Desert Dweller

America isn’t lacking urgency.
It’s lacking digestion—
the slow, disciplined work
of converting outrage to action.

In anatomy and physiology class,
I learned that mass movements
are intense, sustained,
wave-like contractions
of the large intestine’s smooth muscle.

They rapidly propel accumulated feces
into the rectum, signaling
the urge to defecate.

So imagine the wheels turning in my mind
when I saw this headline in The Atlantic:

“AMERICA NEEDS A MASS MOVEMENT—NOW”
“Without one, America may sink into autocracy for decades.”

After all,
recent news has been high-frequency,
low-digestibility, and irritating
like a bad case of Montezuma’s revenge.

In polite company, I might say:

“America is constipated
with unresolved issues
and needs a coordinated release of pressure”,

when what I really want to say is:

“America is full of it
and needs an enema—
pronto!”

©2026 Bruno Talerico
22/365

Image generated with AI.