means to an end

in elementary school

they used to give scratch n’ sniff stickers

they used to give not only gold stars,

but all the stars of the

kid-done-a-good-job

rainbow (my favorite was the

purple)---

and back then, this was beautiful,

much like all the myths, legends &

downright lies

that are fed to us when we are children,

these little stamps of approval

made the time go by in a

positive fashion---

but outside the elementary school

where the wolves run rampant,

there are no rewards for being

“good’---

there are no stars for helping others

there are no scratch n’ sniff stickers of any kind

for “following the law”---

the best you can hope for is to go one more day

without being harassed by the police,

without being harassed by the feds or the military,

without being lied to by politicians or raped financially by

bankers & other snakes who crawl amongst us in the deep

grass---

bosses & supervisors swarm like locusts &

illness rears its face quicker than you might of thought it

would---

it’s only one path

it’s only one way to go

it’s only a means to an end.