our beloved P.I.C

how many people in the
good ol’ us of a
are currently in prison?
how much profit does the
good ol’ us of a need
this year?
how many people does
corporate america have to
pay at least minimum wage?
how many unions are left
to fight corporate america?
how many politicians pretend
to oversee the corporations that
are pulling their strings from
wall st.?
how many people still think that
“voting” is the answer in this
“democracy?”
how many people are happy with
no health care?
how many people are excited about
president hope & change’s idea about
forcing us to buy health care, so we
can all be slaves to the HMO’s?
how many people are hooked on the
drugs that big pharm is peddling?
how many politicians are in big pharm’s
pockets?

take Cali as a prime example,
where the prisons outnumber the universities,
because to lock us up is to gain a worker
who will be forced to work for the wages
that corporations & companies
get from those in Mexico & China,
but they don’t even have to leave the US---
what a lovely land
when the privatization of prison production
can consolidate the market
by pushing the citizens of this empire
into a new slavery,
one in which all those still safe & behind
their white picket fences,
nod in complacent agreement at
when questioned about it---
one in which those of us struggling outside
the bars, but one step away from being
hauled in, are forced to feel better without
health care, hooked on drugs pushed by
the biggest “legal” dealers in the world,
at the mercy of outright liars & thieves
who surf the streets of downtown Manhattan
with the president turning his head every time
something wrong goes down, with the military
& police armed & ready to take on anyone
who might want to shake up this status quo,
with those on the other side of their screens
trembling like sheep being surrounded by
hungry wolves.