has been replaced
As our holidays are now consolidated,
The officials agree, your grandma,
Teacher, priest, only they argued at all
And endured a nighttime sweat.

Laws have run old images together
To make certain feasts of sweets
Bigger for the bump in dollar exchange,
The days are rolled into one excuse
For coming mattress sales and bins
Of throat and stocking stuffers.
Not places to figure out human frailty.

CONTEXTING

Satire on new yuppies abounds
In crisp open pages
That are meant to wrinkle
Like the packages of said
Young professionals returning
From a day of shopping sprees.

Shortages of recognition,
I place copious squibs that blow
Up at their feet and drench,
Only then, I set my type down
Without clear brands and print
Out adventures until dry.

Oh so clever, I worry I might
Catch a cold or an addiction
To this new Splenda style,
I seek allusions and only find
References to the present,
A guide to consuming misery.

Ben Nardolilli‘s work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, One Ghana One Voice, Caper Literary Journal, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, Super Arrow, Grey Sparrow Journal, Pear Noir, Rabbit Catastrophe Review, and Yes Poetry. Recently, a chapbook,  Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, has been published by Folded Word Press. He maintains a blog at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and lives in Arlington, Virginia.

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