Joel Allegretti

FOCUS

Kevin Spacey is disgraced!
I hadn’t heard of Anthony Rapp,
and my last Kevin movie was Beyond the Sea,
from the fourth year of Bush II’s first term.

In the 365 days of 2017,
346 mass shootings gave the nation’s morticians
and hospitals 2,267 dead and injured*,
or 43.6 victims per week, or 6.2 every 24 hours.

But Kevin Spacey is disgraced,
and Netflix hit the delete key on his role in House of Cards.
Chuck Berry did time for taking Janice Escalanti, age 14,
across state lines, and The Great Twenty-Eight spins
on my turntable. I just can’t quit my Little Queenie
or say goodbye to good old Johnny.

Neo-Nazis Sieg Heiled for CNN in Virginia,
and James Fields killed Heather Heyer,
and the chief executive of the country
that had crushed the Third Reich proclaimed it:
Worthies had walked on both sides of the tiki torches.

But Kevin Spacey is disgraced.
I’m picturing Lionsgate pulling out the shears
to cut his scenes in Glengarry Glen Ross
and cheat me out of the climax I’ll be waiting for.

My health-insurance premium is up 27 percent,
to $856.91 per month, or $10,282.92 per year,
or 25 percent of the price of a 2018 BMW 320i sedan.
My deductible is three grand.

But Kevin Spacey is disgraced.
I wonder if he’ll ever work again.

 

* Gun Violence Archive.

–Joel Allegretti

* Gun Violence Archive.

Poetry