the roaches never die

The roaches never die




Times like these

are ripe with opportunity,

you might consider

shopping for a tux

on the eve of this apocalypse,

it’s not only a steal,

but have you had a chance

to feel real wool 

against your skin

when you can

look out window

and see the fury 

the world is worked up in?

It’s like 

if you asked the Mexican man

walking the stoplight 

at 190th and Normandie 

if the Coronavirus

had affected 

the business he is in,

or writing a poem

after the President 

enacts a bill 

in which 

under the disguise of security

we become Judas 

selling civil liberty 

for 30 days of salary,

Waking up

and getting punched in the face

by Independence Day,

quoting movies

is today

how we handle philosophy, 

and an outbreak 

could be the time to ask

if maintaining our current sensibilities 

is what’s important

or with a new dawn approaching

we should change our ways,

Noah was a man

who worked 50 years 

to build an arc 

on divine orders 

for the new world,

and that means

we’re not the children of Adam,

but we are the descendants of a man

who saw something coming

and chose to act,

stalling 

is like process it takes

to purchase a gun

in California,

you think that 

the supermarket lines are weird,

a gun shop has

people out the door,

I got there too late

to take the safety test

and the 10 day wait

deferred me back 

to writing on a Thursday.

Persistence 

must be key,

because it’s almost like we 

were designed to have something 

occupy our mind

so that we wouldn’t focus 

on death,

a deep breath in

and we can be reminded

of the history we are in,

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

A warning 

to close down and stay in

while the food delivery

interrupts your Netflix binge, 

I’m not an MD,

but I know that 

a real life vaccine 

exists in exposure therapy,

and while you 

work from home

and become weak

Americans might lose their reputation 

as the ones who dream.

A delivery to a Walmart yesterday

and I saw inside 

the heart of this country,

like artery’s pumping

men and women 

unloaded boxes

and stocked shelves,

working 

while the rest of the people sleep,

and Will Smith said, 

“Welcome to earth.”

Dan Parks