Pauperize

~charcoal & pastel~ Natasha Head
Pauperize

They tell me, this is how it is.
Okay, says me, but why's this got to be?
Never an answer, rather they simply turn
hiding bulging pockets.
I can work for less. Sure...
who needs bread
and water's free...even if dirty.

They tell me, we did this
once again, under the impression we can practice constraint
the blame falls on overworked shoulders.
Breaking backs...heart attacks
Children...homeless, hungry,
Alone.

Latch key strangle me
blame pooled deep, drowning
in the name of survival.
Tax credits, no credit,
Funny how we come to rely on plastic
pilfered from the very core of our planet.
Ironic really,
the soul of our mother
the straw that breaks the beast.

This is big business baby
All ya gotta do is spend.
Keep 'em rolling in the dough
Cut the phone
Ignore the mail
slip into non-existence

So they need not look at you.

Comments

Pat Hatt said…
Everything you say is very true, damn big business and the crap that comes due. Don't know if we'll ever get out from under it though, as the plastic crap continues to flow.
Unknown said…
Sad but true.
Let us hope we can turn our greedy heads around as a species and stop it.
Powerful write.
Janie Junebug said…
Excellent. Such good use of language and images.

Love,
Janie Junebug
mark said…
Hell yeah...well said.
Brian Miller said…
scary reality we live in eh? disappearing so they cant find you...just make sure you leave a note to let us know where you are going...bad enough already to slip through the cracks....
Hot Rod Pics said…
The problem really is money itself, isn't it? I love this poem, and was so busy loving it, it took a minute for me to see that the drawing looking at me, was also born by thee! Two c00L!!
Unknown said…
I've given you a blog award =) Come get it here: http://diamondsmadeofglass.blogspot.com/2012/02/versatile-blogger-award.html
Unknown said…
greed ...and it's spreading ! great poem thanks x xx
a sad but succinct assessment... "latch key strangle me" really caught me... a compelling read
And that's the truth right there! Not a day goes by where I don't ask these questions- as I'm sat at my desk watching the cash roll in for the directors so he can buy his wife some more diamonds- what a really horrible game we've conjured up for ourselves. Really relate to this one
Hot Rod Pics said…
I love love this poem so much I had to day it twice!! I really think your drawing makes it pop, too! How often our experience of the written word is enhanced by addition of the visual. What I really want to say about your work here was best said by Simonides, "Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is a speaking picture." Thanks, again. »^.,.^«
Hot Rod Pics said…
I love love this poem so much I had to day it twice!! I really think your drawing makes it pop, too! How often our experience of the written word is enhanced by addition of the visual. What I really want to say about your work here was best said by Simonides, "Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is a speaking picture." Thanks, again. »^.,.^«
steveroni said…
Natasha, when I breathed-in this poem, and your (two-faces?) drawing, my thought, through your eyes was, "Since there is nothing I can do about all these great world calamities (borne of Pride and Greed), maybe I just 'do' one small thing at a time.

And I be glad there IS a world of PEACE somewhere after all this life stuff. Thank you so much!
Anne Frank said…
Very realistic and well portraited...
k~ said…
I really like this one, I read it thrice!
Ben Ditty said…
It's amazing the messages you convey in so few lines. The voice given to the marginalized. I love hard truths in poetry, and you deliver.

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