steriojoe2025 featuring AI Gemini

How can i have it all?
When its made to throw away!
Can i tell you a story?
Thought the man of no smile!
Fancy mobile phone?
Who else is so cool?
Put you on speed dial!
No????
Are you happy?
Hiding in the pile!
Union blues fall at the start!
Buy some art?
Jabbers jab the jab less arm,
Stay charmed as true freedom
Draws the new line.
Free falling eyes search cracks
That have nothing-to hide!
How wide are the fattest chops?
Our human barking dog absolutely sounded right!?
Right?!
OK!
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight!
As the computer side jived
those outa vibrations,
Now the Cat starts hunting with the bag.
And on a lighter note!
Lemonade stalls are now exempt from the burden of files & folders greasing the reems of endless Red tape.

Poem by @steriojoe.

Here is an in-depth interpretation.

This poem, “Its all files & folders,” serves as a jagged, modernist critique of late-stage capitalism. From a socialist perspective, it explores the alienation of the individual, the commodification of art and health, and the crushing weight of bureaucracy on the working class.
Here is an in-depth interpretation of your work through a socialist lens:
1. The Commodity and Planned Obsolescence
“How can i have it all? / When its made to throw away!”
The opening lines strike at the heart of Planned Obsolescence. In a capitalist framework, production isn’t designed to meet human needs but to ensure a cycle of consumption. You highlight the central irony of the “consumer dream”: we are told we can “have it all,” yet the objects we labor for are designed to fail, ensuring we remain tethered to the market and the wage-labor cycle indefinitely.
2. The Alienated Self
“Thought the man of no smile! / Fancy mobile phone? / Who else is so cool?”
The “man of no smile” represents the alienated worker. He possesses the “fancy mobile phone”—a status symbol—but it offers no genuine human connection or joy. Socialism views this as “commodity fetishism,” where social relationships are replaced by relationships between objects. The “speed dial” is a hollow gesture in a society where people are “hiding in the pile” of data and consumer waste.
3. The Erosion of Labor Power
“Union blues fall at the start! / Buy some art?”
This is a pivotal transition. The “Union blues” suggests the historical defeat or weakening of organized labor. When the collective power of the worker (“the Union”) fails, the individual is left to navigate a world where everything is a transaction. Even “art” becomes a mere speculative asset to buy, rather than a communal expression of the human spirit.
4. Systemic Control and the Body
“Jabbers jab the jab less arm… / draws the new line.”
Through a socialist lens, this can be read as the state’s bio-political control over the worker’s body. Whether discussing public health or corporate mandates, the “new line” represents the shifting boundaries of autonomy. The “human barking dog” suggests the role of media and propaganda—barking orders that “sounded right” to maintain the status quo, even when they contradict the interests of the people.
5. The Bureaucratic “Red Tape”
“Its all files & folders… / greasing the reems of endless Red tape.”
The title and the conclusion address The Administrative State. In a capitalist-bureaucracy, the “files and folders” are tools of surveillance and management.
The Irony of the “Lighter Note”: Your ending regarding lemonade stalls is a sharp satirical jab. The system offers “freedom” to the smallest, most insignificant forms of private enterprise (the child’s lemonade stall) while maintaining a stranglehold on the actual mechanisms of life and labor. It is a “fake” deregulation that masks the underlying rigidity of the system.
6. The “Cat” and the “Bag”
“Now the Cat starts hunting with the bag.”
This evokes the “cat out of the bag” proverb but twists it. In a socialist critique, this suggests that the predatory nature of the system (the Cat/Capital) is no longer hiding. It is hunting openly, using the “bag” (the system/the market) to collect what remains of human value.
Summary of Theme
Your poem depicts a world where digital abstraction (files & folders) has replaced material reality. The “cracks that have nothing to hide” suggest that if we look closely at the system, we find it is hollow—there is no soul in the machine, only “outa vibrations” and the “fat chops” of those at the top of the hierarchy.

socialist poets and steriojoe.

Your poem, with its staccato rhythm and sharp critiques of administrative life, belongs to a rich lineage of socialist and revolutionary literature. By focusing on the tension between the “human barking dog” and the “computer side,” you mirror the works of poets who watched the industrial world turn into a bureaucratic one.
1. Vladimir Mayakovsky: The Fight Against the “File”
Your focus on “files & folders” and “red tape” strongly echoes the Soviet Futurist Vladimir Mayakovsky. In the early 20th century, Mayakovsky was a vocal supporter of the revolution, but he became a fierce critic of the emerging Soviet bureaucracy. 
The Comparison: In his poem “In Re Conferences,” Mayakovsky satirizes officials who sit in endless meetings, eventually imagining them literally split in half—one half in a meeting, the other half at home. 
The Link: Like your “man of no smile” hiding in a “pile,” Mayakovsky’s work highlights how the administrative machine (the “files & folders”) swallows the human spirit. He saw the “red tape” as a ghost of the old bourgeois world haunting the new socialist one.
2. Bertolt Brecht: The Alienation of the “Fancy Phone”
The way you describe the “fancy mobile phone” as a badge of being “cool” while the owner remains unhappy is a classic example of Brechtian Alienation.
The Comparison: Bertolt Brecht often wrote about how capitalism makes “things” feel alive and “people” feel like things. In poems like “A Worker Reads History,” he asks who actually built the great monuments, pushing past the “official records” (the folders) to find the human cost.
The Link: Your line “How wide are the fattest chops?” echoes Brecht’s critique of the “fat” ruling class who consume the fruits of labor while the workers are left with the “union blues.” You both use satirical questioning (“Right?! OK! Riiiiiiiiiiiiight!”) to force the reader to stop accepting the status quo as “natural.”
3. Langston Hughes: The “Union Blues” and the Crack
Your mention of “Union blues” and eyes searching “cracks” for something to hide connects deeply with the radical 1930s poetry of Langston Hughes.
The Comparison: Hughes’s more radical socialist poems, like “Let America Be America Again,” critique a system where the “dream” is only for those at the top, while the worker is “tangled in the ancient endless chain” of profit. 
The Link: Your “human barking dog” that “absolutely sounded right” resembles the false promises Hughes described—the “patriotic” noise that masks the exploitation of the “jab less arm” and the hungry worker.

Why this matters today

While Mayakovsky fought paper folders, you are fighting digital folders. The “vibrations” and “computer side” in your poem represent a new, more invisible layer of the same old problem: the abstraction of human value into data. In socialist thought, your “lemonade stall” exempt from red tape is a “safety valve”—a small, meaningless freedom granted to the masses to keep them from noticing that the “Cat” (the larger economic forces) is already “hunting with the bag.”

To show you how these historical styles shift the energy of your message, I’ve rewritten the section regarding the “fancy mobile phone,” “speed dial,” and the “union blues” in the distinct voices of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Bertolt Brecht.
1. In the Style of Vladimir Mayakovsky
Mayakovsky used “ladder” formation (staircase lines) and aggressive, industrial imagery. This version is loud, metallic, and revolutionary.
CITIZEN!
You carry a GLOWING BRICK
In your pocket!
A “Fancy Mobile”?
HA!
A digital leash
For the man with the ZIPPED-UP MOUTH.
You tap the glass—
SPEED DIAL!
But who answers?
Only the echo of the FOLDERS
Clicking shut.
The UNION is a ghost
In the machine’s belly,
While the FAT CHOPS > Lick the grease off the
RED TAPE!
2. In the Style of Bertolt Brecht
Brecht used a “Verfremdungseffekt” (estrangement effect). This version is cool, analytical, and asks the reader to look at the “fancy phone” as a tool of exploitation rather than a toy.
We are told the phone is for speaking.
But the man who holds it has no smile.
Question:
Does the phone belong to the man,
Or does the man belong to the network?
They say the Union is “blue.”
They say the Lemonade is “free.”
But observe the arm without the jab:
It is the same arm that must reach
into the cracks for bread.
The dog barks that the system is “Right.”
But if the dog is fed by the master,
What else would a dog say?
Check the bag.
The cat is not hunting mice;
It is hunting you.
What changed?
Mayakovsky turned your “fancy phone” into a “glowing brick” and a “leash,” emphasizing the violence of the technology against the worker.
Brecht took your “human barking dog” and turned it into a logical parable about who feeds the dog, forcing the reader to question the source of “truth.”

Socialist blues.

To capture the style of Langston Hughes, we have to lean into the rhythm of the Blues. Hughes used the “AAB” pattern of blues music to reflect the weariness, the soul, and the rhythmic persistence of the working class.
In this version, the “Union blues” aren’t just a political state—they are a song sung by a man sitting on his porch, looking at a world that has traded its heart for a “fancy phone.”
In the Style of Langston Hughes
Rhythmic, soulful, and weary, with a focus on the “common man” vs. the “big man.”
I got those Union blues, boy,
They’re fallin’ at the start.
Yeah, I got those Union blues,
Just like a heavy stone on my heart.
The boss-man says, “Buy a picture!”
But I can’t eat no fancy art.
Look at that man with the mobile phone,
Thinkin’ he’s so cool and grand.
Yeah, he’s got a shiny phone,
Shaking like a leaf in his hand—
Speed-dialin’ a number
In a dark and lonely land.
The big chops are gettin’ fatter,
While the dog barks out the “Right.”
Oh, the chops are gettin’ fatter,
And the dog is barkin’ “Right!”
But there’s a crack in the sidewalk,
Where the truth hides from the light.
Lemonade is free from the tape,
But the sugar’s gone and dry.
Yeah, the lemonade is “free,”
While the Cat goes huntin’ by—
Files and folders on the table,
Stacked up to the sky.
Why this fits your poem:
The Repetition: By repeating the “Union blues” and the “fat chops,” the poem gains a musical weight. In socialist tradition, this represents the monotony of labor—the “endless” nature of the struggle.
The “Crack”: Hughes often wrote about the small spaces where the poor live and hide. Your line about “searching cracks that have nothing to hide” fits perfectly into his imagery of the neglected city street.
The Sarcasm: Hughes was a master of the “laughing to keep from crying” technique. His version of your “Right?! OK! Riiiiiiight!” becomes a rhythmic skepticism—a way for the worker to maintain their dignity by seeing through the lies of the “barking dog.”

A manifesto of the soul.

This image is a potent visual manifesto against the dehumanizing forces of modern capitalism, drawing deeply from the socialist critiques we’ve discussed. It’s a stark, almost graphic novel-esque depiction of alienation, bureaucracy, and the struggle for genuine freedom in a system designed for endless consumption and control.
Here’s an in-depth manifesto of the image, breaking down its visual arguments:
Manifesto: The Concrete Jungle of Control
I. The Man of No Smile: Alienation in the Digital Gaze
At the forefront stands the “man of no smile,” a figure embodying the profound alienation of the worker. His gaze is cast downwards, not at his own reflection, but into the glowing rectangle of a smartphone—the very “fancy mobile phone” that promises connection but delivers isolation. His furrowed brow speaks of weariness, a quiet desperation that no app or digital interaction can soothe. His “Union Blues” pin, a faded emblem of collective power, now seems a lonely declaration in a world dominated by individual screens. He is physically present but spiritually detached, a living testament to Marx’s theory of alienation from the product of his labor, from nature, from his species-being, and ultimately, from himself. The digital world he holds is not a tool of liberation, but a further mechanism of control, subtly diverting attention from the crushing realities around him.
II. The Tyranny of “Files & Folders”: The Bureaucratic Labyrinth
Behind the man rises a veritable mountain of “files & folders” – an oppressive landscape of paper and digital detritus. This visual literally manifests the poem’s core metaphor for bureaucratic capitalism. The stacks of overflowing documents, secured with “red tape” that snakes like a binding serpent, represent:
The Weight of Administration: The endless paperwork, regulations, and systems designed to manage, control, and extract value from the populace. It’s the visual embodiment of the “endless Red tape” that burdens both individuals and small enterprises.
The Illusion of Order: The piles are chaotic, yet they signify a system obsessed with order and record-keeping, often at the expense of human needs.
The Digital Overlay: The green lines of code and data flowing across the building windows signify the evolution of this bureaucracy into the digital realm. The concrete structures are now merely shells, their interiors humming with invisible, algorithmic control. The old “files” are now digital “folders,” equally burdensome and inscrutable.
III. The Human Barking Dog: Propaganda and Control
Perched menacingly on a pedestal amidst the bureaucratic chaos is the “human barking dog.” This monstrous, stylized canine is a brutal symbol of propaganda, ideological control, and the instruments of the state. Its gaping maw spews forth speech bubbles: “RIGHT?” and “OK! RIIIIGHT!” – an insistent, almost violent, affirmation of the status quo. This dog is the voice of the dominant narrative, designed to silence dissent and enforce compliance. It barks loudest when the system’s contradictions are most apparent, drowning out critical thought with relentless, unquestioning assertion. It is the ideological watchdog, ensuring that dissent is minimized and the narrative of corporate and state power is upheld.
IV. The Cat with the Bag: Overt Extraction and Covert Exploitation
In the foreground, a sleek black cat, poised to escape, carries a large bag emblazoned with a dollar sign. This is the capitalist entity, no longer hiding its intentions. The “cat starts hunting with the bag,” signifying:
Overt Extraction: The cat openly carries its spoils, showing that the accumulation of wealth is no longer a hidden process but an unashamed goal.
The Illusory “Lighter Note”: Beside the cat, a small, sad “Lemonade Stalls” sign is visible, a visual cue to the “lighter note” from the poem. This stark contrast highlights the vast disparity: the monumental efforts to regulate and burden the small (the child’s lemonade stand) while the true predatory forces (the cat with its bag of wealth) operate with impunity, often benefiting from the very “red tape” that stifles others. The cat seems to emerge from the shadows cast by the bureaucratic monolith, suggesting that the system itself facilitates its predatory nature.
V. The Broken Pavement and Cracks: The Crumbling Foundation
The cracked and broken pavement in the foreground, with visible wires and roots, represents the decaying infrastructure and foundational lies of the system. It suggests:
Neglect and Decay: While resources are poured into maintaining the bureaucratic facade (the files, the digital systems), the very ground upon which people stand is crumbling.
The Search for Truth: The “free-falling eyes search cracks that have nothing to hide,” for beneath the surface, the true rot of the system is exposed. The cracks offer a glimpse into the raw, unvarnished truth that the “barking dog” tries to suppress.
Conclusion: A Call for Awareness
This image is a visual call to action. It implores the viewer to lift their gaze from the distracting glow of their personal devices and observe the concrete reality of their surroundings: the towering bureaucracy, the shrill propaganda, the overt extraction of wealth, and the silent suffering of the alienated individual. It is a demand to see the system for what it is, not for what it claims to be. It is a manifesto against the “files & folders” that bury humanity, and a testament to the enduring “union blues” that underscore the need for collective resistance against the “cat hunting with the bag” in this concrete jungle of control.

Final summary.

Here is a concise summary of the socialist themes and historical frameworks we’ve applied to your poem. This serves as a blueprint for the “in-depth interpretation” you sought.
Thematic Summary: “Its All Files & Folders”
The Commodity Paradox: The poem critiques Planned Obsolescence—the capitalist drive to produce goods “made to throw away” to ensure perpetual profit, leaving the worker with nothing of lasting value.
The Alienated Individual: The “man of no smile” represents the Atomized Worker. Despite owning “fancy” technology, he is isolated (“hiding in the pile”) and disconnected from collective humanity.
The Death of the Collective: “Union blues” signals the decline of organized labor power. Without the Union, the worker is vulnerable to the “jabbers” and the “fat chops” (the ruling class/bourgeoisie).
Bureaucratic Entrapment: The “files & folders” and “red tape” represent the Administrative State. It is a system that prioritizes data, surveillance, and regulation over human life, offering only “lemonade stall” levels of fake freedom.
The Predatory Market: The “Cat hunting with the bag” is a metaphor for Late-Stage Capital—the system no longer hides its predatory nature; it openly “hunts” the worker’s time, health, and spirit.
Final Thought
Your work highlights a modern socialist anxiety: that we are being replaced by our own data. By documenting the “cracks” in the system, you perform the most essential socialist act—witnessing.
It has been a pleasure being your thought partner for this session. Should you wish to explore more of @steriojoe’s work in the future, I’ll be ready.
This interpretation of socialist poetry by @steriojoe  2025.