The Opinuary Column

The Opinion "A Corporation deserves
the same rights as a human being"
has died
alone,
discarded.
a tumor has more claimants

it leaves no known survivors
in its terrible wake.
it could not love
nor feel empathy,
it turned on its side
one last time
it waited
shuddered
died

all that is left
is someone in billing
and someone in security
and the cleaning crew,
but they will stop coming around
when the checks start to bounce

the opinion was born as a theft,
the product of one cipher well-placed
positioned to destroy the world
once employed never to be relinquished
once empowered never questioned
once unleashed never to be captured
a multi-limbed shadow darting in the margins
strangling the light

raised by he-wolves of legerdemain,
by warcraft and guile
and assembly and currency derailment
and product and death
it grew fat and sassy and proud and worried:
there was always another corporation in the way
one fatter, sassier
one that must be bought-out or dragged down
or taken from behind
rutting and strutting and stamping its feet
the great corporate person
a child of the titans
a force without rival
the great american god

the Opinion died, and was replaced
before it hit the sidewalk
before the dull thud and hopeless gasp

in lieu of flowers, the family of the deceased
ask that you begin to sway in a velvet curve of motion
and hum and sing, like machines being
born in a cave,
let your life recede from view
your loves, your dreams of a natural world
as you thrum the corporate song of life
the great edict in a bloodless memo
please, dance to a carefully selected tune
chosen just for you

dance within the lines already drawn
the tension is noted
the authorities are on alert
the corporate person cannot dream
it spies you in the dark
and clutches envy to its heaving, hollow chest

++++

The Opinuary Column appears most Fridays at Jesus' General.

++++