Buying My Implanted Dreams

buy a new big truck as part of the lifestyle of a hard-nosed account manager

eat a double cheese meat lovers pizza and become like a pro football player

drink a lot of beer and attractive women will flock to have sex with you

burn dirty coal in old power plants for a more patriotic environment

take little red sugar pills, eat what you want and lose that fat while you sleep

invest your money with slick, friendly strangers and they will ensure your future

treat your entire family to a traditional fast food meal you picked up coming home

ask your doctor about that advertised drug and you’ll never get old and sick

make just one more electronics purchase and you will achieve technical nirvana

eat more factory beef and believe you support ruggedly-indepenent American ranchers

buy a new performance sedan and act like a character from some slick action movie

buy everything your child wants and you will demonstrate your love for them

order today before it's too late because it's just once in a lifetime

unwrap a snack anytime you just feel the need to get away

spend your money on something because someone else saw the same ad

listen to the music that sponsors want played before and after their pitches

buy a new gas guzzling jeep or you don't really care if you’re rugged & your family is safe

listen to their music and join the community, where nobody even knows you

pay off your credit card by refinancing your house then charge some more without any guilt

use what they advertise and you’ll be living just like the TV stars – in your tired modular

buy one of these or, if you really prefer, you can just remain a chump and a moocher

eat out often as corporate food prepared by dropouts will enrich your life

for real players like you, home equity is for vacations, not for saving, like some loser

"hire" a broker and he will be with your for now and forever

learn the issues well from 30 second soundbites and then go out and vote your "conscience"

buy a new car because they advertise so much that it must really be quite important

save tons of money by rolling your credit debt over to a different card with lower interest

trowel more grease, powder and paint on your face and it will keep you young

get your child a happy meal so they can bring up kids to take there, too

pick up that sugary cereal for 8 bucks a box and achieve family harmony

buy frozen meals and save precious time to spend watching even more ads in HD

purchase a computer and you will surely start learning things on internet

put on some expensive new imported clothes and start feeling better about your true self

sharing excessive quantities of the same brand of beer will cement your true friendships

smoke outside your school because they paid actors to show cigarettes in a movie

buy a 3 ton SUV for 45k and go find your freedom almost offroad in the shattered wilderness

hurry and buy a bigger new house based on real estate advertisement hyperbole

increase sexual pleasure and big pharmas bottom line by popping their pills      

ask your doctor about a drug you learned nothing about in an expensive tv ad

shop at the grocery store where pleasant music soothes you in every snack aisle

spend way too much on a boring cruise and get food poisoning while acting rich

waste time and money on golf with phonies who pretend it all makes sense

invest your thought and emotions on sports events for years but never ask if it makes any sense

get cash back and more horsepower when you buy now with nothing down

buy more than you need then throw away what’s left over, after it has spoiled

Charge off a true family adventure shoving your way thru a corrupt Disneyland fantasy

pay full retail to get this years sports gear like it would make any real difference

get an expensive new cell phone so others can hear you talking nonsense

throw 25 grand at a big macho Harley, then dump it in your driveway

swill caffeine and donuts and buy yourself a yoga class 5 times a month

go out for expensive lunches 3 days a week and call yourself a conservative

pay full price for designer clothes to advance your so-called career

lay out your credit card for the drinks and dinner, because that makes you feel like a player

watch what's on tv because ads made it seem as if many others also do

pay big bucks for private schools and believe your kid will notice a difference

give a premium for designer foods made with extra calories and artificial colorings

spend your money to save time - as if that account were building up somewhere for later

stay in 5 Star hotels and eat well when you vacation, since you work so hard you truly deserve it

‘invest’ all you can borrow on a stock tip about which you know nothing at all

never save a penny and think you can retire at 51 if you start planning at 45

Our Progress Did All This To You

When you see brutal machinery gouging up the gentle land you once knew

We did this without so much as a passing thought about you

When your ears hurt from the noise and your nose burns from the stench

We drove casually by and did this to you without the slightest pretense

When the rain does not fall and the sun is too hot and it feels too crowded

We did this and We needed no help to get it all started

When the water is dirty and grows ever scarcer

We did this with kindness and you need not fear, sir

When you cast out any others at all different from you

We did this and they, our cloned brothers, were not just a few

When you soil your nests and move on without a care

We did our duty and squatted in relief before you ever got there

When you stole from your children the life from the land

We did them a favor and steadied your greedy hand

When all you can think of is escape to mass media hypnosis

We did this for you with love that you might learn via osmosis

When you sit alone behind your car's tinted windows, swallowing the smog

We did this that you all might be ground closer in their great gears and cogs

When your children learn nothing, take everything and return only scorn

We did my best to make them just like you since the day they were born

When you work for years just to be kicked away like sick old prostitutes

We did our part to import your cheap and disposable substitutes

When you used it once and flipped it away

We smiled at your bored children going off again to play

When you swilled fast food and dreamed of the days when you were slim

We laughed as you were driving your car to the gym

When you bought your new clothes for the thrill of their bright colors

We did this so that you would not notice that your life grew ever duller

When you financed new vehicles and drove around on your phone

We helped you to think that your life was your own

When you mortgaged your future to spend more today

We fooled you into thinking you’d never have to pay

When you babbled alone to your cellphone in a crowd

We reported this as well, although not quite as loud

When you always spent more and never kept anything aside

We did this so that you would have nothing to look back on with pride

When you bought all the dreams that conglomerates were pitching

We did this counting softly, laughing, not bitching

When you smoked and you drank and you ate your rich food

We wrote songs to sell you things by shaping your attitude

When you took pride in your ignorance of the ways of your brothers

We saw why you had appointed yourselves to lead all the others

When you tried to look back and make sense of your time

We did what We could to hide these empty things from your mind

When your eyes began to fail you and you could no longer touch your toes

We did this with you but you will remain very much alone

When you thought you had mastered this life and all of its fears

We smiled as you finally tried to look deeper than into a mirror

When you planned romantic adventures for your golden years

We saw someone’s life ending in embarrassment and irrational fears

When you envisioned a time in which you grew old with grace

We smell your stale bedpans in an inhuman place

When you at last sat alone and planned a death with true dignity

We see it in millions and chuckle at the absurdity

When you finally saw these few things that others let slip

We mumbled this sadly through your barely moving lips

After All This Progress

Where will we be?

After all the tigers have nowhere left to roam or hunt

They then become a menace and can be removed without a trace of guilt

After all the rhinos have stubbornly given up their lovely ivory horns

Oriental men will have to find another way to attain their magical erections

After all the elephants must be bred only in captivity

bull sperm will be harvested mechanically and the musty creatures drugged

After all the relevant decision-making is done by god-fearing neo-cons

we can search with lights in daytime for what they left behind as worthy of conserving

After everyone has all the guns they need but little food and there are no jobs

then it's time to send out our drugged child soldiers to clean up the countryside

After all the pigs and cows and chickens are manufactured like TV sets

At least this absurd and disgusting state has left our sanctimonious morality intact

After all the old growth trees are cut and shipped off overseas

there will be no logging jobs left and no reason for tourists to visit and to spend

After all the mighty tuna have vanished from the bluest ocean depths

we can try to convince ourselves that in god’s plan there is no need to miss them

After all our cows are made safe from natural predators on federal lands

we can clone them even stupider, fatten them faster and sell them cheaper

After all the salmon are raised in filthy pens using colors chosen off of salesman paint chips

they will be better suited for packaging in modern plastics beneath the bright lights

After all the solitary orangutans have no more deep forest refuges

they must adapt to any zoo lives that we might care to give them

After all the rivers are simply grimy, stinking channels for our wastes and toxic runoff

we are surely safe from disruptive floods until the end of our time

After all the wild grizzlies run out of places they can dominate alone

we will save just their genes, for they will not tolerate lives of captivity

After all the ice melts for good and seals always surface in open water

the polar bears can sit wasting away quietly on the shore for a while

After all the trout caught come dumped straight from hatchery trucks

all the remaining so-called anglers get all the adventure that they deserve

After all the jaguars lose their territories to slashing and burning urban refugees

it's simply pointless not to drain and settle the rest of their one-time jungle

After all the mountain valleys are accessible by wheelchairs, ATVs and dirt bikes

we really should bid out themed strip malls at the end of every trail

After all the songbirds have been mysteriously gone for many years

loud mufflers may be a comfort in a new and strange and uncomfortable silence

After all the frogs stop their friendly croaking during summer evenings

we will shortly realize that we never really needed them in any case

After all the coral reefs are bleached, dynamited and poisoned quite long ago

it is simply one less pointless eco-issue over which they will still have to argue

After all the small sanctuaries fill with roads and stores and homes

at least that mindless and frenetic pace of change must finally begin to slow

After all the resources have been plundered, transported and consumed

we will hand carry our water in a wasteland we are too poor to even try and heal

After all the snow that falls is simply lousy with fire retardants and such

we can scold our little children as they try to catch the flakes upon their tongues

After all the forests become simple assets on corporate balance sheets

they will finally begin to pay their way in freedom’s scheme of things

After all the costly giant hardwoods are cut down and hauled away

it then makes a lot of sense to simply slash and burn and grade the rest

After all the land is paved over and plotted out by giant yellow caterpillars

the rains can wash our unchecked, oily residues straight into the streams

After all the quiet, unspoiled places fill with noise and smoke and litter

wackos can then search elsewhere for the peace that once filled the air

         

After all the wildlife is driven off, shot, burnt out or poisoned

the roaches, rats, mosquitoes and flies will remain behind to comfort us

After all the kids have brains full of lead and mercury and lungs full of diesel fumes

Welfare mothers need not worry that the rich have all of the advantages

After all the native plants are extinguished by rapacious invasive weeds

good old weak and thirsty, non-native bluegrass will seem like a damn fine thing

After all the factories are abandoned and their jobs sent overseas

who can still afford the cheaper imports at the new Wal*Mart right next door

After all the engineering is outsourced to geeky losers off in foreign lands

our poor children need not learn their stupid math or junky science anymore

After the only jobs are with the government and poverty is the norm

we will live as those far away had done before our jobs went over there

After all the smarter people simply give up on having children

who will pay for the schools and where will the teachers come from

After all the western highways offer corporate fast food every couple miles

we can marvel in sterile safely at the untamed beauty of the desert skies

After all the rivers carry only chemicals, grease, sewage and fertilizer for years

The times will be less contentious because no one will remember any different

After all the oil is gone and commerce comes grinding to a depressionary halt

it will then be quite pointless and far too late to lay the blame on politicians or Big Oil

After all of Africa casts off its racist, extractive, corrupt and colonial legacies

pigs will flutter off like puffy butterflies upon their newly-sprouted wings

After all our days are squandered and we haven't even had time to read our bills

we will saddle any generations yet to come with a heavy long-term debt from birth