Robert M. Simmons  


from Added Entries (Poems 1991- )

 

        Life on Nantucket

     (or CEO's in Paradise)

 

Life on Nantucket

    is much to our liking.

No SUV's here,

    we'd rather go biking.

 

Here on the island

    we break all the rules.

Conventional lifestyles

    are for day-tripping fools.

 

We grow in our gardens

    organic food,

and our beaches are private,

    so we swim in the nude.

 

This island is not marred

    by industrial chic.

The mansions we live in

    are strictly antique.

 

The corporations we head

    serve most of the land,

except for Nantucket,

    you must understand.

 

Our wives and our children

    deserve only the best,

and the products we make

    are for all the rest.

 

No fast-food joints

    our sidewalks disgrace,

and popular music

    is not heard in this place.

 

But democratic values

    are dominant here.

Once in a while

    we have pizza and beer.

 

Boom boxes are banned,

    so don't even try them,

though we profit immensely

    from the morons who buy them.

 

No jet skis permitted

    an ordinance teaches,

and no quadracycles

    to screw-up our beaches.

 

Of course in our restaurants

    smoking is not allowed,

and of our ban on cell phones

    we are equally proud.

 

No gangs on motorcycles

    roam our quaint roads,

and no eighteen-wheelers

    haul their huge loads.

 

But when it comes to shopping,

    we leave nothing to chance.

The products we need

    are flown daily from France.

 

That we are patriotic

    dare no man deny.

We hang up Old Glory

    every Fourth of July.

 

Life here on Nantucket

    is pure milk and honey,

and we pay for it all

    with stockholders' money.

 

So pour all your earnings

    into 401K's,

that we might enjoy

    more long summer days.

 

And come to Nantucket.

    You'll have no regrets.

Just leave on the ferry

    before the sun sets.

 

                          © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons


Next PoemPrevious Poem

HomeAuthor's NoteContentsContact

 

 

Subjects: poems about, Nantucket, corporate greed, corporate executives, satire, poetry, poems, ballads

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life on Nantucket