poem
Volume 34, Number 3

Cancer Drug Commercials


What an ideal summer day
for fresh air and recreation
in the great American outdoors.

See those people cavorting
beneath a blue sky,
soaking up the warm sun,
breathing in the dreamy air?

They are the healthiest looking citizens
in all of Pharmatopia

strolling through the green,
playing fetch with the family dog,
gathering round the picnic bench.
The answer to hopes and prayers
available for a price.

Occasional side effects
—bankruptcy,
eviction,
hunger,
suicide—
have been reported.

There is no doctor to call
in the sunless back alley
where Wall Street and Madison Avenue meet.


—Mark Zimmermann