Poetry
The Flying Colors Of Poverty
A Free Verse Poem
Faded clothes-
Skinny arms-
Visible ribs-
Bloated guts
Swollen-red eyes
Matted-dusty hair
Colored-white teeth
Muddy-ten toes
Watery-sour soup
Leaking-rooftops
Orange-lamp light
Dirty-drinking water —
The flying colors of poverty.
Poverty — an epidemic like COVID-19
A blessing passed from sire to son — hereditary
Poverty — like the color of our skin — we discriminate
The measure of humane treatment’s adequacy
We are all the same, yet we are not all the same
Underprivileged — the only word I can remember
Shining shoes, spotless — Crying until I cry less
White-collar jobs, blue-collar jobs, no-collar jobs — the holy grail
Dressed in tuxedos and suits
Giving fancy speeches to the crowd knee-deep in mud and mire — we have become pigs
We hide our pain in the mask of smiles our mother knits at night — soaked in her sweat of hope
An Orchestra of Mosquitoes — our very own soap opera
We’re the Ghetto!
The city where light doesn’t shine
But the street is lit by the flames of laughter from the cocoon of pain and…
