fresh stream, well, deep earth, reservoir, spring, glacier, aquifer, hydrogen, oxygen, later, money maker, perrier, dasani, aquafina, evian, put it in plastic, green glass, forget fountains with their weak dribbles, today the names are endless, nalgene, swell roamer, hydro flask, yeti, takeya, cirkul, corkcicle, fijoo, yomious, veegoal, swig savvy, sursip, looks cool, sounds cool, excessive accessory, life liquid container, amazing, how we turn everything into consumerism.
Tag: Consumerism
Bananas
i’ve seen you in el oro ecuadorian plantation encased in plastic, no beauty in bunches of wrappers strewn on earth underneath, because profit is everything, exports to united states & european union, consumers pull back yellow peels, reveal that white, sweet appetite for mixing with peanut butter or in milky cereal, loved for potassium, fluid balance, lower blood pressure, means we won’t die, not from eating this soft south american wunderkind, edible prodigy, machete hacked plant, cherished comestible.
Coca-Cola
translucent brown bubbles, how else to describe, perhaps dark caramel, better image of sweetness, and this is just the surface, have a coke and a smile, coke is it, i’d like to buy the world a coke, and on and on, streaming backwards in time, all the ads, commercials, inducements to imbibe this drink, that the chileans cursed, leche de los yankees, yankee milk, and to think it will wash away even the saltiest of buttered popcorn, attract yellowjackets like no other, this beverage, this legend, white script on a red can, on a bottle, tingles on tongue, blamed for cavities, craved over pepsi, coffee, or sprite, hated and loved, this never-ending all-american delight.
Boston Logan
Does everyone dislike the airport? Or, am I alone staring at Dunkin’ signs with glazed eyes wondering if this what we all want, Starbucks and the Potbelly Sandwich Shop, slurping a Diet Coke, while glancing at an iPhone screen. I suppose this is it, the pinnacle of humanity, to be able to listen to Little Red Corvette on a loudspeaker, while gnawing on a “free” Quaker Chewy granola bar, waiting to board a delayed JetBlue flight.
Polo Shirt
everyone wanted that
little man swinging
a mallet on
button-down cotton
symbol of money
and conformity, belonging
to the great
american dream, success
on our chest
was everything in
yuppie popped collar
middle school hallways
of my youth
before time passing
and truth telling
consumerism, that word
of excess and
education, realization that
things are just
things
Of Love and Things
black friday
pop up ads
vanity fair
folded perfume
possess, covet
objects of pride
I’m better than you
insistence that
moneyed hierarchy
is the answer
will solve
all woes
sorry, not sorry
to say, this
accumulating life
is wasting time
on things (and
you’ve heard this
before), stuff won’t
make you happy
but instead, yes
love, it is
so simple
also free
Anonymous
no one knows who
i am, no photos
of me on a
screen, where i might
look wealthy or important
wearing a suit, standing
serious, ready to buy
or sell something, or
convince you that i
am indeed successful,
i walk, don’t drive
a tesla, or anything,
and therefore you might
not know me and
how i sometimes just
stare at trees and
how that is just
fine, good enough to
breathe and watch you
in wonder, trying so
hard to be somebody
Pontiac
my daughter already talks about the
car she wants an Audi, new, shiny
that her friends will admire like
her iPhone with apps that take
wrinkles out of faces in photos
I tell her about my maroon
dented station wagon, Pontiac
1986 Michigan-made to barely
last past puberty
I parked it with pride
my piece of remembering
that life is unreliable
always ready to
start then stop
blind to history my daughter
will never know the struggle of
driving a car that quit, gave up
for her they don’t exist
like rotary phones
like an indigenous name
turned into painted steel
Walking Into Walgreens
they usually know
what they want
the gum or
shiny People Magazine
others walk the
aisles, an activity
to pass the
time in fluorescent
lights, examine lipsticks
red and pink,
most days there
is a man
sometimes a woman
who sits out
front, any help?
it is both
question and statement
they are usually
ignored except for
those few who
drop quarters in
the old coffee
cup, thank you
they say, and
customers smile before
looking for cuticle
scissors or deodorant
to smell better
this is all
normal at Walgreens
in San Francisco
maybe other places
Daniel W. Polk 