POEM - Sub-Prime

Give me a payday loan and a sub-prime mortgage,
another Visa card to run to the max;

Cancel my health insurance, dissolve my pension, slash my hourly
wage; ship my job to Bangalore;

The more we owe the more the banks are willing to give,
it’s good business – for them;

We chase middle-class illusions and leave
the tab for our children;

Anyone with eyes can see the big hurt coming,
the bills coming due,
the millions who bought the fantasy of spend without end
will feel the pain first;
but no one is immune –
how can we sustain a consumer economy if consumers
can’t afford to consume?

We share the blame -- you, me, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones, even old John Doe --
complicit in our own indentured servitude,
MIA and ignorant of history, battles and blood spilled;
what became of our willingness to take to the streets and stand for
justice?
have we forgotten how to say NO or that to receive
a fair share of the harvest we must demand it?;

Shame on us for allowing them to silence our collective voice,
revoke our citizenship, marginalize our American concerns;

We’ve been weaned on snake oil, played for fools, sold out for
campaign contributions, luxury hotel suites, first-class passage to St. Andrews,
by lawyers and legislators beholden to nothing more than the corporate
bottom line;

We mixed the toxic Koolaid that is poisoning the American Dream;

Give me a payday loan and a sub-prime mortgage,
another Visa card with a low introductory rate,
I can’t lose;

Can’t win either