Average Joe

Dedication: To everyone who suffered during “Recession”.

By: Dot a.k.a. Arzoo
Dated: Jan-05-2011

Copyrighted © Arzoo Zaheer 2011

Control

Average Joe sat staring in nothingness

“Yo! hear the age old battle of hope and despair”

Adamantly, he urged the self

“Seek within, seek without, within and without

….. don’t cease, don’t desist”

Alas! Disappointment drowned the self immeasurably

His cell phone never rang; “that” email never arrived


Helplessness

Silently, the Brownian motion prolonged

As the “dust particles” collided randomly

Young Joe collided too, silently, with others

You see, random collision was the norm

……had been the norm for several years

Gradually, Joe turned into a puppet

Silently floating from sector to sector

Rape

Heads up, Joe the soldier, marched onward

Smiling at a simple memory of someone

SILENCE

Word of the Day, “Harmonized Taxes”

Fresh Joe’s dignity blows to thousand pieces

As the economy, an outrageous beast

Rapes Joe mercilessly of his meager possessions


Lawless World

Hush! There is no law stating that this is a crime

A battered Joe shares thoughts with his confidante

Despairingly hoping for things to change

The two-faced “clowns” throw money at the economy

Nonchalantly, Joe drowns in music and cheap drinks

“Stay Busy, that’s the reality call, that’s the sanity pill”

But the “black hole” gets wider and wider


Gibberish

Suddenly, Young Joe withers to 100

As an ancient movie rolls in front of his eyes:

“Broken families, sleepless hobos left to rot and die

Prostitutes win easy cash as the “black hole” widens

AND the elite remain insolent, nonchalant”

Survival dictates “randomness”

So, Joe collides randomly with “others”


Echolocation

The year passes slowly, mercilessly

Joe becomes invisible and then non-existent

As he adapts to the screams of unpaid bills

Hearing Echolocation…Echolocation

Joe becomes a bat, a nocturnal hunter of food

He disintegrates; thoughts collide within like dust particles

Yeah! Dehumanization and recession go hand-in-hand

What do you break when there is nothing to break?

What do you break when there is nothing to break?

Camaflouge

Managing his loan of 40K, Joe camouflages his C.V.

Dancing the dance of brilliant peacocks

Joe rhymes in accordance to his sector

Soundlessly, hearing the transmutation of the self

As downsizing cuts millions like vegetables

Strike e one, strike two, strike three

…Joe’s heart hardens

Strike one, strike two, strike three

…prayers become rare

Strike one, strike two, strike three

… Joe turns 100

Happy birthday Joe

Strike one, strike two, strike three

… Joe turns 100

Happy birthday Joe

Elite vs. the People

The corporate survives like a beast, a hawk

Downsizing like a vulture, it lashes at its preys

Without remorse, without resent, blindly, randomly

Survival of the best becomes the norm

Dust particles silently engage in Brownian motion

Joe enters symbiosis with the beastly corporate

As they eat off each other, hating each other to death

Tis unfair!

Tis unfair!


Generation XYZ, a Big Question Mark

Joe has worked all his life- 25– 30 – 40

Now, a penniless Joe regrets symbiosis

Symbiosis that creates hatred and egoism

Joe regrets symbiosis

Prayers are precious and rare…

Prayers are precious and rare…

Generation XYZ

Joe is generation Y.

What about generation Z?

Joe, a silent dust particle

Generation Z, a question mark

Golden Dust

The dust particles casually seek solitude

Callously waiting to be thrown around again

Gathering weight…”Other” weight

The “weight” that moves the pen of a thinker into motion

Thus moving a nation into revolution against the norm

Those selfish, unstable norms of the society

The dust particles have weight

Thus the dust particles create a sandstorm

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