Hard Times

Political terror stand over againsted every person in Poland below the communist system. But when I came to America, I saw that the same amount of fear can be inflicted through the economy-not by the cryptic police, but by the economy.

-Czeslaw Milosz

The hellish piece of work my father lands

I'm tickled pink to celebrate,

but the sad face of my mother's hands

arranges the pigs in blankets upon a plate.

Teeny uncircumcised Buddha penises

(cocktail fiery dogs in strips of dough)

I gulp these puffed-up weenie geniuses

as if they'd mention one by one me what I need to know

to gain the fuck out of here.

They don't alone stink of fear.

They're doom and shame and incapable of speech pig fate.

I tell my mom I think they're great.

Dad chews his slowly with a pint of gin,

and says what he thinks of the whole deal,

including us. My mom's in tears again.

I don't know in what manner to feel, or who to hate.

Copyright World metrical composition Incorporated Mar/Apr 2004

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