Dilemma

Dilemma

Sometimes I think the world has always
been this messed up but widespread media
let us know the bad news quickly today;
but at other times I think our species changes
generation by generation, summing toward
greater intolerance, greater greed, greater arrogance,
our ancestors more humane, more admirable, and
considerably smarter than we are.

I do know this: the daily news is too horrific
to digest, and to stay sane I watch it in a trance
so not too much sinks in, lest I become
a revolutionary, an assassin, meeting violence
with violence. Why, sir, did you blow up
corporate headquarters? Because it felt good.

Voltaire had another way. Tend your garden.
Today this may mean: unplug, pull the wires
out, rip networks asunder. Spend afternoons
at the sidewalk cafe, people watching, and
if anyone asks you about your day, say

I been to the zoo.