I Am Karl Marx by Jen Levitt
In the world there are many people
I don’t know most of them
Sometimes the ones I do know say to me
You should style your hair like this
or Why don’t you get a drink from that bar over there
I say thank you for the advice
& I may go for a drink at that bar
even though I am tired
from standing in front of teenagers all day
on a chair looking down at them
pretending to be Marx pretending they are the masses
I ask What would I say to you, proletarians, if I were Marx?
They say Capitalism is tyranny! Down with the bourgeoisie!
They are correct so I yell at them to rise up
in my best German accent
& with a white beard made of copy paper
Later I will ride home on the train
at eye-level with the gray buildings
& feeling like I sometimes do
Empiricism cannot help me
nor psychoanalysis nor meditation
It is difficult not knowing how to be in the world
which is different than not knowing
who you are, but close More art by Hellen Jo here. Recommended listening: Lost Land - Alela Diane Links of the Day: Triangular Letters Can reading make you happier? The Teeth Origin of ISIS