BILLBODIES

Everyone knows them:

the living billboards that try to lure us,

the advertizing pillars that pass us.

Their interests are the concerns

that turn the money of millions

into the millions of money

they so sportingly help to amass.

Doped or drugged by their deals,

the billbodies of big business

catchily dress in commerce,

and make a goal on the grass

or a finish in the field

their pecuniary purpose in life.

 Their shirts and shorts have already been taken, 

the products they must endorse selected.

Bathed in bank notes they may be lucky

if they still hold their own names.

For should they not be fast enough,

these sportsmen and sportswomen,

someone may capitalize on their fame

and change their names into trademarks,

thus by law appropriating

their last thing personal.

Vincent van Mechelen, 54.NEY-58.NLL