The Master Race By Jay Passer

It’s getting on my nerves,
the whole health thing.
Everybody running around trying to get fit,
buying into extending their lives.
It’s a scam.
Think about it;
the longer you live, the more shit you have to buy,
consume,
and throw away.
I don’t like being used.
The oceans are clogged with pollution.
The streets are a filthy mess.
The air is pumped full of poison carcinogens.
If you’re not a celebrity or a cutthroat,
you’re done for;
there’s no idyll in the park for you.
You have to be a monk in the mountains.
You have to be totally forgiving.
But they’ll find you,
root you out,
expose you.
Humility is for houseplants.
Fitness is for animals,
the ones who don’t
build jails,
vote,
or fuck with the lights
off.

Jay Passer's work has appeared in print and online since 1988. His work has been included in several anthologies and he is the author of 10 books, the most recent being The Black and the Blues, from Alien Buddha Press, 2018. Passer lives and works in San Francisco, the city of his birth.