Greater Than Food

As science has proven,
And people have known for centuries,
We die if we don’t eat.

Even more, though, than food,
What people need’s air
To breathe, and sleep.

So, all of those roads and streets
And freeways, with their noise and lights,
Are parasites of the mind in the night;

And the planes in flight, the cars and trucks are flatworms of the holy lungs —
The Congo, the Valdivian, the Amazon,

Among all of the other ones  —
That the capitalists, with their cannibal shit,
Are devouring. But no one can stop them

No one can do much
A hundred or a thousand, though,
That’s different, you know.

 

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber