Where’s Waldo

i’m sure you will

read about it

when you get

to college

waldo got

help building

the marionette theatre

from the government

a big grant

tax free bonds

a long-term lease

it’s all there

in the textbooks

on new world economics

doesn’t pay back much

is rarely seen

or held to account

pulls the strings

as hollow wooden figures

argue on his tiny stage

over grave matters

stirs the passions

of the audience

with vignettes

about world events

great deprivations

earth shattering calamities

distracts the public

with just enough facts

to leave the rest unsaid

there are the

nightly intermissions

the entry fees

that waldo pockets

yesterday

a boy in the audience

got it bad

from his dad

for pointing out the strings

on the dangling puppets

interrupting the

suspension of belief

created by the performance

the crowd booed

insisting the boy be removed

dad had no choice

exiting stage right

after tying up the kid’s laces

on the street

the old man

continued his rant

yelling at his upset son

to stop complaining

get used to it

grow up

shut up

realize once and for all

that everything hides

in plain sight