Plastic Flowers

I used to think 

That I could be anything

Go to college

Earn some knowledge

And a four-year degree

I can’t believe

Never thought I’d ever be

Waking up from the American Dream

But all I see 

Is inequality

And who are we

If we can’t come together?

Go to work

For a circle jerk

Spewing buzz words void of meaning

These funerals in cubicles

And every meaningless meeting

While the profiteers

Have engineered

Your clockwork existence

From their ivory towers

The wealth and power

Entitled by their inheritance

I can’t believe

Never thought I’d ever be

Waking up from the American Dream

But all I see 

Is kakistocracy

And who are we

If we can’t come together?

Planting plastic flowers in the yard

They never grow

No matter how hard 

I try to give them life

At least they never die

I think it’s strange

They never change

Or grow, you know

These plastic flowers

Have magic powers

They don’t get cold

Never grow old

Or any other direction

Or do much of anything

Worth a mention

These plastic flowers

Aren’t even ours!

I can’t believe

Never thought I’d ever be

Waking up from the American Dream

But all I see 

Is your complacency

And who are we

If we can’t come together?

[instrumental break]

I can’t believe

Never thought I’d ever be

Waking up from the American Dream

But all I see 

Is our humanity

And who are we

If we can’t come together?

© 2021 Zach Sands, PhD