Not! Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

keep me as a fan in your next life
I was born to be the number
that boosted you over the top
turn me in as a cereal box top
for the sunk to the bottom coveted prize
with light refreshments
the green plastic dinosaur
that lopes through the cities
miniscule on the pavements
small dragons may
encroach this way
upon the territory of the princess or the prince
and the random gliteratti who run the world like gotti
the crabs with their sideways pincers
with their calculating sensors
while the world is blowing up
whatever it needs to blow up
to get attention.
to wound small children
as if they ceased being flowers.
mary angela douglas 19 september 2023