yesterday I heard a preacher of truths
otherwise known as “advertisements”
they are everywhere
stand in my way
the speak to me in personalized
machine-learning pitches
but they don’t feel biological anxiety
I really don’t care about
the latest car or clothes
I’d prefer to think about injustice
inequality, racism, intolerance, sexism
actual human truths and problems
how happy the man must be right?
who can contemplate the
unhappiness of others
or does altruism and activism
no matter how insignificant my impact
make me feel better somehow?
I who cannot be cursed from the outside
since I am poor, ugly, unpopular
having nothing, owning nothing
being anonymous, I can ignore
the better part of capitalism
gluttony, profit-memes, exploits
of privilege and status
abuse of power, corruption
and mental hoopla taken for granted
that’s why, in a word
I could never live in America.
Wuji Seshat 