the poor are breeding stock

the poor are breeding stock

the welfare and food stamps

the rich dole out to these sows and studs

serves as the paddock’s lock

and the lure to lead them up the ramp

so the ones with promise

            can be separated from the duds

each season they trim their herd

this one has a beauty

            worth cultivating

this one is tall and quick enough

            to play pro ball

here is a voice to make them even richer

            if they decide to let it be heard

a few with minds worth exploiting

            but these are the dangerous ones

                        so their numbers are kept small

then there are those fit to be nothing but cannon fodder

just smart enough to learn to take orders

but not so smart to question why the US borders

circle the world, an empire far, far larger

than just our fifty states

most of them are left behind

turned loose in the wild, wild streets

they live a life of horror

they cluster together in gangs

and churches to survive

their family connections would

put a holler grannie to her shame

but the cruelest cut of all’s

how they split the poor in half

the whites fearing colors,

the colors hating whites

the deliberate installation

of the very thing

they say they hate

until we, the poor of this country

the livestock rejected at the gate

the left behind

the true poor

the poverty that goes on for generations

and the only thing we have to leave our children

when it’s their turn to step up to the plate

and so we’ll stay this way

until we learn that white’s a color, too

and skin don’t make the man

admit we have a common foe

for the enemy of my enemy

is my friend