No one’s poor any longer. Listen
�to politicians. They mourn the middle
�class which is shrinking as we watch
�in the mirror. The poor have been

�

discarded already into the oblivion
�pail of not to be spoken words.
�They are as lepers were treated once,
�to be shipped off to fortified islands

�

of the mind to rot quietly. If
�poverty is a disease, quarantine
�its victims. If it’s a social problem
�imprison them behind high walls.

�

Maybe its genetic: how often they
�catch easily preventable diseases.
�Feed them fast garbage and they’ll
�die before their care can cost you,

�

of heart attacks, stroke. Provide
�cheap guns and they’ll kill each
�other well out of your sight.
�Ghettos are such dangerous places.

�

Give them schools that teach
�them how stupid they are. But
�always pretend they don’t exist
�because they don’t buy enough,

�

spend enough, give you bribes
�or contributions. No ads target
�their feeble credit. They are not
�real people like corporations.

�

To predict disaster, to invoke treachery
�and malice, to spin tales of rotten
�luck to make it not happen:
�it doesn’t work.

�

The wind is still rising with hail
�in its teeth. The waves are piling up
�then spilling back way, way baring
�bottom you’ve never seen.

�

There’s ashes in the wind, darling,
�a taste of ashes in our food
�ashes on our lips in bed
�eyes blinded with ash.

�

There’s a mortgage on my spine
�I cannot pay. Somebody has
�bought my teeth and wants them
�out tomorrow for dice.

�

There are real monsters under
�the bed, hungry for blood. They own
�the land this house stands on
�to stripmine for coal.

�

Santa isn’t coming. The bounty
�hunter is. There’s a lien on your
�ass and the bank is itchy to fore
�close your future.

�

If you’re going to stand get up.
�If you’re going to fight, get moving.
�Nothing comes to those who wait
�but hunger’s claws

�

digging into the soft belly. If you
�value your blood, fight to keep
�it in your veins. You have nothing
�to lose but your life

�

and it was sold to them decades
�ago by your parents’ parents.
�Their greed is endless. Your
�patience shouldn’t be.

�