and the choices that children have left,
if that's what they could be called,
are all of them pre-arrayed and made
in the safe, sacred space of the mall.
And like the unwanted excrescences
of too-long tails and ears on "purebred" dogs,
extraneous on purebred, bio-engineered consumers
are the interconnections of human bonds
which are then prevented from reforming
by the application of cultural shock collars
which let children know they're straying from convention
and prompts shopping in which to find solace.
Children are taught to speak
by mimicking animals sounds,
"What does the cow say?" and to read
by rattling off their names. "C is for cow."
They're given pets with whom they bond,
but learn love and promises can be exchanged.
Should a more pleasing specimen come along,
the original is easily replaced.
Children also bond with animals in Farm Programs,
then sell them for slaughter, betraying them,
and take comfort in the profit they earn,
learning money trumps loyalty and friends.
Some children are sent out into the woods,
armed with high-powered weapons
with which they then hunt down and kill
their essentially defenseless animal friends.
This template for the eradication of feelings
via the extermination of beloved animals
is covered with the bandage of denial
and purges children of much of their humanity.
And this cold, cruel, callous psychology
is the epitome of American masculinity.
Love, friendship, fair play and promises,
gratitude and empathy are strictly for sissies.
And since mothers now work to make up
increasing profit taken from wages of fathers,
children are often left alone and unguarded
to sit alienated, anxious and wanting
getting much of their nurture by nursing
at the ubiquitous TV tit,
which disperses only the addictive milk
of corporate ejaculate,
driving small children back
to the sacred, sacrificial mall altar
where they give up the rest of their SELVES
to the holy corporate Uber Father
SELF silenced
in the quest for eternal youth,
to gain the illusion of status,
for the refuge of sedatives or stimulants
to create an artificial happiness
to get what they're told they deserve
to relieve the quiet desperation,
to find love in the acquisition of goods,
for the reward of instant gratification
for the waxen mask of faux beauty,
to transfer loyalty to brands,
to compete in the search for identity,
to amass enough feel like a man
for products as opposed to friendships,
for the feeling of being included,
to keep them amused as they're being abused
making sure curiosity is neutered.
