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Description
Once upon a time I
Opened a can of Box of
Cereal, The kind with
Lots of Letters in it
Only to find that
B was out of work
Because J had
Gone up to Capital Hill
And given Tax Cuts
Short Hand
To A, F, and L
(Who are all gullible)
Leaving them with the impression
That Faster is Better
And Jobs come from
Hard Labour
Quick Fixes.
C said, “My friends,
You are easily deceived.”
But K demanded,
“Shut your cake-hole.”
So C went back to being E
(the little kind)
And B was still left without
A job.
P said,
“I know how you feel, man.
I lost my lower contour in that war.”
“What war?” asked foolish
L and F.
No one would answer them.
I shook them out into my bowl
But more letters took their places.
Q watched R, S,
and T die for sugar
(on other cereals)
As her husband
Ex-husband, D,
Looked on, shouting,
Y, Y, Y?!
No one could answer him.
My mother walked in then,
Turned on the stove
The microwave’s egg-timer
Which I’m still too little
Yet to touch. I asked her,
“Y does Short Hand
Make it Better
If all I wants is
Sugar?”

She didn’t answer me
For a minute.

And then she said,
“If all U want, Bea.
If all U wants.”
Then she stared off into space.

X kept popping pills
swallowing something
Like it was candy
But all that sugar in your
System's so BAD
Unhealthy
For you.
V knows.
V knows that I's Sugar War
Battle For Enjoyment And Sweetened Food Products
Is worth 10,000 tears;
(O, that she could see her sweet daughter Q
live,
Sacrificed her simple,
Healthy, oat-y, unspecial trademark.)
(I haven't had oat Os in 6 months.)
It costs us our youth;
(A & P & B & D & R all have
cavities tooth decimation--
It makes it hard for them to chew with those big holes.)
The enfeebled are no longer
Worthy;
(G must lean on his cane,
A withered, friendly, time-consuming old man.
Only H will let him lean on her--
She herself is braced for a fall.
They stand totter alone.)
And our own past is
Embarrassed by
Ashamed of
Disgraced by
Afraid of
Uncertain about the Potential Earning Power (PEP) of
Our Future.

V teeters home to W,
Who is drinking the last of their T
With the boisterous loud-mouthed
Twins, M & N, and discussing
politices.

I lean in close to the bowl
Anxious to hear what they have to say.
(What my parents say after dinner doesn't mean much
I don't get it.)
But my nose hits the milk and their arrangement is gone.
They sink. And crumble into
muchy, sugary, gluteny goo.

My brother shouts,
"'Z' you later!"
But I never do.

Description
Once upon a time I
Opened a can of Box of
Cereal, The kind with
Lots of Letters in it
Only to find that
B was out of work
Because J had
Gone up to Capital Hill
And given Tax Cuts
Short Hand
To A, F, and L
(Who are all gullible)
Leaving them with the impression
That Faster is Better
And Jobs come from
Hard Labour
Quick Fixes.
C said, “My friends,
You are easily deceived.”
But K demanded,
“Shut your cake-hole.”
So C went back to being E
(the little kind)
And B was still left without
A job.
P said,
“I know how you feel, man.
I lost my lower contour in that war.”
“What war?” asked foolish
L and F.
No one would answer them.
I shook them out into my bowl
But more letters took their places.
Q watched R, S,
and T die for sugar
(on other cereals)
As her husband
Ex-husband, D,
Looked on, shouting,
Y, Y, Y?!
No one could answer him.
My mother walked in then,
Turned on the stove
The microwave’s egg-timer
Which I’m still too little
Yet to touch. I asked her,
“Y does Short Hand
Make it Better
If all I wants is
Sugar?”

She didn’t answer me
For a minute.

And then she said,
“If all U want, Bea.
If all U wants.”
Then she stared off into space.

X kept popping pills
swallowing something
Like it was candy
But all that sugar in your
System's so BAD
Unhealthy
For you.
V knows.
V knows that I's Sugar War
Battle For Enjoyment And Sweetened Food Products
Is worth 10,000 tears;
(O, that she could see her sweet daughter Q
live,
Sacrificed her simple,
Healthy, oat-y, unspecial trademark.)
(I haven't had oat Os in 6 months.)
It costs us our youth;
(A & P & B & D & R all have
cavities tooth decimation--
It makes it hard for them to chew with those big holes.)
The enfeebled are no longer
Worthy;
(G must lean on his cane,
A withered, friendly, time-consuming old man.
Only H will let him lean on her--
She herself is braced for a fall.
They stand totter alone.)
And our own past is
Embarrassed by
Ashamed of
Disgraced by
Afraid of
Uncertain about the Potential Earning Power (PEP) of
Our Future.

V teeters home to W,
Who is drinking the last of their T
With the boisterous loud-mouthed
Twins, M & N, and discussing
politices.

I lean in close to the bowl
Anxious to hear what they have to say.
(What my parents say after dinner doesn't mean much
I don't get it.)
But my nose hits the milk and their arrangement is gone.
They sink. And crumble into
muchy, sugary, gluteny goo.

My brother shouts,
"'Z' you later!"
But I never do.