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Friday, January 29, 2010

Caught

Beautiful eyes catch sight of the new suit
being given a tour of the office

He catches the glances and smiles

Wonders if the eyes are admiring him
or the position they believe he’ll fill

no such thing

He gets home from night shift just in time
For the swift embrace of his hurried wife
A semi sweet kiss is what they can afford
Breakfast and bill paying, a quiet moment
Before the kids wake up
She’ll toil the day away
Before coming home to take over
For his three hour sleep
Only a couple more decades to go
Building a life without opportunities

A man lies in the door way
The only dry spot that can be found
Blankets and cardboard don’t do well in the rain
He smokes the cigarettes he found scattered
Stomach in knots, recalling what once was
A respectable life of just another guy
Everything went wrong and was lost
A roll of the dice, chance can be such a bitch
Anything at all would go a long way
But what’s the use? It’ll be lost again

The empty envelopes sitting on the table
Did a lot of damage
A young man stands in disbelief.
Holding an acceptance letter in one hand
Financial aid letter in the other
There will be no college
Sentenced to four decades of hard labor
And poverty. Dreams died in a moment
A waste of human capital.

The show will start at ten tonight
She’ll so enjoy this evening!
He made all the reservations;
The hottest new restaurant,
The finest wine, the perfect atmosphere
He’ll wear an expensive suit, pick her up in his newest Mercedes
she’ll love his place, the breathtaking view
unbelievable furnishings
yet another conquest
he gets the best his father’s money can buy

there is no such thing as deserve

drink a cheer for Howard Zinn

it never happened
not in this country

Hoards in the street
Malnourished bodies ached
For more punishment
anything for substistence

no other course
pushed to the verge of death
hungry children, desperate parents
dead and dying loners

police bullets sprayed the crowd of men
silent cries of wives broke through to nowhere
but the “bastard commies” pushed on
nowhere else to go

it never happened
not in this country

so many were in the same struggle
yet knew not to stand
labled as communist, accused of many evils
don’t want to be one of them

the shame
being unable to succeed
or eat or live
kept so many down

it never happened
not in this country

almost all but memory and story
have been erased
lest people remember
who not to trust

remember; it never happened
not here at least.

Until it happens again