Updated date:

Oct 18, 2020

I Saw Elvis

Author:: greg cain

I have been writing off and on for many years. Now that I'm retired from the work force, I'm dedicating more time to the craft.

I Saw Elvis

I can corroborate

Substantiate

Validate

Your opinion

It’s not that hard

Do you want to be right?

Ok, you’re right

Hit search on Google

Ask and you will find

Others of a mind

In droves

And spades

And numbers very large

Tremendously large

That I can tell you

You don’t have to travel a yard

Or a foot

I am here for you

With you

I believe what you do

Can validate what you think

In a blink

Here’s a link

To the media outlet

That you get

That gets you

And only you

And the many others

Who think like you

Want to be like you

And you like them

Again and again

And you think it’s droll

When they call you a troll

You smirk

Call them a jerk

And worse

Much worse

Then smile

All the while

Ain’t it great

To exacerbate

And spread that hate

And discontent

Spew some vitriol

It’s the be all end all

The beckon call

You answer

Like a wooden dancer

On strings

Being pulled from above

Don’t you just love

Not having a mind of your own?

If it’s valid and grounded
In logic and evidence
If it’s crazy, unfounded
Doesn’t make any sense
I can do either
And make a believer
Out of those
Who don't
And those who do
Already believe
Never leave
My side
To go look
With your own eyes
They’ll tell you lies
And the truth lives here
With me

In the past 20 years

I’ve changed my thinking

I used to want

You to decide

While I reported

Nothing distorted

Lies all thwarted

Today there’s a different tide

I both report and decide

Much easier to hide

The truth that way

When I say

What I want you to hear

Then you learn to hear

What I want you want to hear

And then only hear what you want to hear

A now-trained ear

That won’t listen

To reality

Or logic

And evidence

Other views

They’re all fake news

But here’s something that’s true

I saw Elvis

He was pumping gas

And working the register

At a Conoco in Garden City

What a pity

He’s in Kansas

And not in Memphis

Gracing Graceland

With his presence

Makes no sense

With a talent like that

And he didn’t wanna chat

Or sign my matchbook cover

And I couldn’t get him to join me

When I sang with the unleaded nozzle

For a microphone

Made “Suspicion Minds” my own

Suspicious Minds

But he did smile

For a while

When I told him

On a whim

How I wanted to be him

Tall, handsome and slim

In a suit

On the stage

Building a sweat

With Ann Margaret

In Viva

What a diva

Before they invented that word

We’ve all now heard

And he said

That’s not absurd

She was really hot

Viva Las Vegas

And her high temperature had class

And sass

And romance

I remember a dance

In high school

Where we played his songs

Sang along

Moved slowly

Or not at all

Back against the wall

Hour long kisses

Blissful blisses

And grinds

With our young minds

On one thing

Wearing my class ring

On a chain around her neck

What the heck

Were we thinking

Went drinking

In our polyester suits

What a hoot

On the backroads

Loads and loads

Of innocent fun

Wild and on the run

And then Elvis died

And my mama cried

And so did I

For a really long time

But I never told

I thought I was too old

A real manly man

So glad I saw him in Garden City

At the Conoco

You know

That’s still true

But I didn’t do

What I could have done

And told everyone

I kept it a secret

Back in the day

When it was easier to do it that way

Now everything you say

Ends up on Facebook

While the whole world looks

And the rumor cooks

And marinates

And turns to hate

Ain’t it great

You can corroborate

Substantiate

Validate

Any opinion

And it’s easy, you see

With an ISP

And a computer

Or a tablet

Or a phone

And you’re on your own

At home

All alone

Or you’re with everyone

And you’re also everywhere

And you don’t have to care

About people’s feelings

Send them reeling

With a written rock

A throwing stone

Or a well-aimed arrow

Let it go

Just nock it

And rock it

Hear the fletching whistle

Then stop

With a plop

As the figurative arrowhead

Impales your best friend

In the heart

And (s)he starts

To have moisture well

In one eye

And then in both

While the most

You can do

Is nock another

And say oh brother

Wear diapers much

And then lose touch

With reality

Nock and fletchinig of an arrow
Image by TheDigitalWay from Pixabay

Life’s not TV

Or the internet

Not yet

But I am

And I can help you be

Who you want to be

If that’s who you want to be

I can help you think

Here, take a drink

Wink wink

Did I ever tell you

About the time

I saw Elvis?

In the Ghetto

Comments

greg cain (author) from Moscow, Idaho, USA on October 20, 2020:

Thanks, Liz! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When I started this poem, it was going to be called "I Am the Internet." As it was coming out onto the page, though, it suddenly changed to something more than that. Ia am happy with how it came together, but I may have to revisit my original theme one day in future.

Liz Westwood from UK on October 19, 2020:

Your poetry has a momentum that carries the reader along through the thought processes. I appreciated the digs at fake news and the cleverly woven in Elvis story.