Best New Poetry: The American Dream by Michael R. Evans
The American Dream
by Michael R. Evans
You won’t expect to rob anyone but, without citizenship and fired from selling funeral
plots on commission, you’ll live on gameshow seat-filler gigs and generous neighbors
and apply for loans without a cosigner or car for collateral to pay rent and end up panhandling outside Panda Express until your pockets jingle with change and a wind
drives you inside to invest $2.42 on an egg roll, the queue so busy they’ll never close
the register, so you’ll sip soy sauce and pray before you unfold the fortune cookie
and give thanks when it commands you to Seize the day.
Michael R. Evans is a poet and flash fiction writer in Los Angeles. He was raised in Upstate New York on a hill overlooking a confluence. He’s published a book on spirituality in pop culture and newspaper articles about living in Russia. Work in ONE ART, Wild Greens, and Soul Poetry. @mrevanspoetry.bsky.social
That line about sipping soy sauce and praying before the fortune cookie really stuck with me—there's something so specific and desperate about that moment. I kept thinking about how people turn to little rituals when everything else feels out of control, which reminded me of how I used to obsessively click through scratch cards online during a rough patch last year. Found myself on Scritchy Scratchy at 2am more than once, not even really playing to win, just needing something repetitive to do with my hands.
The exploration of the American Dream feels so timely. It reminded me of my own journey with Snow Rider, chasing dreams while navigating life’s twists and turns.