I bought a screwdriver
because I didn't have a screwdriver
and somehow
I still don't have a screwdriver

Why I'd rather pick it from the trash when you're done with it

I want something for nothing
because nothing is worth anything
Nothing I give you will go to
anyone who made you
The premium does not reach
the maker the pricefixer
does not reward the craft
There's no money in working
only in the hand-off
There's money in promotion
in being the one who told
the one who told the one
to make the sign
to make the sign
to post on the side of the bus
And in being the genius who thought
to raise the price
And in being the genius who thought
to let a worker suffer
And in being the genius who thought
to sell the obsolete as new
And in being the genius who thought
to let the consumer get cancer
And in being the genius who thought (keep your bonus)
to let three do the work of ten
(if they don't speak our language
not only do we not have to pay them as much but
we don't have to listen to their ideas, i mean
how could we?)
And in being the genius who thought
to stir up hate against the very people
who make everything we do possible
and learn just enough language to
remind them
constantly
how very
replaceable
they are

neverwheresville
clusters of houses that block each other as such that none of the front doors can open
garbage rings equidistant from the equally diverted windows crushed open by electrical sound
left in a housekeeper's pit with sheets and the deceased
borne of disinterested fornication
borne of nothing better to do
and of no one better to do it to
cans in hands of the uninteresting things
crushed against the mattress that dusts the floor while they sleep
lost forever in dreams of red labels and closeouts
bargains and specials and suits of silken armor
the dust is rising upward now
we put a little behind the ears to let the song sink in
up with living
up with going
up with getting out of this
up with this perfume collected from what once just settled
up with blowing it all out
we sneeze and only then do we know we're alive and that
we're better than this but
we won't forget where we came from