a MAGA pin
on this old man's breast pocket ...
his patience
stretched to the limit
by a breadline blocks ahead
FYI: MAGA stands for "Make America Great Again." And Democracy Now, June 28, 2023: Poverty 4th Leading Cause of Death in U.S. as Calls Grow for Third Reconstruction.
Bishop William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, says it’s “grotesque and immoral” that poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, higher than homicide and respiratory illness, citing recent findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Why do we hear so much about crime rates and opioids and gun violence in America, but poverty kills more people than all of those things?” asks Barber...
Added: This Brave New World, XCIII
a colorful slide
snakes down to a rectangle
of synthetic grass ...
behind the play area
stands a 30-foot high wall
Added:
alone, loading
one 20-pound crate of eggs
after another
onto skids, then onto trucks ...
hour after hour, day after day
Added: This Brave New World, XCIV
inspired by 2023 Oscar-shortlisted film, Angola, Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison
holding rifles
white officers on horseback --
row upon row
of black men in jumpsuits
working the field in summer heat
FYI: Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is America's largest prison-plantation
