Optional Orthodoxy

What can you say? It doesn't matter.
The words don't slay, but they can flatter
Those who'll see the killing done;
First, for profit; then, for fun.

Sure the bullshit sounds opaque;
Hard to fathom, hard to take.
Sense of it, one cannot make.
That's the point: sell Fear with Fake.

Disbelief you must suspend
From the start until the end.
Just imagine that you see
What's not there and cannot be.

Then suppose the noise you hear
Makes you think of words unclear.
Sounds suggestive of a thought,
Vague and strange but cheaply bought.

Black and white at first, just movement.
Next, add sound, a real improvement.
Color, then, completes the scheme:
TV "real" and life a dream.

Just absorb the staged impression.
Then come back for one more session.
Then another, then one more ...
See? For you, that's what's in store.

Love Big Brother? Well, you should.
Just don't look beneath the hood.
Take on faith our lies? A plus!
Soon we'll turn you into us.

Michael Murry, "The Misfortune Teller," Copyright © 2018