Why Do We Have An Open Mic?

Because society has us zipping along on our heels

From one sale to the next, until we finally keel over

With our tongues slack from our mouths,

And our ever clutching fingers

In an unhealthy confidence with

Credit cards, and I-phones...

Like the old west gunslingers

Or a prohibition rumrunner

Who's been shot down where he stands...

....This is why we have an Open Mic.

Because there use to be a place you could talk to people!...

Because you have to be homeless,

Or a dog tied up to a tree to see the world

Like it really is,

Or else your just going through the motions...

Cooking up some half-crazed notion

From the outside looking in...

It's a game of sink or swim...

And no one here gets out alive...

...This is why we have an Open Mic.

Because Poetry is our last defense...

Because Palestinians are being shot in the face

While we decide which pose to take

In the ever growing comedic nightmare

Which is our U.S. Head of State...

It's like America's Funniest Home Videos

On tranqs, because everyone's too scared

To react, or has forgotten how to...

As we tumble down the cracks, and haunted halls...

We must decide which rock to cling to,

Because there is no turning back...

...This is why we have an Open Mic.

So raise all voices high!...

Speak your truths!...

Draw down the energies

From the harvest moon,

As that great Blood Moon casts

Her shadow on our backs...

And the lies that we've been steeped in

Will surely make us ill

If we stand still...

Don't let controllers in...

We must ignite!...

...This is why we have an Open Mic!...

9/15/25

Bunny Villaire