Geezer Jihad

Low income seniors are growing in numbers even as their cost of living – the cost of existing, of affording a minimum of those things absolutely necessary for life – is overtaking their meager incomes.
The homeless elderly will be an increasingly important group as America ages in the next decade.

GEEZER JIHAD

The Geezer Jihad is on the move to Washington, D.C.,
Marching onward, senior soldiers, in rows of two and three.
With their walkers and their wheelchairs, they should arrive at dawn,
Down Pennsylvania Avenue, and on to the White House lawn.

With their oxygen tanks and IV drips and orthopedic shoes,
They’re ready to wage a dirty war and they don’t intend to lose.
Their lap robes hide their arsenals of weapons of mass destruction -
A deadly store of missiles of their own design and construction.

No guns, no bombs, no tanks, no planes, no loss of life or limbs –
They’re armed with slings and ready to fling a barrage of used Depends.
Resistance will be useless. They’re prepared to stand their ground.
And if their demands will not be met…they’ll turn the White House brown.

As more and more of the old and poor are forced out onto the street,
Or share their cat’s food because it’s cheap and they’ve bills that they can’t meet,
Or do without meds that they need to live, but can’t afford to buy,
The powers that be pretend not to see, or ask, “Why don’t they just die?”

“Why should we have to pay for them? They’re not our responsibility.
They think because they’re old they’re entitled to financial priority!
It’s their own fault they’re in trouble – they didn’t make a plan.
Now their income doesn’t stretch, and they expect a helping hand!”

“Besides, it’s money we don’t have. It’s all going to Iraq.
Just what do they expect us to do? Bring the soldiers back?
They need to face the facts, tighten their belts, and live within their means.
It’s not like they need to go anywhere, and there’s a lot of protein in beans.”

“Goodwill clothes are good enough for bodies ugly and old;
If they layer on enough of them, they’ll hardly notice the cold.
And so what if their medications are more than they can afford?
Why should the rest of us pay for them? It’s time we cut the cord!”

So they’re out in force – a million man march of the old and the infirm,
They’re on parade, they’ll be seen and heard, and make the politicos squirm.
They’re limbering up their pitching arms, they’re not going to back off and quit.
They’re not going to take it any more; they’re throwing back the shit.

They’ve been living at the bottom end of a great national disparity,
But all that they ask is freedom from pain, a little comfort, and dignity.
And if you ask them how long it will take before they achieve their ends:
“It depends on whether they listen to us. If not, ……it just ……Depends.”

In the Beginning - A Bedtime Story

Scientists have discovered water on Mars, and there is some speculation that at one time it might have been very similar to the Earth, its blue-green twin, full of life.

After centuries of pollution, deforestation, environmental neglect and destruction, the planet Mars had become more and more inhospitable to life. The Martian people were forced to crowd closer and closer together in shrinking pockets of habitable land, and the competition for control of the dwindling resources was fierce and violent. The creation and use of increasingly more deadly weapons not only decimated the population, but also further devastated the environment. Martian scientists turned their eyes to their sister blue-green planet - a twin pendant in the universe to their own former gemlike orb - in the hopes that it might prove livable.

Alas, as they dreamed of a plan for a mass migration of the Martian peoples to a new Utopia, another group of scientists was working on, and finally succeeded in building the ultimate weapon of destruction – the biggest bang ever.

Late one night, two objects launched simultaneously from two different areas of the planet’s surface and arced up into the atmosphere. One was a space ship manned by two intrepid volunteers - a test probe on a one-way trip toward that hopeful hunk of rock that was now orbiting as close to Mars as it would ever get.

As the ship broke free of the planet’s atmosphere, and headed out into the vastness of space, the second launched object turned back toward Mars and landed with an explosion and fallout that finally and totally obliterated every trace of life remaining on the planet. People, animals, plants, buildings, all turned instantly to fine powder – dust devils swirling about in the shock waves from the blast before settling down as part of the now bleak, completely empty landscape.

The two astronauts had some concern over the sudden loss of communication with their base, but had no choice but to carry on with their assigned duties and ensure their own safe journey to what would be their new home.

Three months later, the ship reached its destination and settled gently to Earth. The door opened, a ladder dropped, and astronauts Adam Goldberg and Eve Bernstein stepped out and climbed down to the ground. They tested the air and declared it good. With helmets off, they looked around, marveling at the lushness of the plant life with all manner of grasses, and herbs, and flowers, and shrubs, and trees.

Eve looked at the trees laden with fruit – fresh fruit! – and her mouth began to water. “Oy, Adam,” she said, “If you pick me some of those apples, I’ll make some blintzes. But be careful and don’t fall out of the tree and break a rib or nothin’. Oh, and first you better kill that snake over there. You can skin him and tan him later – he’ll make a nice belt for my green jumpsuit. And while I’m cooking, I’m gonna need you to.…………..”