Neal Levin

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American Idle

Three hundred million idle Americans
Watching reality shows on TV:
Some people claim that the shows are legitimate,
Actual, factual—I disagree.

If so-called reality shows were authentic,
Depicting reality, here’s what we’d see:
Three hundred million idle Americans
Sitting at home while they’re watching TV.

Incoming Nincompoops

The nincompoops are coming in.
They’ve just been reelected:
The ones that we all voted for,
The ones that we’ve selected.

They’ve all goofed up already
And should get their just comeuppance.
Instead we love to welcome back
Incompetent incumbents.

It’s not their slick campaigning jobs,
It’s only human nature
That keeps on bringing nincompoops
Into the legislature.

But, after all, we shouldn’t make
A ruckus or a fuss.
For in the end the quintessential
Nincompoops are us.

Neal Levin is a freelance children’s writer specializing in poetry. His work has been included in over a dozen anthologies including Caroline Kennedy’s Poems To Learn By Heart and numerous publications including The Caterpillar, Better Than Starbucks, Spider, Highlights, and the Saturday Evening Post. His website is www.neallevin.com