Boy in the Balloon

It's like that
The boy in
The balloon
Supposed to
Be trapped
Is not actually
There the bal-
loon touches
Down the F.B.I
Are there we
All are rapt
By this spectacle.

It's like that the
Boy supposed to
Be secreted in
The weather balloon
Is not there when
The balloon touches
Down our sense of
The real is like
That buoyed by
Our attention.

It's like that
The boy in the
Weather balloon
Not actually there
When the balloon
Touches down is
Mistaken for
Reality the media
Secretes attention
Like it was reality
This is how we
Will have been
Seen through
History's eyes
Hopefully.

It's like that
There're eyes where
The head should have
Been there's a boy
In a balloon that
Is barely there that
Is almost a meme
Where we touch
Down doing the
Imaginary American
Thing again while
Wars go on
Elsewhere while
Hardship is all
One actually feels.

Fuck that balloon boy
And that balloon fucking
Dad their faces are not
Real in the real sunshine
Of national discourse
Hovering like an unidentified
Flying object something
Even more mythical
Dreaming of potential.

Fuck that balloon boy
Who didn't really climb
Into the balloon whose
Father was a motherfucker
Whose mother was a
Fox News victim like I want
To see a U.F.O. anyway
This is a poem for my
Friend Brandon Brown.