Frictionless

Ukrainian flags

Of yellow and blue

Fly up and down

The avenue.

Supplies of Russian vodka

Down drains are dumped;

This cause really has people pumped.

Concerts canceled,

Benefit concerts arranged,

Books fly off the shelves,

Media panic regained.

Movements like upholding

The Ukraine border

Defer an insecure

Sociopolitical order.

The conflict in Ukraine

Stretches back centuries;

Our fervent investment in it

Goes back a few weeks.

Religion replaced

With politics

By frictionless souls;

Spiritual derelicts

We believe in the need

To believe in something,

An emotional vacuum

To which people cling,

It’s mostly the white

Upper middle class

Who pursue these popular causes

En masse;

The least religious parts

Of the United States

Are the most invested.

Delegates,

Desultory passions,

Showcased with “spin”

Detract from the aching

Emptiness within.

COVID stats, wokeness,

Shifting cultural bids,

Foisting “sexual preference”

On six-year-old kids.

A frictionless world,

Partners, homes,

Careers, friends,

Exchangeable

With a wave

Of the latest trends.

Externalizing purpose

For internal validation,

Offers a form

Of liberation,

From moral accountability

And personal growth

You now have a conscience free

Of both.

Leftist politics egocentrism

Is thinly masked

As altruism;

Teens act like children,

Adults act like teens,

Maturity feigned

Through political means.

Moving on to the next

Burning issue

To address,

The next dernier cri

Will be anyone’s guess,

Capricious struggles,

Subjective goals,

Frictionless causes,

Aimless souls.

Ukraine, I have

A suggestion for you:

Offer land for peace

As you tell Israel to do!

If you seek a worthy issue,

If you want to stop the hate,

Defend G-d’s Holy Land,

The Jewish state;

A sheep among wolves,

Attacked and maligned –

An underdog of

The most miraculous kind!

By Sharon Marcus