The Super Bowl was trotted out yet again last week, an event that would have entirely escaped my attention if it hadn’t been for an agricultural brouhaha surrounding a Bud Light commercial. Forgive me for not actually seeing the commercial in real time, or even going back and watching it after the fact; I spared myself this optical indigestion by hearing it blared through the headlines.
From what I’ve been able to decipher, Bud Light aired an ad pushing against corn syrup, and America’s grain farmers–who were all ears–took umbrage. Turns out this country ain’t big enough for two golden nostrums! Of course a social media showdown quickly ensued (cue bow-legged lobbyists flourishing limp-wristed pistols at the Not-OK-Corral). Trigger fingers were triggered! Tweets were fired! Facebookers liked/didn’t like certain posts! In short, it was another 45 minute news cycle.
Here’s my world-weary take on it:
Farm Poem #3
Bud Light is at war with agribusiness,
A super bowl of big mouths:
King Corn versus the King of Beers,
Where farmers score points by
Pouring soil down the sink.
How fitting, a battle down the tubes,
On the tubes, in our tubes–
Nostalgic as milk and Cheerios,
But different.
No! The same!
Take your bowl of beer and grain
And slurp it up your corn hole.
Dilly dilly, silly!
We are what you eat.
Kings are always
The first to inform us
There can only be
One king.
Thank you for these poems. Tears rim the lids.
Wow, thanks Judy. More to come!
Been enjoying these poems, Forrest. Nice to see you getting back to this style of writing. You are always so poignant. Poem #2 was especially powerful. In the rat race, the money race, the race for clicks & “likes,” it’s heartening to know that skillfully crafted words still have so much power.
Thanks Amy! These thoughts have crossed my mind many times, and greatly impact how I now choose to communicate. In fact, it’s because I’m able to communicate like this that I make the effort at all (beyond farming) these days 🙂