Common Cause

Common Cause

the new gods
we need
haven't
caught up
with the new
ways
we have

the new truths
we need
haven't evolved
with the new technologies
the new masters
the new gods
that enslave us

we've outrun
outpaced
the new ways
we so desperately
need

the slowpokes
lagging
still clinging
to the old ways
they've barely
outpaced
imagining
if we'd only slow down
allow the old ways
to catch up
we all
might catch
our breathes

we've outgrown
last season's 
fashions
standing now
half-naked
in bras
briefs
and shoes
that no longer
fit

the social fabric
of old
replaced
with the toilet tissue
of today

vulnerable
naked
exposed
we retreat
into fantasies
of grandiose
absurd
selves

half-naked
possessors
of special knowledge
and wisdom
found
in brand new
conspiracies

narcissism
conspiracies
convenient
escapes
from the world
that no longer
fits

desperate times
once
united
but these
desperate times
without
a common cause
divide

politicians
preachers
philosophers
the new messiahs
of common causes
on which
no one
can agree

common causes
ridiculous
to the uncommon
man
understanding
the peculiar
particular
nature
of us all

the uncommon man
accepting
the minds
of the many
only function
when forged
into tools
of metric or standard
measure
that fit
the job

the old ways
our old gods
of church and state
exposed
the promises
of consumerism
dead

what to do?
resurrect
reconstruct
the old ways
that no longer fit
or grope
blindly
for a brand new
more fitting
fashion?

are we
a heap
of rusting
obsolete
tools
in need
of a job?

do we
as tools
retool ourselves
to fit
the work
or 
reform the work
to fit
the obsolete tools?

how on earth
to refit the tools
for a job
with no
common
plan?

how on earth
to fit a job
to tools
with no
common
measure?