Not all laughter is good. When I read today's National Poetry Month word, "cacchinate," and listened to it's pronunciation, I heard a laugh that smacked of death and decay, not encouragement and enlightenment. I chose to use a form of the word, rather than the word itself, because it brought to mind the concept of a Khaki Nation, conforming out of fear of being cast aside. The Khaki Nation is the opposite of of the AWOL Nation, the nation whose citizens are out there flying like squirrels, jumping off buildings like characters in a video game, living lives in fast-forward. Don't forget to submit your poems to Writing Knights Roundtable, or post them on your blog.
Khaki Nation
by Jack V Sage
They drive along in electric cars,
with khaki pants knife-pressed,
blue collars pretending to
promotion to white.
Ash rises to form a humanoid shape.
Aswirl with ambition,
it cacchinates,
its laughter writhing toward the ear.
They hunch their shoulders
as they drive along, heedless.
Ignoring the wraith
as it cacchinates once more.
All they see is the finish line,
hazy in the distance,
as they ignore the chest pains
to stay in motion on the wheel.
Cacchination underpins the Khaki Nation.
It prods its victims toward its greedy maw,
chewing their lives and spitting
the bones of their dreams in a heap.
How to pronounce "cacchinate."
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