Today’s poem is a variation on the prompt from Napowrimo.net. Instead of a list poem of fake band names, I came up with a list of fake band names (not wanting to take the time to go through social media and find all my old ‘that would be a good name for a band’ posts), then wrote a poem incorporating them.

The list I started with:

The Abandoned Typewriters
Blue Whale Guilt Trip
The Ex-Lepers
The Outpatients
Jasper’s Fine-tooth Comb
Cellular Level
The Expired Tabs
The Public Option
Sandwich Shoppe
Regular Guys
Not So Much
The Embodiment of the American Dream

Fake band name potpourri x Self-obsession = This poem

Embodiment of the American Dream
is not a title to be taken lightly

Fortunately, I’m not interested—
not so much, anyway

My misgivings go down to the cellular level
if not embedded in my DNA
they’re certainly a chain-link fence
around my mitochondria
(HOA dues wouldn’t pay for anything more solid)

Unfortunately, that’s not something
that can be treated on an outpatient basis
or resolved by the divine hand
(ask the ex-lepers about that some time)—
and Jasper’s fine-tooth comb
is far too coarse (and my hair far too thin)
to be of use

Now that they’ve accumulated
to form a blue-whale guilt trip
only the public option could save me now

But that’s already languishing somewhere
amongst expired tabs and abandoned typewriters
and servicing obsolescence is expensive

(3 April 2018)