Monday, August 10, 2020

And So...(Joe's Hardware Store is Fucked)

And so…


of all the god dam

universal possibilities

we could be expected to endure

 

we are now eight months into 

a global pandemic

that no one saw coming


except, of course

the people whose job it is 

to see these things coming


but, of course 

when they told us about it

we thought “not me”

 

and we didn’t listen to them

and when we finally did 

we quickly realized 


that they were making shit up as they went along

because they were as completely baffled 

as we were on what to do.


And so…


we then learned that 

Safeway would deliver 

food


and BevMo 

would deliver

booze


and the local dispensary 

would delivery 

cannabis in a dizzying variety of functions and flavors


and The Feds 

would delivery 

an extra $600 every week


to help pay for all your pizza, 

booze

and cannabis


and that we were now exempt from

getting off the couch and ironing a shirt 

and putting on long pants


to go make chit-chat

as all boring social functions 

had been canceled 


and we began to think

perhaps this won’t be so bad 

after all.


And so…


the extra $600 has kept Safeway in business and

BevMo with customers and 

the cannabis dispensaries afloat, but


Joe’s Hardware Store 

          is                       

        fucked


because his customers are now more

fat, stoned, and drunk than ever before

sitting on their couches realizing

 

that everything they need 

will come right to their door 

and


that leaky toilet 

can run

forever.



Ken Owen     Van Niddy Press

August 2020

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Another 24 Hours

8:30 a.m.


Another 24 hours 

Granted,

Calendar day

Unknown.


Waiting for 

Caffeine

To pour on 

Kitchen clouds


And blue screens 

To deliver headlines of 

A rudderless nation

Adrift in chaos.


Another 24 hours

To practice 

Our being 

Good citizens within distance 


When to stay safe 

Is to do nothing but

Wash your hands

And mask your thoughts 


Lest you touch on

The wrong idea

And infect someone

With a different truth


Or inhale 

An unpopular narrative

And exhale 

The wrong opinion


And even with 

Only that

Still

We struggle.



Ken Owen     Van Niddy Press

July 2020