.45 caliber brass cartridge laying beside ruler with red markings
[This photograph is in the public domain.]

Hi There, America

If Homo sapiens
has risen to the
level of
determining
our planet’s
future then
earth
is in trouble.
Isn’t it chutzpah
to expect a
nouveau species
to be exceptional
next to
dinosaurs
or ants?
Fucking up is
what people
actually
do best.
Yesterday
before my
grandson
& I picked
up his older
bro we
stopped
at Yeastie
Boys Bagel
Truck for
a few, one
of which
had zilch
holes, so
looking
up what
that is
called, he
ID’d it
as either
rasmundi
or plumper
but never
a bialy
which is
not boiled
but baked +
its middle
= onions.
Ell’s happy
w/ toasted
cinnamon
but Simon
tantrumed
we choose
whole wheat
w/ sesame
seeds to
bring him
since altho
he almost
always wants
healthy, I fear
adolescence
got upset once
we conflated
eating Meals
vs Treats.
By the time
moi got back
above our
daughter’s
garage
where my
wife & I +/-
co-exist in
a single room,
I was quite
upset—the
microwave
I’d ordered
to surprise
their fam
so we could
reclaim our
own tiny box,
the one they
recently
appropriated,
turned out
industrial-
sized, thusly
needed to
be returned
to Amazon
for a littler
Panasonic…
so this frazzled
septuagenarian
croaked out,
dreaming of
holeless bagels
made right by
Smith & Lesson
automatics
wielded by totin’
teachers adept
with the firearm.