Upgrade

Dan Erickson
Pretoria Poetry Circle

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It’s a shame your Mercedes Benz is last year’s model.

Apartheid didn’t want thinkers, not real ones,
so when it fell, you set out to change that.
Education is the future, you said.

So now, Mr. Minister, too bad you’ve educated
a generation of South Africans who are
sensitive to every shade and hue,
every whiff of bullshit.

They learned the power of numbers
from you, the power of voices, of righteous
rage, of clearly articulated dissent.

I’d like to think the best of you, Mr. Minister
but my bet is that you wish you were turning out
barely literate drones for the machine
that will upgrade your automobile.

The 2016 model will park itself neatly
in your reserved parking spot and you won’t
have to lift a finger.

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