Deflated Balls Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

And now...
Ladies and gentlemen.
As well as those refusing,
To give up their lifetime membership...
With a consciousness everyday,
Being abused and mistreated.
With a doing to dismiss,
As some may wish.
All that we have come to value.
And cherish.

We have come to 'this' reality,
As a point of view no one dares to criticize.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Deflated balls have risen to the top...
Of everyone's prioritized survival list.
And gone...
Is a wish by those pushing carts on the streets,
Hoping to collect enough cans...
To afford something to eat.
Let us all stand and applaud.

Gone to vanish from our point of view too,
Is every dream to be sheltered from the rain.
By those who barely live...
Hoping for a miracle.
OR something meaningful,
They can claim moves them forward...
To effect a maintained change.

It is that day,
To have come to us to witness its arrival.
Deflated balls...
Foot-balls!
We now can say and face it...
Has been the cause of all of our sorrows.
Not threats from terrorists.
Or the agonies suffered,
By those jobless and poor.
It has been deflated balls,
Gone too long to ignore...
We now have found,
As the cause of all of our dilemmas.

Let us pray and be grateful,
That this 'event' has been revealed.

'And all this time,
Who knew...
It would be the admitting of deflated balls,
That would come to end...
Conflict, confusion and chaos.'