Alone he sat, hollowed out eyes,
Scare ghost image of a past life line.
Hodgepodge patchwork quilted man,
Too proud to beg, too poor to dream.

Concrete chill, blanketed face,
Bones cracking upon aged surface.
Day survival of night mare nights,
Avoiding vagrancy of reality.

Recycling cans for happy meal treats.
Budget of a half million pennies a year,
Being taxed for Alabama income taxes,
Paying sales tax of America privilege.

Live had been good, retirement, fringe benefits.
Then came the hurricane truth of Wall Street.
Enron, WorldCom, other creative accounting,
Merger mania of unemployment reconstruction.

Bankruptcy of worker retirements, health accounts.
Export exploitation of decent overseas paying jobs.
Minimum waged untaxed illegal labor benefits,
Reality of America’s newest class of untouchable.

Broken heart attack, hospital of the last straw,
That broke the camel’s hump of savings.
Drained like a Katrina disaster promise,
Government waiting for their welfare check.

Criminals of Wall Street retired upon luxury,
Fraternity of country club security status.
Limo driving past a former employee,
Snubbing their noses, in a high society pardon.

Police cruiser spotted him from a complaint
That some trash was obstructing their view.
Giving him the sign to hightail it out of there,
Man who had almost arrested him, smiling.

Remembering a broken heart with a cross,
Evaporating tears living suicide day to day.
Lifted up soul so broken down, de-terminated
With nothing but a lapel pinned to a heart.

Officer gave him the finger, eyes flashed,
Leaving in a flash for a needed re-treat.
Obscurity from public view of dire secrecy
Stood an egg McMuffin, hash browns, coke.

Five course breakfast with reading materials,
Beside it was a fancy pen and scratch paper,
For he loved to write from inside poverty,
A letter was there addressed to the homeless.

Dear officer Grady your story is heart felt
And your submission by a unknown author,
Your impertinent insistence will be rewarded
Please contact him for a writing contract.

Half million pennies should be a down payment
It will also be the books title upon completion.
Can a man shake so much in tears of disbelieve?
As an Egg McMuffin was inhaled almost whole!


Venting Note: With this new Republican globalization plan, I wonder how many Americans will be able to afford it, with the merger mania of consolidated creative accounting. Elderly people being laid off “At Will” for reconstructed surgery profits. If Wall Street had to pay sales tax on anything it acquired then pay an income tax on what it sells, we could reconstruct our American economy. Hundred thousand high paying lost jobs of mergers and a little more than that recovered in minimum wage employment, good economic news for Washington, and Wall Street. Why do they not report the jobs lost from Wall Street reconstruction, but report those of non Wall Street service jobs. If you where in California, you would need a family of five working on poverty, or a family of three working illegally (not paying taxes).

With the salaries, fringe benefits, and stock options that corporate royalty gets, we could fund social security benefits for everyone else including their servants, who may not get any benefits.

With what politicians promise US, it is like a burger picture so enticingly inviting, until it is delivered under a deflated bun. I wonder which is delivering the better results? What is your most favorite restaurant and politician with the greatest extortion of advertising? I wish I could buy a dump and picture it as a mansion, but then I am an honest liberal American.

D.Lester 04/05/06 ©
De-Terminated poet, somewhere in America not on company time