The Generation That Looks for a Sign

--A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
Matthew 16:14


like certain friends
who tell you what you want to hear
to get you off the phone,

like the speeches of politicians of all ages,

or the easy agreement of the body
with its pleasure,

a wicked and adulterous generation
looks for a happy sign.

My favorite is "Chili's" followed
by "Starbucks" followed by
"Free Lunch" followed by "Open."


And so the catalog of futility
is as endless as the oil
of stupidity
that greases the machines of industry
with our consent
It reads:

when I can think of nothing besides

how I can dream of nothing else

there is no finer way to make a memory

Have we forgotten?
Or is there something wrong
with all our pictures?
Who can fix our minds
when there is no one who
can fix our televisions?

And how short-lived
are the causes of our hearts!
which call us to a heroism
for which nothing in the pages
of television has prepared us.


Come let us celebrate the victory
that hasn't happened yet. We shall drink
strong bright wine to the memory
of tomorrow. Call a fast, assemble
the people, that we may drown our sins
with cakes and alcohol and have spiritual
visions gazing down into the mystery
of our steaks. In which room in all
the chambers of stupidity shall we
take our permanent vacation?
The one with the hot tub of course
and the blonde at the sales conference
from the rival company. The one you met
at the hotel bar three Christmases ago,
the one who reminds you of your wife.


The Ten Commandments which lie
on the floor beside
the hotel bed

will never accuse you before angels
and the twelve tribes

though the headache and lingering anger
will remain long after the flight home
but cease just before

the last panicked flash of remorse
in which we'll learn

the final crashing sum
of the equation
we have all made
between ease and blessing.