(I’m off to Binghamton to play a gospel coffeehouse at Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Endwell, NY, Sat 9/18 at 6 pm. Please come if you’re in the area. I’ll leave a poem here and see you when I get back on Tuesday! Amy)
POOR LITTLE ORPHAN GIRL
Poor little orphan girl
Daddy went to war
to protect and defend capitalism
on Wall Street
Mommy’s pedicure was 10:45 sharp
Then brunch, pedicures, and bloody marys
In the park under a golden maple
Baby sits on an ample lap
Touches the sweet brown face
of her best friend, Sofia, who’s
undocumented, underpaid
Far from her own Filipino family
Two orphan girls
sit on a Manhattan park bench
legs swinging
tossing bread crumbs to
las palomas
(c) 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
sheilaeh
and there is another rotten thread of the dilapidated ,tired old flag….
put it on the ‘list’ for the next round of our next ‘way to global peace’ conference….
hey! break a leg and safe travels..Godspeed..
btw i did get that ‘fannie mae’ poem out..lol
Sharp Little Pencil
Saw the Fannie Mae (which also kindly referenced “Freddy,” equal opp poem) piece, which was great!
I got yer way to global peace RIGHT HERE, LOL. Hate to say it, but Ross Perot was right: That giant sucking sound WAS American jobs, and it started until Bill Clinton with NAFTA, but Bush really put the global hurt on…
sheila h
i am so glad you are home S&S..and didn’t see this response..
yep..i agree the giant sucking sound ..he called it..
but then again wasn’t Ross a magical creature from middle earth or hobbitville ? check the ears..so he prob had some future information..
😉
and Clinton..well he was from Johnsonville..
so i bet you had a great gig!
yep..
i knew it..
xo
catch ya later..
Sharp Little Pencil
Johnsonville??!! That’s better than Slick Willy. And Free Willy.
My fave is SNL’s parody of Ross and his running mate, that wonderful but daffy vet who yelled out, “What am I doing here?” at the debates, and how SNL had Dana Carvey as Perot and Phil Hartmann (RIP) as the VP yelling random things like “WENDY’S!”
sheila h
whoa whoa..you know what i feel about dummya and his VP the “dark force”
sorry my conscience wouldn’t let me leave w/o a full disclosure..
Sharp Little Pencil
Hey, complete agreement here! LOL
Mickey Ray
Terrific, bittersweet images!
Sharp Little Pencil
Thank you, Mickey. Yes, bittersweet is the word. The child gets a pseudo-mom and the nanny probably has kids of her own her mom is taking care of…
Erika Rauguth Treleaven
I love the image in this poem, especially the last part. Beautiful:)
Sharp Little Pencil
Thank you, Erika. Let me know if you have a blog; I would love to read your poetry!
poetcolette
Too sad and too true… all so we can have cheap sh!t, made by little orphans, for sale at Wmarket or Kstore
Sharp Little Pencil
I knew I could count on you to get to the heart of it, the social justice aspect!
leesis
My goodness you can write. So beautiful, so poignant and so terribly terribly true
Sharp Little Pencil
Leesa, thank you, I am honored. I love your writing and appreciate that you “caught” the awful truth. Amy