by Steve Hellyard Swartz
black, red, green
Numbers tumble
Wall Street stumbles
Chins are set for whatever comes next
Little girls in big girl pants
Little boys in old men's suits
So much in-breeding it gets harder and harder
Doesn't it?
To tell bear from bull
Unlike most animals
This pair has almost identical shit
The radio crackles all day with reports from the block
Billion dollar payouts
And the little guy with his hand on his cock
The devil takes a break and powders his nose
The radio asks if there is any end in sight
and if there is, is there any light?
God guarantees this will all come out all right
God tells the devil he looks fine, just a little more powder to dull the shine
He got his
I got mine
The radio takes a break for cello and flute
Wall Street follows suit
Steve Hellyard Swartz's poetry has appeared in The New Verse News, Best Poem, Haggard and Halloo, switched-on guttenberg, and The Kennesaw Review. He has won Honorable Mention in the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards and The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. In 2008, poems of his will appear in The Paterson Review and The Southern Indiana Review.