by Jason Kelly Richards
The ghost of prosperity
lingers in the abandoned storefronts
of a hundred towns where trains
speed through but no longer stop.
Plywood paned windows
shadow empty sidewalks
and sun-bleached signs
advertise products of another age.
The lifeblood of the community
sits deserted at the end of Main Street
silent except for the occasional shattering
of glass from the dust covered windows
used as target practice by bored teenagers
and angry ex- employees.
Most jobs were sent overseas,
and the others handed
to the cheap labor saturating our society
with the blessings of an administration
which has lost touch with the people
it promised to represent.
And like street corner preachers
Army recruiters offer salvation
against the rising cost of survival
and suddenly the stakes of possible death
in a foreign country is favorable
to the methodical one
the working class
faces at home.
Jason Kelly Richards was born in Kentucky in a classic year for Chevrolets, raised in North Carolina during the best decade of music and is currently planning his escape from the Sunshine State. His work has appeared in numerous publications online and off including The Chiron Review, AntiMuse, UndergroundVoices plus the anthology Family Pictures.
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