Background character

 

Background Character

Lost in my morning coffee,

I watch the hipsters

dominate the street.

I feel like I’m just a character

in the background

a nameless face in the crowd

A place filler in a masterpiece.

I’m sitting at a table,

working on my first novel.

The gendarmes are patrolling the streets.

I’m worried that they will chase me away.

Move the vagrant along..

If the artist had given me a chance,

I could have been someone.

Instead I’m just a character

in the background on someones canvas.

America is a Big Box store

Big Box Store

Visit a big box store and see America.
There’s too much skin and too few teeth,
More Ink than a copy machine.
Spandex stretched
beyond its normal limits
Four kids in a shopping cart
at least one diaper is overflowing.
An associate is directing people
to the wrong Aisles out of spite.
People are lined up
for lottery tickets
and buying smokes in bulk.
Tweaking for nicotine
and chasing the lottery dream,
before the social security runs out.
There's an Alzheimer's victim
in the toy section, looking for her dolly.
Her husband is in the beer aisle,
looking for an escape.
A couple assholes are harassing
the gay computer tech
in the electronics section,
while the high school prom queen
shoplifts a pregnancy test.
Out in the parking lot there's a dog
slowly dying from the heat,
in a locked car.
Some guy in a flag-waving pickup truck
is doing laps, Playing Lee Greenwood's
“I'm Proud to be an American, “and muttering
about all the dark-skinned people moving into town.
A couple families have been car camping
for the last three weeks
because they can’t rent a place to live.

This is America in a box
Chris Hoagland 2023