by Michael J. O’Brien
So five Supreme Lords of the branch, judicial,
declared that corporations should have the same rights,
political, as a human, individual, and that since donating money
is a form of free speech, metaphorical,
this is a right, constitutional, which cannot be denied
to said groups, institutional. But to suggest that corporations,
that solely exist to profit, that evade taxes
on those profits, that pay the lowest wages, possible,
to the rank and file while paying wages, colossal,
to executives (often irresponsible, even unethical)
to rule that these institutions, which send our jobs
to foreign countries, are entitled to the same rights
as citizens, individual, seems a classic example of
activism, judicial, and of logic, unfathomable.
For corporations are “birthed” by lawyers filing papers.
Corporations do not breathe,
get hungry, fall in love, do not, themselves,
bear children, except in ways metaphorical,
and do not worship anything but gains, quarterial.
Thus to grant them first amendment rights seems an INjustice,
undeniable, giving them even more power over us.
And to regard the paying of money, which we people do,
to keep the water flowing, the lights on, the house warm,
the doctor paid, the bank satisfied, the tithes made,
the indigent fed, the tuition paid, the tuition loans paid,
the loans that help to pay the tuition loans paid,
to, again, regard the paying of money as a type of free “speech,”
takes the adjective, "conservative," upends it,
requiring “lawyer-logic” to defend it.
Over the last fifty years Michael J. O’Brien has published in a number of journals, including Cimarron Review, Rio Grande Review, Rag Mag, Out of Line, Wisconsin Review, The Orange Room Review and Main Channel Voices. Also, his work has appeared in three anthologies: Gridlock: Poetry of Southern California, Proposal on Brooklyn Bridge, and California: Dreams and Realities.
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