by Bernard Gieske
Who said, "You can be whatever you want to be."
was not a laborer
being squeezed by corporate octopuses
forever grabbing more and more
free of guilt.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
the panopticon of fantasies
I am your hands
recycling your throw-aways
I am your sewing machine
... made in China ... Puerto Rico ... and Paraguay
I am a bushel basket
of tomatoes still on the vine
I am your Chablis
plucking grapes from the vine
I am your machines
with revolving hands turning out
your bargain products,
scrabbling, barely surviving on the edge
beyond the outskirts of security
I am long gone
lost amid the multitudes
toiling late into the night
locked in pools of sweat and debt
making ends meet with barely a wage
and no insurance
I am the "garbage" of the global economy.
Now’s the time for the revolution to be unfurled.
Go now, tell it on the www
until it reaches all the edges of the world.
Bernard Gieske lives in Bowling Green, KY. He has always been involved in political issues and does what he can to express his views and concerns. Since he retired he has have writing poetry to do the same. His poems have appeared in Words Words Words; moonset THE NEWSPAPER, cc&d magazine, Poetic Hours, foam:e, Language and Culture, paper wasp, Ink, Sweat & Tears, and Oh!, What a Tangled Web.
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