The morning parade to work, not so bad really.
But NPR announces a naturalist proposed a bill to outlaw creation
Creation of robotic birds—Da Vinci dreams.

Freedom is not metallic or of matter at all,
No stars and stripes or dollar dollar bills y’all.
Heaven in our heart. Hell in our head. And Hallmark all around.

Turn the station, the morning rock-jock tells a story:
Freedom is more like the video captured on a phone of Justin Bieber
Asleep next to a Brazilian prostitute—not hatin’, just saying.

The night before freedom is the sound of the door slamming,
The smell of vomit in the back of a Yellow Cab—
All insomniac—blaring its googley eyes

Down dark streets to darker alleys to dark homes.
Freedom is aspirational. Freedom is pain, of course.
Freedom is the choices we make at IKEA and Starbucks.

O, sarcasm—sad fool—bite your ankle!
Have you ever dreamed of devouring yourself
One chew at a time? There is no other freedom.

© 2013 Ben Baker

The Big Windows Review 5 (Fall 2013)