Stable working class neighborhoods are the bane of speculators, developers and capitalist politicians.
Lording over the landscape like giant
Insects sucking soul, blood, chocolate
into multi-colored mushrooms
Metastasizing citywide.
Officers ordering vacant storefronts,
lined up like soldiers, to make money,
while brothers with cupped hands
platoon on plastic crates at entrances to
$4-a-cup coffee shops with belligerent baristas.
Beneath fiery crimson skies,
afternoon freeways are fuming parking lots.
Capitalismâs poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters donât care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed buttsâtents and jails.
First come the cranesâthen the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgagesâthen the
Rents⌠money, money, money for military
Bases in far off placesâbut, itâs âPie in the
sky,â to demand affordable living spaces!
Basketball teamâs outgrown The Town,
football teamâs slipping off to Sin
City after slurping at the troughâŚ
Capitalismâs poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters donât care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed buttsâtents and jails.
First come the cranesâthen the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgagesâthen the
Rents⌠money, money, money for military
Bases in far off placesâbut, itâs âPie in the
sky,â to demand affordable living spaces!
And we play dress-up in grown folksâ clothesâ
Tiny red, white and blue stickersâ pretending
weâre fixing it in 20 minutes⌠every 2-4 years âŚ
Š 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
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