The mall became a place of celebration
where crowds danced down aisles
trading fashion for a future;
and built community on never being out-done.
Their challenge was built on altering appearances
which shifted to make room for more fun.
Those who sought reality fled until their wheels were locked
and their treasured auto-mobiles were blocked
by laughing crowds who never looked
where they were going because they were going
nowhere.
Or, so they thought.
Dancing until their legs weakened and they were easily led,
weighted down by consumerism, a nation died.
Its future claimed as booty by Great Pirates
in finely-tailored suits, and hair oft-clipped and shined.
Great Pirates are always bent on excess profit
from labor, yours and mine.
The ship of state was run aground, dancers on deck overtaken by fear,
as the ship was made to flounder on the rocky shore of democracy
whose shoals require often altering course to survive.
And those who danced beyond all reason
were marched down the plank into an ocean
of failed dreams and fake news and lies.
This is the way a great nation dies.
And those who stand so sure on shore
weep and cry out, “No more! No more!”
annarino writes 