I learned a thing or two
from my deceased atheist uncle
who would be my pen pal
in my first years of religion
school
he said something I didn’t understand
about the pride and purpose you feel
when you own a piece of land
as if his anti-religion demanded he replace
that need for god
by OWNERSHIP of LAND and $$$
this advice came when I was trying to decide
whether I should rent or buy
I will tell you uncle Larry
twenty five years later
owning a piece of land is nothing
but work and toil
and becomes twice the devil
religion ever was to me
one thing I learned from having neighbours
who bought instead of rent
is that their politics and religion is all the same
TO PROTECT MY LAND
OWNERSHIP
SAVE FOR FUTURE
and their anti-religous rituals
of lawn care and general maintenance
keeping their lot
as neat and tidy
as DisneyLand is said to be
which when you put it that way
I thank them
for their service to this tiny fraction of a fraction
of land in this big wide city
thanks for keeping your lawn cut
and thanks for caring so deeply
about raking your leaves
and shovelling the snow
for the walkway only you use
or maybe a customer or two
all those buyers with such
loyalty to protect the conditions
that keep them working for their own
health and safety standards cop
that lives in their head
*NOISE COMPLAINT*
so I’m just not sure
buying a plot of land
makes much sense
these days
at least not one that I call home
because godamnit I hate shoveling the driveway
