should i be influenced?

Dara Larasati

should I be influenced

by the “Gatsby” gauche pandemic parties,

the open music and laughter that

blurs the scientists’ warning words

of closed doors and masks?

should I be influenced

by those who bribe for prestige and a place

of knowledge and expanding paths,

when there are those who want knowledge and a step,

yet with nothing to bribe with?

should I be influenced

by the wealthy and famous

who dismisses dependency on 

fame 

as they scam, seize and shatter promises

from secret thousands

and millions of followers

should I be influenced

to those who lure their innocent prey

into a web of lies

thinking they’re being fed 

but really,

they’re being consumed

should i be influenced

by those who array

pictures of

privilege 

power

possessions

but abandon their responsibility?

should I be influenced

by the Ornithogalum buds of 

Icarus’s wings melting,

into the bleeding sea-

too close to the metal, silver sun,

too far for Caulfield to catch in the radio rye?

if i shouldn’t be influenced,

then why are they influencing?