STANZAS DURING CRISES

When burgeonings become adversarial
Heirlooms end up countfeit
Squeaking wheels fall off
Easy listenings seem challenging
Twice-brewed coffee tastes weak
Once-hallowed words sound obscene
Gatekeepers change locks
For-pure-profit shareholders plot
Copilots aim to take down pilots
Students reject scholarship
Prose writers settle for fragments
Doors of perception become unhinged

Your collage comes unglued
The sale excludes your item
A ninja moves into your lane
You feed the beast what you like best
You’re given Best in Show at a show trial
Your heart is an open book with a broken binding
You want to hang on, but time has other plans
What happens in your head stays in your head
You respond to lessons with “Enough!”
Your intelligence feels less than artificial
Your circular awareness keeps spinning
People who seemed cooler and older than you are dying

Who’ll be there to
Wayfind
Meet
Defy
Defend
Fight
Fight for
Care
Break free
Break through
Live on
Like you