An Advertisement Poem by Devender Kumar

I see an advertisement.
If I wish to see, otherwise
I pay a fee.
Whatever I want to see,
I am on an Earth
that is business property.
The cities, the villages,
on radios, on TVs—
wherever I look,
an advertisement
is more than me or thee.
This is the trick to enslave
both me and thee.
Life is encircled by ads,
yet you tell me it's free.
Wherever I wish to eat,
an advertisement.
Whatever I wish to read,
an advertisement.
Here and there to guide me,
to lure me,
to threaten me,
to counsel me.
Even the gods are purchased
and sold through
an advertisement.
I breathe
an advertisement.
I eat
an advertisement.
I discuss
an advertisement.
Is this life
for an advertisement?
Or is this life
an advertisement?
I feel a fear,
is my love for you
an advertisement?
To be free
is to be free from
a world of advertisement.
Will it be a heaven?
Or is heaven itself
an advertisement?