The Bloody Ladder

We really must stop worrying about upward mobility

And start questioning the height of the bloody ladder

Isn't a certain consensus on this score quite firm?

All of the annoying, mundane details should not be this ravenous

For our time and energy and attention

Unusual prices for ordinary things

Make one feel gullible, no?

Having been had, one grows wiser

But more cynical: outrage and resignation are the primary settings

How do you persuade someone to relax

If the implausible crises continue to multiply

Everywhere

Right in front of us

No matter where we are

The news watches us

Watching the news

And the delivery gets calibrated

Based on our private information

Which is on the open market

The chefs change the dish, and we eat heartily

We don't care much about nutrition

Sometimes it is edifying, when the body betrays

It always does, as we do it

When you are reminded, every minute, that your minutes are limited

The cost of a choice is time

When you are afraid, you construe that as a stern nostrum

You conserve your choices, for each one is on the books, and the ledger is brief

There is an alternative to this reading

Make as many as you can while time remains

Time will dilate to accommodate the galaxy of your decisions

In a single, embarrassing afternoon

Or contract, to make the only one you've made in days

Seem like a button that will destroy or save a planet

Do not blithely endure

Insist upon the multiplication of your choices

By making each one with the mesmerizing grace of a meteor

Make them worth time's while

Speak

Write

Sing

Paint

Sculpt

Run

Vote

Cook

Dine

Any animal can eat

Immortalize your dissatisfaction with the status quo

In as many hearts as you can