Modern Rage

Life is one big emergency,
so prepare for the coming worry,
the detour, the inconvenience and analyses,
the 24/7 hue and cry, the first and last responders,
the mayor's press conference, the next day's headlines.
Fear is not entertainment,
it's big business of another sort,
testing the limits of the overtaxed
into a cornucopia of mass hysteria,
the panicked frenzy of realization
that accompanies the horror, the disbelief,
the injustice of the inhumane,
cruelty of answers as questions
like some game-show diversion
or therapist's thrown back echoed response.
Love has its price; life has its limits.
In the end, talk is a strategy,
a therapy, a subtle maneuver.
a line on the soundbar saying volume control.
Vituperative contumely at the ready,
here's a comeback for the ages
for children forevermore to quote
when looking back in anger.