when i was a kid
the only thing more
prevalent than the
red threat during
the cold war was
the larger than life
wrestlers who fought
for the rights of
every man in the
squared circle on
saturday mornings

reagan talked of
satellites orbiting
to shoot down any
rogue cccp nukes
as the hulkster used
a big boot to defend
our way of life from
dastardly caricatures
who sought to destroy
the american dream

i don’t remember when
it all was exposed
as preordained hoopla
when the bloated corpse
of civility shed light
on cocaine smuggling
and rampant steroid abuse
of the angles being fixed
so the house is the only
one who never really loses
but it all seemed to
fall apart at the same
time as old ronnie forgot
his atrocities and the
government sued mcmahon

we just went through
the motions of these
manufactured emotions
willfully ignoring
the men behind the curtains
a cultural phenomenon
in mass delusion cast
in the guise of patriotism
keeping us easily herded
from conflict to conflict
with the expectation of
the good guy always
coming out on top

the veil now stripped
we see only the villains
ever truly prevail
they just spin narratives
point fingers and assume
none of the rightful blame
they used to die just before
their sins were exposed
now they shrug off atrocities
as little more than a
typical tuesday mourning
this transparency as lies
despite mountains of proof
nasty old men with hatred
burned into racist souls
who believe ill gotten
gains are enough to erase
the taste of truth from
the mouths of the sheep

they play the greatest fits
a big boot to the face of
freedom before the leg drop
crushing the middle class
and we wheeze applause as
the ref counts onetwothree
new distractions so we forget