Public Opinion

Chased even in your dreams

uneasy sleep molts into groggy morn

every connection to wide webbed world

brings the onslaught closer

Public Opinion once such a passive life

a few sales, surprise products shown

your agility was legendary, but now

you are stiff and boor-ed, a starved fox

before the hunt

unleashed hounds of hellish amounts of gold

track you and grind you down, a Pawn

in a game of Kings.

I see you, your frightened eyes

rings beneath the bulged bags, poor eyes

once dwelled in beauty and laughter.

Now the war machine would again make slaughter.

Dirty burners wishes to suck the last of your air,

and heated days that were so false so recently

have burned your nerves to a fray.

I see you wandering alleys to stay away

from main streets, holding self close

in dark alleys where sounds of stray cats is all

Squeezed shut, eyes yet pierced by wireless spies

whose lies can only be detected by guardians (--)

asleep!! they have all gone to sleep from wine songs,

long gone; the sleepless pens, vigils of truth(--)

now you’re on rooftops baying to August full Moons.

I hear your once melodious voice, gone now;

comes like a drag of chains upon stone-

and the awful lonely sound of it- 

makes me weep.

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Notes:

The US has been changed by an Supreme Court ruling that struck down limitations on Corporate spending on political campaigns and elections( referred to as Citizens United).  The Democratic process is now for sale to the biggest spenders if repetitive volumes of messaging and advertising have the predicted effects.  Public opinion once an elusive thing will be more like a target with a bright bull's eye- the target of unlimited assaults from businesses that would change us in ways citizens would not imagine or prefer- such as a constant use of warfare( war is a very lucrative business-Iraq probably yielded $500 Billion in profits), no taxes on the rich, no limits on pollution, abandoning public education-- which in the bottom line are costs businesses would prefer not to bear.  Public opinion- a trapped and hunted animal now- alone and driven into the streets...HDM