Who’s Got Trouble?

Robert Ronnow
Long As You're Living

Who’s Got Trouble?

I’ve never put a candidate’s bumper sticker on my car before—
why not take sides—what are you waiting for?
Death puts a stop to daily low intensity warfare but in the meantime—fight on!
What are we fighting for? Let’s see—
clean air and water and room to walk around in cities and deserts
America the seeing eye dog not America the junkyard dog—
collective deliberation among nations, clear passage through seas and borders
compact and contiguous Congressional districts that represent actual communities
education and health care for everyone who wants it—worldwide
good food too, affordable shelter and a living wage
a say in governance—local and global—free from fear of violence

Should you be subsumed by a cause bigger than the self?
unlike Rick in Casablanca who keeps to himself
I’m advertising my loyalties with bumper stickers on rickshaw and kayak
every time I come and go
it’s a free country—or maybe I’m so low profile no one notices or cares to take revenge
so small time I have time and no enemies or friends
What about Whitman and his love for Lincoln
he found a way to participate in the war that satisfied his muse, as a nurse
oh, I want to add space exploration and no nuclear war
plus basic science and ancient arts, black lives matter

Here are some things you have to put up with or out of mind
while enjoying the beautiful black and white photography and rousing Marseillaise:
that Sam, played by Dooley Wilson in worshipful subservience to “Mr. Rick,” endures his lonely
       abnegation and abstinence in Paris while Rick savors the nordically white, luscious Ilsa;
that Ilsa, on the lam across the wide world from pursuing Nazis, is apparently transporting an
       extensive, elegant, perfectly manicured wardrobe;
that Rick, in wartime Casablanca, has managed to hire a full 20-piece jazz orchestra for which
       we willingly suspend disbelief since it’s essential for singing the Marseillaise which never
       fails to bring tears of pride to Yvonne’s eyes;
I guess that’s about it except why would you spend a minute in Sydney Greenstreet’s fly-infested
       café when Rick’s air-conditioned establishment is right across the street, an overnice
       contrast to Maghreb culture;
otherwise, I’m in complete accord with IMDb’s 8.5 rating.

On the news last night the president changed the trajectory of a category 4 hurricane. He can’t do
that! Not my president! They’re laughing at us!
Who’s got trouble? We've got trouble. How much trouble? Too much trouble.
After Casablanca, it's headed for South Carolina.