Let’s Get an MFA

Let’s get an MFA; let’s learn how to separate our minds
From our bodies, and our bodies from our souls

Let’s utter words without meaning, words anchored in
Lies, words that die the moment they are spewed onto

The page, and then rot upon the barren plains forever
Let blindness be our sword and insouciance our shield

Let’s open the cage to the beasts of nihilism, philistinism,
And anti-intellectualism; let’s kneel at the alter of capital

And lick the boots of careerism; let’s burn the hallowed
Timeless texts, while ignoring egregious inequality,

Mass incarceration, the mendacious media, our diabolical
Healthcare system, and the trillions of dollars wasted on

Maintaining a barbaric empire; instead, let’s write about
Shopping for shoes, doing the dishes, and what a pleasure

It is to put style over substance; even better let’s write about
Nothing at all; let’s watch lots of TV and let our minds decay

Until they degenerate into a cesspit of soulless inhumanity
So that we may be refashioned in the image of our leaders

David Penner’s articles on politics and health care have appeared in Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Global Research, The Saker blog, OffGuardian and KevinMD; while his poetry can be found at Dissident Voice, Mad in America, and redtailedhawk.substack.com. Also a photographer, he is the author of three books of portraiture: Faces of The New Economy, Faces of Manhattan Island, and Manhattan Pairs. He can be reached at 321davidadam@gmail.com. Read other articles by David.