Pop culture has created adoptable characters for everyone:
in 2022, the brainwashing goes on 24/7.
The media influencers “have a pill for everything,”
and you can deny your problems by
embracing the characteristics of Boba Fett, Eleven,
Kim Kardashian, or a raccoon who’s wearing a hoodie.
Who are you?
You don’t know, since you are trying to be somebody else
instead of being you.
In 2022, life is a game of choice and denial,
and Mr. Kaczynski warned people
that this “craziness” would be everyone’s future,
but the Americans didn’t believe him because of “choice and denial.”
Paula Puolakka is a Beat poet, writer, and MA (History of Science and Ideas.) Her new poem will be a part of the Spring Issue of Poetry Cooperative.