Viewpoints

Agree and Disagree differed on their views of Black Friday;
they had contrasting opinions.  Agree laughed and giggled
with countenance aglow and hoorayed at the busyness,
the outright commercialism, the flood of newspaper ads
swamping households, weighing down trash cans.
Agree clapped his hands and grinned like a satyr
and did a little jig on the kitchen floor, jarring
the range contents, vibrating stainless
steel pots within to gently chime.

Disagree frowned with shoulders slumped and shook his
head at this whole Black Friday thing.  He pointed out
the waste of paper, the miasma of traffic, the push
and the shove in store and mall corridors, the
hurry up and the struggle for bargains, the
Battlestar Galactica attitude with eyes
as guns, or stares as daggers ready
to lance and incise and pierce
with ferocity, with intent.

Agree’s blue eyes beamed
like so much laser light and he
arched his back, standing proud
at this unofficial holiday, this parade
of gift-hungry people forming hours early,
standing like civil sentries outside locked doors,
forming lines in November winds mugging for cameras
from the television stations, or for newspaper photographers.

Disagree’s bald head glistened
with perspiration, and he lowed like
a deep well’s shivering at the marketable
madness overtaking societal health, at extreme
waits alongside brick buildings before roosters crowed,
or ere dawn cracked, at the windup taken by anticipation
itself celebrating this glut of so much more.  He also shed a
tear or two, and wondered why Agree’s eyes remained so dry. 


34 Lines
Writer’s Cramp Winner
11-25-17