Deep Down, You're Not Fooling Anyone

Misshapen angels
Wings without flight
Relieved by disbelief
Of this desperate insight.

And all the while laughing
For after all, why not?
These misshapen angels
Know they're all we've got.

Fall back on superstition
Anything will do
Like bedtime fairy tales
Or mathematical proofs.

We all need to believe
We all need an excuse
So we can hide our scars
Like misshapen angels do.

The Economic Consequences of Low Expectations

Poverty
in the dirty faces of unfed children on Appalachian roads
Poverty
in mindless consumerism practiced like a faithless religion in suburban strip malls
Poverty
in the thoughtless jumble of misinformation splayed pornographically across the TV news
Poverty
in the generations of haphazardly educated children who find themselves grown without a compass
Poverty
in the metastasized pandering of the nightly spewed TV political advertisement vomit
Poverty
in the hollow slogans of politicians and corporations as they slither quietly together to criminal banks
Poverty
in the loss of hope in those who were to be the Guardians of Liberty and the defenders of the American Dream
Poverty
and for those who worked, fought, and died to make this land great--we should have done better
instead, all we have to show for, and all our children will inherit
is poverty.