earlier this week, i realized,
it's not a world for the poor,
that i've become my mother,
or rather, walked longer in her
shoes than i ever thought i would
that i've remade all of her mistakes
save bearing a child to save a marriage
that would have only ended one year later
(finally, 27 years later comes the biting truth of that realization)
i hate oakland, california nearly as much
as she hated detroit's suburbs
and the realization, that like she,
i will never, ever get ahead.
i got $40 for all the books i'd sold
still sitting on signed first editions,
a jaguar re-issue guitar
all the posessions in the world
sold off and saved up will
never get me closer to home.