Ken Poyner
A Day
You slip out of your transparent
Front door in your day suit,
Reach the sidewalk at rather much
The same time as everyone else
Who is assigned to work this day.
You remember to smile. Your wife
Has warned you that you do not
Smile enough. It could be taken
As a sign of discontent, and Lord
Knows she does not want to break in
Any new husband the agency might
Send as a more accommodating replacement.
Your children should be online now
Learning how no one is anyone
Unless they are everyone; and to tell
Their parents what is important
In their studies, as they have been told.
Is this the day for yellow shoes?
The more that thinking is discouraged
The more there is to think about.
You really must work on your deficiencies.
Ned from three doors over seems
A little slow, which might come up
In a community meeting but likely
He will be given a week or two of forbearance,
Perhaps end up with a different work
Schedule, move in different circles,
Disappear from your immediate
Consideration. Not your concern.
Not your concern. Not your concern.
The trolley is pulling into the bunker
At the end of the street and you have
Five minutes to get to the door,
Along with all of your neighbors
Now turning in that direction. Those
Living farther up the street have
The hardest time. Not your concern.
Not your concern. Not your concern.
You check to see that you have your watch,
Feel in your pocket for the crumpled piece
Of paper with today's catchphrase.
What is today's catchphrase?
Front door in your day suit,
Reach the sidewalk at rather much
The same time as everyone else
Who is assigned to work this day.
You remember to smile. Your wife
Has warned you that you do not
Smile enough. It could be taken
As a sign of discontent, and Lord
Knows she does not want to break in
Any new husband the agency might
Send as a more accommodating replacement.
Your children should be online now
Learning how no one is anyone
Unless they are everyone; and to tell
Their parents what is important
In their studies, as they have been told.
Is this the day for yellow shoes?
The more that thinking is discouraged
The more there is to think about.
You really must work on your deficiencies.
Ned from three doors over seems
A little slow, which might come up
In a community meeting but likely
He will be given a week or two of forbearance,
Perhaps end up with a different work
Schedule, move in different circles,
Disappear from your immediate
Consideration. Not your concern.
Not your concern. Not your concern.
The trolley is pulling into the bunker
At the end of the street and you have
Five minutes to get to the door,
Along with all of your neighbors
Now turning in that direction. Those
Living farther up the street have
The hardest time. Not your concern.
Not your concern. Not your concern.
You check to see that you have your watch,
Feel in your pocket for the crumpled piece
Of paper with today's catchphrase.
What is today's catchphrase?
Approval
I am often the last aardvark at the ant hill,
And my gloomy persistence thrills even me.
While all the other aardvarks think
This mound is most likely fished out, I know
The fattest, tastiest residents
And my gloomy persistence thrills even me.
While all the other aardvarks think
This mound is most likely fished out, I know
The fattest, tastiest residents
Wait breathlessly in the deepest dark of the collective;
While those ants comprising the thin, tough, worker class
Protectively above them are drawn out and consumed:
The hunger of aardvarks sated.
It is safe then for the elite to emerge
While those ants comprising the thin, tough, worker class
Protectively above them are drawn out and consumed:
The hunger of aardvarks sated.
It is safe then for the elite to emerge
And organize the efforts of the common
Survivors in a meticulous reconstitution of the stratified colony.
They have learned to wriggle into the lowest recesses
Where no aardvark can reach,
With layers of ordinary ants
Survivors in a meticulous reconstitution of the stratified colony.
They have learned to wriggle into the lowest recesses
Where no aardvark can reach,
With layers of ordinary ants
Deliciously trapped above them.
The workers have less substance
But aardvarks are not themselves hard workers
And will take the easy, if rougher, meal.
I have developed different tastes.
The workers have less substance
But aardvarks are not themselves hard workers
And will take the easy, if rougher, meal.
I have developed different tastes.
I could fill up on broken-spirited
Automatons and do quite well on bulk alone;
But I choose to wait, to satisfy
A more discerning palette.
You admire me, don't you?
Automatons and do quite well on bulk alone;
But I choose to wait, to satisfy
A more discerning palette.
You admire me, don't you?
You admire my persistence and developed tastes.
I may collect only ten or twelve of the superior ants,
But those ten or twelve reek of calories,
Lie stunned on the tongue like
God's last words. Yes,
I may collect only ten or twelve of the superior ants,
But those ten or twelve reek of calories,
Lie stunned on the tongue like
God's last words. Yes,
You admire me. And those upper class,
Fancy ants: in their way, they admire me too.
Fancy ants: in their way, they admire me too.
Contract
He arrives most nights beneath the window
To sing love songs. In his honor
I keep the window open, do not
Look out or pass within his sight.
The subject girl he sings to
Moved out last month, but his patron
Has paid for several weeks in advance.
To sing love songs. In his honor
I keep the window open, do not
Look out or pass within his sight.
The subject girl he sings to
Moved out last month, but his patron
Has paid for several weeks in advance.
I am the factor keeping them honest.
Pressing love songs to a window
Is a novel approach in these times.
Perhaps it is why the girl moved away.
I am coming to a comfortable place
Where I think his monotonous voice
Is pleasant, and I can almost recognize
The instrument he plays so woodenly.
Is a novel approach in these times.
Perhaps it is why the girl moved away.
I am coming to a comfortable place
Where I think his monotonous voice
Is pleasant, and I can almost recognize
The instrument he plays so woodenly.
Orderly Conduct
A woman showed up naked
Except for a string of pearls
At the town council meeting.
Except for a string of pearls
At the town council meeting.
To be debated were subsidies
For the proposed faux-pearl factory
That would sit on industrial land
Abandoned by the failed faux-fox
Fur and slippers assembly plant.
Before they could talk of tax
Base and increased employment vice
Traffic and utilities and municipal
Improvements, the woman without
Shame or hesitation walked the
Entire length of the meeting hall,
For the proposed faux-pearl factory
That would sit on industrial land
Abandoned by the failed faux-fox
Fur and slippers assembly plant.
Before they could talk of tax
Base and increased employment vice
Traffic and utilities and municipal
Improvements, the woman without
Shame or hesitation walked the
Entire length of the meeting hall,
Silencing every councilman and
Stunning the audience. One clerk
Peering closer than anyone else
Noted aloud that the woman was
Wearing real pearls, not faux ones
Like those the proposed factory might
Produce. Everyone breathed heavily,
Stunning the audience. One clerk
Peering closer than anyone else
Noted aloud that the woman was
Wearing real pearls, not faux ones
Like those the proposed factory might
Produce. Everyone breathed heavily,
Smiling at their now relieved concern.
The meeting was gaveled into order
And a heavy-set man with a sheaf
Of papers approached the podium,
Asking if the microphone were on.
The meeting was gaveled into order
And a heavy-set man with a sheaf
Of papers approached the podium,
Asking if the microphone were on.
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