H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
MICHAEL PINGARRON
this isn’t a nightmare
rolling dice in great
casinos
they’re worried about
their jobs
exported to a country
that
pays slave wages to its workers
illegal aliens
marching in DC
wave the Mexican flag
to honor the land of their birth
spending their dollars
on skid row tenements
with jacked up rents the homeless
can’t afford in secret subway
tunnels ‘neath New York
its drugged out residents
are writing a Constitution to
free themselves from the rule
of money bags with huge bellies
who returning home
in horse drawn carriages
from Tavern on the Green
fondle their fatness
their earnings
from their skid row holdings
buys them a ticket out of town
they wonder about how their race horse
did at Monmouth
as to whether he won placed
or showed
a vacation in Acapulco
ends any worry they have
and raises the price
of a can of Spam
for the old man shining shoes
on the corner of Fifth and Heaven
who walks home to Spanish Harlem
at the end of the day
this isn’t a nightmare
this is Saturday night at six
when someone wanting dinner
pillages a garbage can
licking yellow slop
from his fingers
in an effort to savor
its putrid taste
5/6/06
[Originally
published in NHS 2006, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs06/Pingarron.htm.]