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.

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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