Theme was Compliance, and our winner is Mark Anderson with his poem Assimilation Or.
Assimilation or
“Resistance is futile Earthling. You will be assimilated” say the Borg
Resistance is futile. You will comply.
Oh no I won’t, I won’t, I won’t.
You will, you will, you will.
This is war, I will fight you with all my might.
You will understand later. It is best.
I have a choice, you cannot force me.
You cannot hide forever. I will find you.
Silence
Ah, there you are. Come out of that closet Now!
and brush your teeth before bed
In my school they have some rule
A period, a comma, capital C, Comply
But when Saturday comes, I fly
Wrytin, spelin, stylin – mai owwn waaay!
I wear my clothes when I go out, be thankful y’all
Clingy, hot sweaty clothes, no room to breathe
But when I go home, off they come, freely I flow
all hangin out, shocking to see, feels so good to me
My pants go a sagin, long hair flappin,
My tats n piercings, my flag a wavin’
I not be comply’n, w those folks complainin’
Till I become boss and need some comply’n
I have a nice car, house and boat too
But some folks be complaining,
say I got some explaining
For why I am not poor too,
I drive on the right, I must comply
stop lights, speed limits, all so oppressive
When I get out, out in the hills
fast as I can, off road, no rules
I see the trees don’t fight, complain, or cry
all in a group, growing, reaching for the sky
deer, fish, birds, so simple,
but humans, humans most wise; why?
Walking to work I passed a sunflower in the field, just gazing up at the sun – all day. On my way home I passed again that flower and derided, “Why are you doing nothing but gazing? You are lazy, good for nothing. Get a job. Comply!” But that flower just ignored me.
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Mark returned to college after a long career in carpentry and rediscovered his dormant artistic inclinations. He is currently president of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild and a student at UTC majoring in English; Rhetoric and Professional Writing.
Follow Mark’s work at
https://www.facebook.com/MJ-Anderson-Creative-Arts-103790684595802