Currency

A piece of paper.
A unit.
A metal
We say is worth
Value.

We fight over
What we think is
Worthy of sweat
And blood.
Slave to the
Daily hustle
And grind.

Go to the bar afterwards
Fifty-cent beers
TGIF because
You deserve it.

Steadily dumbing
Down for hours
While paying cash.

The next day
Hung over and docile.

Watching television
Absorbing commercials
Intake chemicals
Fluoride in the water.
Secret assassinations.
Posting every second
Of our lives in Facebook
And Myspace
And Twitter
Being watched
Digital
Cellphones tapped by
Chinese satellites in outer space.
And war.

A million distractions
American Idol, video games
And porn.
Buy more, do more, be more
Everybody needs to own
A home, as if
You can really own
Anything at all
Except your life
Which you’ve already given away.

Market crash
Print more money
Create more value
Give to corporations
CEOs take vacations
While workers get
Drunk at the bar
Amber whiskey
Shots pounding
Headache paying back
Mountains of debt
Green Vomit
White toilet
Flushing away
The American dream.

- Johnny Tran