Not Quite Poor

Impressive,

how the morning comes

without fanfare,

unnoticed by

the small-town commuters

on their way to

slightly bigger cities with

a factory job or two

maybe a teaching position

opening up next season

and you,

ready to work clad

in ill-fitting black

that smells only slightly of grease

come home & sink into

your seventh rewatch of X Files

or Friends, when you're lonely

which is most of the time these days

dull pain that stings and sets

into bones too thin for their age

I stay up too late, until sunrise threatens

get to work within the minute

teeter on the edge of hirable or not

but who can pick and choose anymore—

Fast food or retail

or the glories of unskilled

in-home care

(if you're lucky)

Dream your doodles

or poems scrawled on wide rule

$0.50 notebooks

will become marketable

and lift your sinking barge

from the depths you were born in

No one leaves here

and no one gets their break

Eagle 20 menthols

bought at $4.00 a pack, four at a time

or grocery brand wine

do nothing to herald the day

that bleeds with accustomed yearn

and doesn't let up

for a moment