modern society
and its days with names
putting the consumerism
in the connection
and taking money
for the meaning
removing rituals
from their proper time
leaving us with disjointed
rites of loneliness
and mass market marginalization
when we don't quite fit
the status quo

billboard assaults
and TV indoctrination
misappropriation that imprints
its varying shades
of Stockholm Syndrome
tattooed on our souls
so that we plug a little further in
to the empire of New Rome
and celebrate the selling
of our own hard labour
to appease the Hallmark gods
with the thorough replication
of their plastic alters
of storefront windows
in our homes

and if that can't be done
just right
you can always buy
a magic make-it-better potion
and a special little pill
or gorge yourself
on genetically altered
poisoned processed feasts
designed to make you
Type 2 numb

but you'll be fine
if you remember the cure
is to buy buy buy
until you fit right in
or can hide the fact
you can't quite squeeze
into the one size fits all dictation
of where they've exploited
what is closest to our hearts
then found a way to market
our emotions back to us

and if the emotions
don't fit just right
for the day that they proclaim
they'll catch you
with the purported
alleviation of alienation
guaranteed as advertised
because everybody pays
for their celebration

or their pain
when it comes 

to the days with names