(A ‘happy’ end of Summer poem for Junior)

busted unions and democracy

irradiated food and people

wars to kill the whole planet

my garden is dying too

soon we’ll grow to hate nature

yeah that’s what they want

pin the blame on a heat wave

companies will sell us the water

nobody’s responsible for God

and God is sure acting up

he must be a real character

God should maybe run a company

the doctor says I’ve got cancer

to be careful of what I eat

I laughed til I coughed blood

be careful what I think too Doc

I used to have roses in my garden

used to look at them every day

it’s like people now who don’t

look at each other on the street

everybody knows but they’re afraid

they’ll see how much worse it is

so you go on living and wait

for that monthly check in the mail

some day soon I’ll go out there

and there won’t be any check anymore

people will turn to killing each other

politicians will encourage them

they’ll give out big money for it

send all the checks in the mail

so people can go out and make death

as the last right they have in life

the sky will fill up with clouds

and it will stay that way just waiting

for the end

but you know

one happy thought to think?

most of us will never live to see it

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.