Have you read the newspaper?

 Have you read the newspaper off late?

What have we become?

Lesser than we used to be. 

Sitting in your larger, 

Air-conditioned living rooms, 

Having cereal, with milk from a carton,

And California almonds,

With frozen berries, of every kind; 

As you chomp down your breakfast,

‘Cause you need to catch the 10 AM meeting,

Have you read the newspaper?

The poor become poorer,

But that’s old news.

We are more severe on the weaker,

War looms large, knocks at our door,

So what? It’s not our children who are bullet ridden.

Somewhere a delivery boy kills someone

Over a parking spot, for he was getting late 

For a 30-minute or free delivery. 

Uneducated brutes, we smirk, as we sip our gourmet coffee.

Children are killed by mothers in hotel rooms

And packed in suitcases like dirty laundry

Young boys getting catfished by old men, 

Or vice versa,

Bullies everywhere.

We turn the page, big match tonight!

We turn the page, there’s some great offer on pizza, 

Delivered in 30 minutes, else free!