8 Better & More Important Than I Am

by Eric Chaet

There are so many generals, admirals, & warlords
so many shareholders in companies making
such powerful weapons & ammunition & fuel
& servicing the soldiers & the military bases
& so many billionaires & millionaires
& so many women raped & exploded arms & legs
& empty-eyed wanderers on streets all over the world
& their equivalent making themselves small in rooms
& then editors of scarcely-read magazines & agents
& publishers of authors whose work dances around
anything that must be addressed if it’s ever to become possible
for humanity to stop committing suicide
& who are less & less likely even ever to earn more
than it costs them to feed & house themselves
& even guys at the diner at 6 in the morning
who have to drive themselves like slaves
for some little bit of relief from anxiety
plus a little beer, vacation, & retirement
before they run out of strength, get sick, & die
have to act like they’re better & more important
than I am—& that it would matter!