Suburban Princes

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Upon the sprawled street plains

of clean painted asphalt and lawns, and picket fences

ever-conquering the nine to five pains

rule undisputed the Suburban Princes


Above the boring boulevards they rise

passing by your pricey yard in their more expensive cars

by the grace of right decisions past they lord with pride

decisions you haven’t had, but you admonish your child


In the assembly the prince is known by expensive threads

a family of American smiles, taught cheeks and ernest eyes

nine to seven numbs in the afternoon but in the evening it buys

better kind of games and better kind of bread


The princes slay the windmills of shopping malls

in leather lazy boys they paper-slay the Joneses

six figure salaries beget six figure loans

the princes play golf, the princes bet on horses


Life is gentle with super comfy socks and phallic paper cup mocha

leather seats warm the ass while music plays crisp treble and bass

On a rainy day you buy a nice shirt or a fancy flower vase

Your kids go to good schools, your dying parents to a good doctor


And as the wrinkles break the botox and scalp breaks upon the brow

With real estate and investments and a career in tow

Steadily the princes rule the number of nine to nine days

Upon the clean-labeled asphalt lanes and faux-marble foyers.

from 2015

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René Girard III: The American Crisis 2020

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René Girard Part II: The Monomaniac