jim henson

I wrote this poem after listening to "Summer in the City" during one of the hottest days of the year. It is called "This Time."

This summer
in this city
brings me back to troubled times
announced in hushed tones
on black
and white
tv; it formed the soundtrack of our lives.

This time it's so hot
that money melts
quicker than we can make it;
quicker than the company
can decide
to put enough aside
to throw our way
like the the biblical rich man
to the dogs.

This time, the violence is horrifically new
and yet, pit-of-the-stomach familiar.
All in HD
24 hours a day
for our eternal
entertainment.

This time, we are walled away,
each alone in our
climate-controlled cubicle
complete with computer
that goes everywhere we go
to distract us
from reality.

It is happening again,
but this time,
I don't see

a revolution.