they tell you that in America
you can be anything you want to be.
if you work hard enough
if you try hard enough
if you want hard enough
you can be someone.
anyone.
anything.

bullshit.

she works seventy hours a week
packing boxes in a warehouse
and brings home fourteen hundred dollars
in a month.

she hurts
but she does it anyway.
the doctors say she shouldn’t
but there are six mouths
and not enough money
and there never is.

he walks ten miles each day
and hands in applications
and tries
and tries
and tries.

they say no.

there is no work here.
not for him.

he feels like a failure
as a father
to children that do not share his blood.

they take no handouts.
it is not a matter of pride.
they were not given any.

so tell me again
mister governor
about how the poor are lazy.
tell me again,
mister governor
about how America coddles the disadvantaged.

tell me again
mister governor
about how the streets in America
are paved with gold.