The Bum

In anything other

than a ‘dog eat dog’ world

you’d probably like me.

Instead you suspect me. 

Loathe, fear and ignore me

and say it’s what I choose

and when all is gone

you categorize  me

with others the same

 locked away   

in prisons, asylums, and

those skid row alleys

where we drink and dream

of compassion without

a logo or a dollar sign.

Rent

I guess a perpetual recovery 

sounds a lot better 

than a great perpetual suck,

being the fools that we are

wishing on a star

the rent too doesn’t go up

but if it does, oh-well,

who can we tell

and who really gives a damn?

* * * * *

Oh great!
Wall Street is up again.

Reminds me of those
Who flaunt good health
In the midst
Of the sick and dying.

* * * *


I suspect

it’s the gaunt nation
that slips into
every dreaded recession.

Emaciated, long before
the fat disappeared,
in spirit and soul.

by Dave Holloway