Strip Mall Neverland
Work to consume. Consumed by work.
Austin, May 2025
Free to clock in at treadmill speed, Trapped in the hustle, running on speed. Free to “catch up” on weekend rest, While the digital invoice beats in your chest. Free to network with a desperate grin, Chasing schemes that won’t let you win – A nightmare sold as the American Dream.
Free to buy what you’ll never need, Consumption consuming you, plastic and greed. “Just upgraded to a bigger space”— More room for debt beneath neon grace. Dodging sales tax, a modern con, From dusk to dusk, it’s never done. Shop till your card gives out, then lease.
Free to order the “double bypass” plate, Bathing in excess, then bankruptcy’s fate. Free to sip overpriced juice with a smirk, Bottomless coffee, plastic sporks at work. The echo chamber hums its drone, Climb the ladder till you’re alone. Pharma sings: o-o-o-ozempic.
Free to stage drama, a daily chore, The ghost of liberty craving more. Anesthetized by screens, star-spangled might, Under the hum of fluorescent light. Navigate the phony, the hollow, the maze – A land of the brave lost in the haze.
Free to drive West as the asphalt unfolds, A glimmer of what the desert still holds. Stars over nothing where ambition goes quiet, The soul almost rises – almost starts a riot. Free to move states, to try once again. But the strip mall’s waiting at the other end.
