The Message

The Message

We bathe in it
morning, noon and night,
lifting eyes from the tube

only long enough to see
it burning in our mind,

trapped in the ripped off
running dialogue of white
noise interdispursed

with our orders uttered
with a demand given teeth

by our fear of death,
celibacy, or being
off the bandwagon.

President Bush actually said it,
as our sacrifice for the war,
and we followed then

as we follow now,
some of us hearing
the message not as much

as an order as an
anti-depressant, or

a means of exercise,
even a commandment
from on high:

Buy!
Buy!
Buy!