A Standard Bureaucrat

by Pat Darnell

I'm a full blooded bureaucrat
Living in an abstract
Married to an acrobat
That is that ...

All is right --
you may think, oh mighty eyes,
read on --

I'm sitting and rolling in the fat
one o' 'dese cats wants to masticate
an' force feed to the alley rats
... I'm not all right wid' that!

Me wife completely cracked
she pushed a heavy shelf and snapped
Tho' she can put her foot behind her back
She can not get past a dog'ass Corpor'at ...

Talkin' shop we learned that
Everything is wrote down in tracts
for insurable interest of Hacks'
... so just they can inscrutably file it away stat.

Now, I'm your standard bureaucrat
sweltering in a basement flat
foisting paper mountains on your back
... further inverting your sacroiliac.

Like me poor wife's sore back
She's sent on home with a rheostat
for keeping data -- ratt-a-tata-tat
So 'dey can write a new tax for that

On the sidewalk you don't spat ...
On the roof you don't wear a hat ...
in Spain ... you don't eat the cat ...
and you don't rat on the lowly bureaucrat ...

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell

Gratified to Breathe

by Pat Darnell

Just a human being
exposed to all that is
gratified to breathe
fresh air
and occupy a small space

Skull, muscle, flesh
bread, truffle, and fish
gratified in repast
to eat
and present specified face

Shepherds cull their herd
and find pasture
past rocks and mountains
near springs
and nothing goes to waste




Copyright © 2010 Patrick Darnell