today I went to the book store
with not enough money in my pockets
to purchase even a magazine
I contented myself to browse
in the poetry aisle for amusement and
enlightenment beginning with
Laws For Creations
continuing on with
The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps
and moving over to
Fear Of Dreaming
before concluding with a little
Roadside Dog
somewhere in there
I read a few of The Poems
Of Guantanamo
to expose my soul to more of
the darkness that feeds on
darkness itself
to catch a few squeaks
from out of the wheels of
the war machine as it grinds
more oil for its gears
I choked up a bit
reading about the poem
sent by a little girl
to her father in a far away prison
a brief and innocent rhyme
which did not escape
the censor's black marker
leaving him only six words
"I love you very much, daddy."
as if the rest of it could have been
some sort of coded message
for him to launch Armageddon
from his prison cell
as I was lost
in the holy ecstasy of poetry
in its own
month of national celebration
I was interrupted in my rapture
by the amplified voice of
Marilu Henner hawking her latest book
I was amused to
hear her explain that
she has never been in Huntington Beach
before today
as if this were some far off exotic land
and her transport plane had just touched
down under heavy sniper fire
then I was delighted to
hear her tell the assembled audience
how important their health is
encouraging them to eat organic
endorsing exercise
admonishing them to resist
unhealthy urges
after a little talk
she answered questions from the audience
nine out of ten having nothing
to do with the subject of her book
most of them wanting to know some
trivia about celebrity and show business
obviously they overwhelmingly cared
more about the inconsequential
than they did about living well
I began to wonder
if maybe her crusade
to save the health of these people
from themselves was misguided
maybe the world would be better off
if they all died of cancer
or
heart attacks hopefully
before the next election
because maybe
these were the same people
who voted for George W Bush
twice
who thought John McCain is a "maverick"
who watched FOX "News"
and believed it to be "fair and balanced"
who said things like
"Guantanamo is too good for those people"
or
"waterboarding is not torture"
or
"We should nuke Iran"
I did my best to
give them the benefit of the doubt
after all they were in a book store
presumably they know how to read
but did they know what to read
probably not if they needed a celebrity
to tell them how to care for themselves
I kept hoping that
maybe they were opening up and
maybe they were beginning to live
but the longer I listened
I realized that
my hope for an intelligent question was
all in vain
for there they were with their eyes shut
not just lost in it
they were a part of it
the darkness which feeds on
darkness itself
having had enough at that point
I emerged from the poetry aisle
and finally caught a glimpse of her
whom had until then only been
a disembodied voice in my ear
she signed her name in the book
set it down in front of her and
posed for a photo
I walked to the escalator and
as I rode it down to the first story
a woman a few steps behind me
chatted on her phone to her father
about how she had waited in line to
acquire the author's autograph
on the two copies of the book
she had purchased
one of which was intended as a gift
for her mother
not a bad idea
but I had to wonder
if she is not simply continuing the usual
program of consuming
for the sake of consumption
and
if either of them would bother
to read the book
especially after I heard her
misquoting the title
with the book in her hand
