I think your poem "Hope" deserves comment on itself, as much as the topic of which it speaks. The progression you have created in these four stanzas is remarkable. From stanza two, to stanza three, to stanza four, the element of Hope becomes more and more beautiful in those first lines, followed by each stanza's subsequent and substantiating lines. What honed deliverance this is. I am grabbed by: "Hope becomes the crimson lining/Regret wears inside out." It is wretchingly divine. Amen. ~~ Diana

It seems like it's happening everywhere, even in Canada it's the same. Jobs are so scarce.

Sandie

this is our reality. depressing, some would rather opt out.

Some people don't know what its like, especially for single mothers. My daughter got laid off had to file for unemployment, she hates it she wants to work again and its been a job searching for a job everyday. Told her to get food stamps to help money stretch, she got denied ... WTF. Someone who has worked since she was a teenager who paid taxes for those who want to sit on their ass .... makes one not want to work to.pay in but as some say "I'm gonna get mine " . Sickening. Its hell especially for single mothers. Single father's too. Sometimes "hope " is all a person may have left. But she's got her momma and she knows if all else fails at least she has me to fall back on. But not everyone has that. But she wants to continue to do it on her own, which I'm proud of.

Yes, 6.3% still equals 10 million souls...and perhaps that many more who are no longer willing to be counted.