Having to listen to the same 10 songs on German radio over and over again, I remembered that I wrote this poem sometime ago, when I still lived in the U.S., inspired by my own life and movies such as The Truman Show, The Matrix and American Beauty…
Soundtrack
Day in, day out,
the songs on the radio are the same,
one voice, with variations,
in pitch, key, doublespeak –
inane.
Our grey matter becomes
cotton candy,
it dissolves with saliva.
Day in.
The houses we drive by are the same,
along with the way
all the neighbors wave,
beside their synchronized sprinklers,
glued to their own lawn space.
Is there a system glitch?
It’s supposed to be
more believable,
this loop is
giving it away.
Day out.
“Good afternoon,
good evening
and good night.”
I try to touch the sky
but find only cement.
Where do I sign up to leave?
Where to I unplug
the machine?
Is the answer
in a leopard’s prints,
or in our own DNA?
Unique variations
of the same code.
Different shapes
of the same thing.
The same fears, hopes.
The same duties,
with variations in
intensity and length.
Choices?
Day in, day out,
I perform little acts
of (dis)obedience,
then turn on the radio
again.
– Ana Beatriz Ribeiro
