Mortar and Pestle Against Colonizing Bacterial Capitalism

restorative herbs
adaptogens from fibrous
root of ginseng, Astragalus root
Ashwagandha,  rhodiola rosea,
reishi, licorice root
white noise of modern 24-Seven Eleven
lighted fluorescence

mitigating thousands of
years of herbalism
shaman gaining
tribal power
now the hydrogenated
fluff of fats mixed with sugars
like blastomas orange
of Cheetos, epidermis
of tweeting leader
Trump collective
autoimmune disease
coalesced delusion of new Reich

the belly is the ratio
of intelligence cleaved to desire
addiction of narcissism
modernity a plaque
of insecurity, cortisol, floating
personal ethics

the school is screen
time, eye attention
unlimited flagellants
of false flags, lie is truth
Big Brother one’s own paranoia
gleaned from a thousand organic
compounds polystyrene people
epigenetic echoes from tomorrow

feedback loop
unchecked capital
desirous Lotto win
more is less
fine line between
insanity war
rapacious toxins
GAD, anxiety
like tuberculosis

battle against
our own better selves
this outsourcing of
emotions forever
pennies welded to
war-fire, each ka-ching
against our best
judgement, lemmings
leaping into cauldron
of chemicals

Paul Haeder's been a teacher, social worker, newspaperman, environmental activist, and marginalized muckraker, union organizer. Paul's book, Reimagining Sanity: Voices Beyond the Echo Chamber (2016), looks at 10 years (now going on 17 years) of his writing at Dissident Voice. Read his musings at LA Progressive. Read (purchase) his short story collection, Wide Open Eyes: Surfacing from Vietnam now out, published by Cirque Journal. Here's his Amazon page with more published work Amazon. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.