Rubber Monster Toys and Pork and Beans

You don't remember twisting
On the knobs though you might try
You don't remember turning up
The color and the contrast
So the only thing you see
Is black and shades of gray
But you did and it is

You'd remember
If you just look
In the mirror

The set is all arranged
You've gathered up the props
You've scribbled out a script
Got a force-field to protect you
Like the Starfish Enterprise

From escaping while you sneer
About the suckers and the fools
Who cannot see can't comprehend
The whole mad reality
Is useless and it's slipping
Down the drain
While you curse about the stupid
That surrounds you
As you sink

So you don't have to look
Into the mirror.

Bite the bullet eat the bullet
Live your life or end it
But get off the stinking fence

When your back's against the wall
And your abdomens distended
Filled with rubber monster toys
And pork and beans
If you can't stand the heat
Leave the kitchen

There's nothing in the rule-book 
Says you gotta quit your bitching
But it might help
It might help
When it comes to surviving
It's the little things sometimes
That just might help.

This rabble rousing nonsense is a
snare

Not a way to get away

The problems of those other fools
Aren't yours they aren't your business
 
Utopian dreams
Are a way to break the mirror
When what you need's a mirror
To escape

Turn out the lights
Turn around
Take a long deep breath
And cross the room
Close your eyes
Reach out
Feel the knobs
Turn them back
Half a turn
Have a beer
Take a leak

And while you're there
Take a long look in the mirror

From Poems of the New Old West

Copyright 2002, Jack Purcell