Daily Theory on Daily Theory

Quite soon the string of a tea bag may be precious,
And the scrap of wick between new candles. We’ll save seeds,
Burn high heels; pet stores will be among the first to close.
We’ll have the Ford Muhammad, the Pontiac Mufti;
In the schools we’ll teach new mantras of denial
That well-paid smilers were drafting today in think tanks.
The train of Chinese miners pulls into the board meeting;
Butchered villagers wander onto the golf course.
Why are the walls in Beverly Hills so high?
On the conference table during third shift, Maria
Finds coffee leftover in Styrofoam cups, dark and cold
As the stains in our sky above the Mall on Christmas morn.
A suit of armor used to cost more than a farm.
Men from Africa built Jefferson’s Monticello.
Is the slave owner terrified of loneliness?
Thor, are you terrified of scraps of string and wick –
Or that maybe all this may be part of a new story,
Like that night’s-worth of lamp oil burning for eight nights?

- THORSTON BACON -