Category: poetry

Satisfaction

movies about a future

with few survivors 

that stumble across an abandoned store

with canned food on the shelves

not much else

I think

how desperate they feel

how sad

when I go into a supermarket

today

if what want isn’t there

there is still lots there

there is enough

for satisfaction

<>

at one time

thank you

was enough

now thank you

doesn’t go far enough

there has to be praise

adulation

I had to be grateful

that I was even allowed

to say thank you

for satisfaction

<>

I didn’t look

when the food was served

I kept my eyes unfocused

as I ate

I didn’t ask what was on the plate

I didn’t look to cut

I trusted

each morsel was what

I was supposed to have

I didn’t question

I ate 

taste was suppressed

pleasure was not the point

the point was to eat

whatever was served

to eat silently

then

get the fuck out

so the next person could

seek satisfaction 

I don’t think I’ve seen movie about the future in which the planet hadn’t been depleted. People were eating artificial food some some sort – pellets, jelly, or some brown gruel. Food was dispensed by a machine & like Willie Wonka all was flavour enhanced. People in the future didn’t need roughage. They didn’t have to cook either so, if there was a kitchen, it might provide some sort of coffee – that if it was a future with potable water.

Another vision of life after some sort of climactic event is one of scavenging through the debris of supermarkets, or protecting crops from roving bands of unwashed, cut-throat assholes. In both scenarios no one complains about what they get to eat. There’s no discussion of depth of flavour or lack of seasoning.

When I shop for food, clothing, candy etc. I am confronted with a huge range of options – so many I sometimes find it ‘hard’ to make a decision or am confounded that I can’t find, say, something isn’t gluten free, sugar-free or perfect if one is lactose intolerant – halloween candy with nuts will soon be illegal (just kidding) but to have my diet limited by the restrictions of others seems unfair. I once asked at a bakery if they had anything with gluten & the clerk stared daggers at me. I know where I won’t be shopping soon. Unless after the apocalypse there are only gluten-free options because all the wheat has been destroyed.

A noted American personality believes that people should express their gratitude for being in his presence that he should never have to pay for anything. Restaurants, lawyers, even nations that expect him to pony up the cash are treated as ingrates who don’t have enough class or smarts to adore his very existence. The fact that the world doesn’t turn around him is a conspiracy. No thanks.