Inaction and Distraction by Elizabeth Robin

delightful wisdom pulls from tightly folded cookies

unblocked, on paper strips inscribed by ancients

 

Trust in the love of a handsome stranger–
The mask hides the truth–
Wherever joy lives, so do children–

fortunes tied into some thin belief
in the magical property of just-write phrasing

now a typographic charm
a pound sign–four crosses–the sorcerer’s hashtag
thrown before a flippant remark or clever slogan
signals our bit for social justice is done

#BringBackOurGirls
#SandyHookPromise

we create anonymous support groups
#amwriting, #shoutyourabortion
or nonsensical holidays
#firstlinefriday, #throwbackthursday
catchy campaigns to #makeamericagreatagain
affirmed by hits and retweets in headline news
where most-tweeted tawdry gossip floats
on the global intercom, vessel overflowing
with prurient repetition, spam and food porn
hash into nothingness, and after two years
two-hundred seventy-six missing girls fade
under their hashtag, and the murder of twenty
first-graders loses the pound-key promise
drowned by a Kardashian baby or Minister’s affair

#payattention, #integrityisyourfortune
so #choosekindness and #payitforward