A Neoliberal PA$TORAL
Calokie

Globalization is my mantra; I want it all.
It maketh me spray pesticides on green pastures

It leadeth me to build factories beside still waters
where I may lay its wastes.
It guideth me to lay off workers and outsource jobs overseas
for the sake of maximizing profits.

Yea, though they walk through a valley parched by global warming
I fear no accountability for my government is its executive committee.
Its media and church doth comfort me.

It preparest a table of gourmet glut before me
in the presence of half a planet of starving people.
It anointest the beaches with spilt tanker oil:
The landfills runneth over with post consumer debris.

Surely the Dow will reach ever new hights all the days of my life
and corporate rule continue beyond history's end.
Amen amen.

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Calokie (aka Carl Stilwell) is a retired teacher who taught with the LA Unified School District. He was born during the depression in Oklahoma and came to California in 1959. He pen name was inspired by the Joads struggle for survival in The Grapes of Wrath and the songs and life of Woody Guthrie.

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