by Ashley Beth
As I walk towards the escalator
Through security
It occurred to me
How many trips has it been for me?
England, France, Hawaii
Twice
It’s just so nice
The perspective you get
When you fly on a jet
Your paranoia all set
For now
Until the return flight
I hope you remembered
The carry on rule
Of how much you can take on
And how much you can take back
No ounces
Greater than 3
All ounces must be zips
Locked in plastic compliance
For your National Security
And now we can all breathe
A little more easy
You see, folks
In this country
We only take away liberty
For your own personal safety
Pay no attention
To the man behind the turban
The one with the one way ticket
Paid for with cash
No luggage
No return flight
And his departure and final destination
Do not at all match the nation
He flew into Canada from
Do you smell gas?
Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
You cannot say bomb on an airplane
You cannot say shit on TV
You can say dick
And bitch
Just don’t tell
MTV’s Real World kids
They’ll be bitter and sore
Over how much Tipper Gore
Suppressed their expression
Wanna know how
America sees censorship?
Go watch the movie Maniac
The original, not the Elijah Wooden remake
You can show a woman being strangled
For fuck’s sake
But a prostitution transaction
Is kind of pushing it
You see
In this country
It’s perfectly fine to watch
A woman’s control over her life
Get taken away
But to film sexual empowerment
Is just not ok
Go ahead
Ask me how many bones I’ve broken
What I’m scared of
My surgical history
It would be taboo of you to ask, though
What touches bring pleasure to me
We are not allowed Beauty
We are not allowed Freedom
We are not allowed Truth
The pursuit
Of happiness
Has become a fucking Easter Egg hunt
But there aren’t enough
To go around
You see
The powers that be
Like to avoid clutter
That Titanic Mentality
It’s a cold, lonely road
Down to that North Atlantic grave
I’m not gonna bury myself
I will never behave
I won’t be tied down
This Pegasus now departing
For that Frisco town
Time to take another trip
What a long, strange one this has been
And to be honest, my dear
I’d give you a five out of ten
I’d admit to my disability
If you could just show some humility
No? Well then OK
I guess I’m on my way
Escalators don’t work forever
One of these days
There will be no more opportunities
To rise above you
And I need that
I need to do that
Ashes to Phoenix
River to Bay
And on my journey
I’ll meet Perspective
You see
I just like It better
That Way
