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POVERTY; A GRIM ART SKETCHED BY FACTS
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JOURNAL # 41 dusty old drinking cups
in the fore ground
spindly makeshift clothes lines
harboring a few pitiful rags
like hostages from some
ancient laundromat
a mere counter reaction to
the vacant empty eyes
staring unblinkingly back
from their edges
being wind flapped
reflecting the obvious hollow stomachs
and the hopeless carnage of just who
these children could be
if allowed the luxury of enough basic
food to eat
their half cracked shell parents
standing stoically behind them
resigned to the commonness
of the kind of death
that will soon befall their physically
bankrupt offspring
or perhaps even themselves
if God is handing out blessings soon
animal skeletons litter the near
and the far horizon
a nightmarish image
reminding one of a
schizophrenic Georgia O'keefe
painting
dabbling in the macabre
the perpetual stench of death
tells the eyes where not to look
nothing whispers death like
a lethargic eight year old's
bloated and disfigured body
from countless months
of scavenging for inedible food
which consists of
grass
roots
seeds
weeds
and dirt
thinly mixed with some water
to make a mush like substance
that tastes like little else
than a pasty mud
corruption, civil war
and gangs of militias
fighting for the few pathetic
scraps of goods there are
only pile on, to make
more mock of this
needless misery
and to think, 30 to 40 cents a day
selflessly donated by people
who have so much by comparison
instead of say one purchased Starbucks
coffee each week
could bring hope back alive again
in a place where before
it only came to die............
(July 12, 2014 638pm)
