by Tyrone Nagai
Social policy-stimulus entwined,
I couldn’t borrow money from my dad.
No rainy day fund to help in a bind,
just my student loans and credit card tab.
Sheepskin in hand I started paying debt.
I’m making 30¢ more per hour.
Employers and creditors love me yet,
‘cuz I have bills piled like a tower.
I’m the perfect American worker,
a slave to financial institutions.
Would you like fries to go with your burger
or freedom to go with revolution?
I even got a raise in this abyss,
not due to smarts, but from my laziness.
Tyrone Nagai is pursuing his MFA at San Diego State University. He is also associate editor of Fiction International.
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