Cicadas

I am seven running
Around our back yard
With my sisters looking
Hunting cicadas on the
Tree trunks shells of monsters
Flown away to hook into our
Clothes and pretend to
Scare each other with
What must have
Been inside the
Empty shells.
Now I am
Old and
Listen
To
Those
Who try
And scare us
Holding the cicadas
Shells of our shibboleths
Hoping we will not see
Them for Charlatans
Trying to avoid real
Issues like the fall
Of the American
Working class
By slow
Inflation making
Child care a business
Instead of a full-time job
For at least one parent while
The other earns an income,
It began when we stopped
Teaching ethics and
Civics in schools
And turned to
TV to baby
Sit our
Kids.
Now we
Use gizmos
To distract children
When we neglect them,
Failing to give working
Mothers a safe place
To keep their kids
While fake issues
Like caravans
Or socialism
Deprive us
From
Preventative
Medicine and
Banning sugar
From school foods
Choosing capitalism
Over our children.
A nation that
Professes
Trinitarian Christianity
But does not follow
The teachings
Of Jesus but
Pushes the
Greedy
Hope
Of
Escaping
Death by an
Ecclesiastical
Trick of salvation
For us but ignoring
The message of forgiveness
And love that should be primary.
How can so many be so
Foolish as to believe
In demagogues who
Rely on our low
Self-image to
Get us to
Accept
Such
Nonsense.
Or am I
Wrong
To expect more.