So
some rich cat
built a bigger and
better roller coaster.
It’s all over the news.
And he’s saving the planet too.
He even
gave himself a medal for it.
You crawl into
a well soldered can
and get shot up
into the air like
those GI Joes
we used to throw up
into space as kids,
watching them aimlessly
drift back to earth.
Good on ya!
A new era of space tourism!
What a view!
Reminds me of one day
on a balcony
looking out on Lake Geneva
and me
asking my grandfather
why he always lived in places
with a great view?
He replied quickly,
“Easy to sell.”
“No matter good times
or bad times
always someone with money
who’ll pay your price for
the view.”
Made sense then and
makes sense now as
Bezos, Bozos the clown
follows the bottom line
and dreams of
a cannonball in the sky
empire
of rich guys ready to pay
for the view,
the planet be damned.
Meanwhile
a small girl coughs
in a hut
with a mud floor
somewhere on earth.
She’ll die tomorrow
or the next or the next,
never knowing
what a roller coaster is
or what makes men
need
to spend a fortune
on a view
so far away
from
what it is to be human.