Mobility (Take root and fly)

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Poems

Mobility (Take root and fly)

Settle down, take root and fly, America.

Abandon

Your frequent flyer miles and

The frontier notion that

A change of address

Will change your life for the better.

Mobility

Just makes it easier to run away,

To project your shortcomings onto

A locality, a neighborhood, some folks...

The "good life" is not something we move into,

It is not a function of climate or geography:

Rather, it is an edifice we build, brick by brick,

Slowly and painstakingly over many years.

Dig in, hunker down, and soar, America.

Discard

Your vertical career paths,

Your real estate agent's mentality

That sees a home as just a house,

Just another investment.

Freedom is

Just another word for irresponsibility,

A psychobabble buzzword we use

To rationalize our lack of commitment.

We take our problems with us everywhere

We go; we pack them into the moving truck

Along with our furniture, our clothes, our memories,

Our belief that this time it will be different.

Quality of life doesn't grow on trees like oranges:

Somebody must have fashioned it, created it,

And it's a good bet that it wasn't the work

Of some corporate hobo just passing through.

It is a lie to tell people you love them dearly

And then move a thousand miles away from them

For a few more bucks or a half-assed promotion;

Our friends are the ones who stay behind.

The upwardly and outwardly mobile American

Is just an exploiter: he uses people, resources,

Culture and community, whatever he needs,

And gives nothing back in return.

By Joe Campanello

Posted 09/20/2007