The Selling Of Culture Poem by Barry Middleton

useless exuberance is dead
it died in the winter of America
the age of Aquarius is lost
it sold out on bargain day at Macy's
culture has been auctioned

education yielded to profit
buy a degree with debt
you get a scroll but no job
a consumer economy rules
production is outsourced

elections are bought
corporate personhood is law
pay as you go for congress
attack ads and lying campaigns
pout and shut the government down
forget what the people need
screw it all and cash your check

no one resists television
the epitome of mindlessness
no news on cable news
biased viewpoints of lunacy
hours of talking heads
the country and the world rots
our infrastructure crumbles

commercials push drugs
antacids for an acrid mentality
commercials prey on fear
cure your induced addictions
lose your belly fat
we cling to a cancerous life

new apps and video games
literature is unreality
reality TV is literature
poetry is prose
books are obsolete
newspapers are pamphlets

music is processed like cheese
organic music is the local bar
a dance beat and video visuals rule
lyricism is dead

racism is dumbed down to code
hatred sells like cheap wine
elections reveal transparent xenophobia
bitterness has replaced solutions

communication is babble
heads bowed to the eye phone religion
reading text messages
avoiding conversation
facebook has replaced face time
the timeline is for dogs and babies
the news infiltrated with ads
malware sprouts like weeds
the revolution will not be televised*
culture was sold to the highest bidder