Overread at the Counter: Poem of the Day "Don't Forget the Fries!"

As with most of my poems, it starts one place, ends at another place where I never expected to go, and I can only hope that at one some level it all makes some sort of sense.   Makes sense to me during the writing; sometimes it makes no sense upon re-reading.  Those that still do I can consider a half-way success.

The inundation of images of the beautiful and the wealthy

And the ever-persistent news about their bold indiscretions,

How does that tickly the average brain?

The clerks at the municipal courthouse, taking payments

For tickets and warrants, the cashiers at the local grocery store,

The phone banker trying to keep each call to no more than two minutes

So that they won’t get their pay docked, the Accounts Payable

Clerk at the mid-size concrete company: each one, each

One:

Told that they, too, can have a rock-hard ass at the age of 46,

Abs like each of the 300 Spartans, hair that flows like honey,

skin to airbrushed flawlessness:

This is what we read on breaks, in between customers at the windows,

In between calls, we thumb through these pages, imprinting

Imprinting,

While we suck down our fourth Big Gulp Cherry Coke of the day,

Swallow double mouthfuls of Whataburger Chop House Cheddar Burger,

And the fries, ah,

Don’t forget the fries!

About the Poem:

I got the idea for this one from the latest cover of some magazine that showed Jennifer Lopez's back and quite lovely derriere with the caption "How does she still look so amazing at 46?"  My wife and I were standing in line at the grocery store when we saw this, and we agreed that 1) Jennifer Lopez does NOT look as amazing as that cover did, because she's been airbrushed beyond humanity (heck, even the water of the pool looks like an oil painting!), and 2) how does she do it?  Answer: an army of personal trainers, nutritionists, hair stylists, makeup artists, and personal assistants.   Things that nobody, and I mean NO-BODY, outside of this fantasy world will ever have.

When seeing these magazines, I always think of the real women - the working moms - who make up the majority of this country, and personally I think it's damned unfair, almost cruel, to drown them in these images and ask these women to raise children, have careers, try to keep the bills paid, and oh yes, find a time to have the sexy ass that Jennifer Lopez has.

While I do not deny that Jennifer Lopez is extremely beautiful, I find true beauty in real women. Lopez, and every other star like her, are merely figments of our imagination.

MR

2016-0111