OK, I had to come up with a poem to meet my own prompt at We Write Poems!
The form is “3 + (x) = poem,” and today, as I rode the bus and hung out with a homeless Vietnam vet my age who’s been given six months to live, there was no place else to go but the steam grates and the fact that the two major refuges for homeless folks will be shut down this winter by our lame-ass governor, Scott Walker (brought to you by The Koch Brothers; paid for by same).
I’ll be away for the weekend, so pardon my not answering comments promptly. Have a peaceful Labor Day – if these guys get their way, that holiday will mean nothing in a few years. RIP, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory women – you are not forgotten. Amy
Homeless in Madison, Winter 2001
Homeless folks dread winter
This coming winter especially
We with homes worry for them, too
(Governor closed two safe havens)
Wisconsin is “penniless”
No money for “extras”
We with homes give to NGOs
(But the Guv has bucks to redo the Capitol Cafeteria – all winter long)
Ironic. That cafeteria provided
daily shelter for many residents
from punishing, sub-zero winds
(Merry Fucking Christmas)
Our governor “doesn’t hate anyone,
least of all, the poor”
We protest to remind him of his lies
(As he settles into his plush office for a toasty-warm Madison winter)
Politicians and the Constitution
don’t always agree… we need many
voices to speak on behalf of those in need
(and to recall this sorry excuse for a governor)
© 2011 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
California Ink in Motion
Amy,
I thought my sonnet bitched about politics, but this one is GREAT!! Loved your form as well. Great Job lady!
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, honey, I’m THE bitch about politics, LOL. FBI file from all my war protesting, etc. Proud of it, too. Those of us who put our names behind our words, who act (don’t just bitch on Facebook and think it’s done) will save this country, if indeed that is possible. The Koch brothers may help turn us into an oligarchy, ruled by WalMart and their ilk. WE CANNOT LET IT HAPPEN!!! Oh, no, I’m ranting again!
Will be scarce (editing gig) until around 9/15; appreciate your patience if I don’t visit you until then. Peace, Amy
California Ink in Motion
p.s. I am going to add you to my blog roll. You write some great poems and I love the way you comment on my poems.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks so much! Timing is odd, as I’m tied up with an editing gig til mid-September, but I’m going to add you as well. Love, A
viv blake
Now I think I underrstand the prompt a bit better. The form doesn’t work for me as poetry, although as a campaigning message it is strong and bitter. You need to unseat that governor pdq. Amy for governor!
Sharp Little Pencil
Normally I’m so overwrought about politics that the form takes a back seat… and to tell the truth, since I ‘invented’ the form, I sort of felt an obligation to try another one. Learned a lesson: Don’t force. Yes, we will boot his keester out of the Capitol Dome, if enough people leave the comfort of home and come out to vote!
Editing gig will have me tied up until mid-Sept. Please be patient with my absence until then. Peace, Amy
hollyjb
I like how Lafemmeroar said it – ‘Politician’s need to be hooked up to lie detectors every time they speak’ (slight paraphrase there). I will never understand how governments decide to allocate funds to all the things that need them (and those that don’t). Some people really can’t help that they’re homeless and now it’s basically being said they are like wild animals who don’t need domestic shelter. What is up with that sh@t?
Sharp Little Pencil
Q: “How can you tell if a politician is lying?”
A: “His or her mouth is moving!”
It’s very, very sad, in a climate as cold as ours, that the hearts of government are even colder. Lots of folks iwth homes being repossessed, or taken for tax burden. What the hell is up with America? Fifty percent of our budget for bombing Afghanistan and Iraq to smithereens, plus all the troop casualties and untold hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and we cannot shelter our own people? Insanity. Thanks for your thoughts, Holly. On editing gig until 9/15, but back after that! Love, Amy
Roger Green
It’s OK to hate the poor. After all, they’re poor, so it’s their own damn fault. Now if they were rich, we could help them, because the rich will trickle down wealth to the poor. Soak the poor! Protect the rich!
Sharp Little Pencil
Yeah, and we know what’s trickling down… it sure ain’t money or jobs. It’s the super-rich, peeing on our heads!! Hence the soaked poor, right? And the soaked middle class.
I’m on an editing gig until 9/15 but will be back on the scene after that. Patience!! Peace, Amy
Dick
A punchy piece of polemic, Amy. Political poetry is something of a rarity these days. (Maybe we’re all too tired and cynical!). This works well.
Sharp Little Pencil
Dick, I probably write too much political stuff, but I’m not sure, in this climate, if there is such a thing. And disagreements are cheerfully welcomed, since all politics are in the eye of the beholder (or cynic).
Editing gig will keep me offline blogwise until 9/15. See you then! Peace, Amy
christine
doesn’t sound good, when is the next election?
Sharp Little Pencil
The recall will be after the Guv serves one year. We’re doing all we can, but frankly, it’s the dead of winter and we will have people freezing to death on the streets. Some of us are trying to open churches to the homeless, with suburban churches paying the heating bills because homeless folks can’t afford the bus ride out there…
Pat Hatt
Sounds like he is a regular douchebag. I hate winter indoors, that has to be awful for anyone stranded on the street and closing the shelters, what a moron.
Sharp Little Pencil
Pat, “Moron” is almost a compliment, implying he has a brain. He is all three of Dorothy’s Oz helpers: Brainless, heartless, and lacking in courage. He’s a tea bagger and… yes, a douchebag. Or as one commentator said, ‘a douche canoe,’ which makes no sense but still make me laugh out loud!
Off blog until 9/15, editing job. Back after that!! Peace, Amy
islandcat2u
We are so disappointed to see the reports about what is happening in Madison and Wisconsin, in general. An unfortunate sign of the times. Blessings to your vet and friends – here’s hoping that somehow there will be help for them before the cold sets in. Thanks for writing about it.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks for reading – I am on hiatus until after 9/15, an editing gig, but will be back… with a vengeance!! Thanks for stopping, and I promise a visit when I return. Amy
mareymercy
Sorry excuse for a human being, as well. Not to pick on Wisconsin, I’m in Texas, where even conservatives hate Rick Perry (if they’re teachers).
Sharp Little Pencil
Rick Perry makes Scott Walker look like a brainiac. What’s with all the religious rhetoric? Doesn’t that idiot know we were NOT “founded on Judeo-Christian ethics”? The Founders were deists at best, many Universalists and decidedly not Christian.
Back after 9/15… editing gig. See you then! Peace, Amy
Kim Nelson
UGH! Will it never end?
Sharp Little Pencil
Not soon, because Americans are still in that “9/11 scared PTSD thing.” We need to get off our asses, on the phone, protesting. That takes time away from one’s viewing of “Dancing With The Stars,” and so, the beat goes on… Beating us up, that is.
Editing gig taking me offline until 9/15/ See you then, Kim! Amy
Bodhirose
Politics is an ugly business–it doesn’t seem to be very humane.
Sharp Little Pencil
Doesn’t get any uglier than when a pair of billionaire brothers can BUY a governor’s seat to bust unions and leave people out in the cold, literally and figuratively. Thanks, Gayle. A
Joseph Harker
It’s amazing how quickly Wisconsin disappeared from the news radar when, I don’t know, Libya or whatever it was, popped up. If attention had stayed focused on the unions, maybe things would’ve turned out better? In any case, you have definite support from in the East; I wonder how many people grateful for a day off realize how Marxist a holiday Labor Day really is. 😛
Sharp Little Pencil
Joseph, fear not. We are working on a recall now – the fascist douchefountain will be out of office if we stick with it. But you are so right; if it bleeds, it leads. And yes, I like to think of Labor Day as a cookout for Socialists everywhere!! Love you and your brain! Amy
Mr. Walker
Amy, so different from your first use of your form – and excellent it is. I’m appalled. We’re closing down state parks out here in California because there’s no money, but that’s really nothing compared to closing safe havens for the homeless. It’s all fubar.
Richard
Sharp Little Pencil
And SNAFU. And SOB. I agree, Richard.
I also think a few state parks should be closed and used for returning troops, with psych and therapy staff on hand, helping their PTSD come to the fore, providing a safe, healthy place to swim, fish… and safely cry and scream. THEN send them back into society, understanding the importance of taking their meds and continuing counseling. Less spousal abuse and suicide…?
Renee Espriu
I don’t even talk about politics, Amy, as it is a topic that simply infuriates but I agree with every single word you’ve written. I don’t know the Gov of this State but from State to State there sometimes isn’t alot of difference. I see homeless every day and it is heart wrenching to know I could be next. I won’t tell you what I think of Politicians…in the same lot as lawyers to my way of thinking. Great Write!
Sharp Little Pencil
In the same lot as lawyers… as in the Shakespearean line? LOL
I talk about practically nothing except politics with my friends, because I’m an old leftie hippie homo-loving Socialist (according to my sisters), which is to say, I’m liberal with fiscally conservative leanings… starting with the pay and benefits of politicians!!!
Madeleine Begun Kane
Good poem, and tragically true!
Sharp Little Pencil
As the leaves begin to fall, so will our spirits here… Amy
Mike Patrick
It is probably time for charities to return to the people. For years, the government has tried to take the place of charitable individuals and organizations by funding and mandating services THEY THINK are important. As taxes have gone up and deductions have gone down, many organizations once supported and revered by the public can no longer afford to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, many of the worthwhile charitable organizations turned to professional fund raisers that keep 90% of what’s raised for expenses: salaries, bonuses and perks for the bigwigs. There was a time when those positions were filled by unpaid volunteers.
Now that the government sponsored tax increases have reached a level where common citizens not only can no longer afford to give to charities, they are seeking subsistence. As unemployment reduces the tax dollars the government has to spend, they are cutting back on their charity-replacement spending. Now the overpriced, half-hearted organizations they created to take place of charities, are shutting their doors too.
The lesson to be learned is that the government does so poorly with everything it attempts, it should get out of the way and let the citizens do what they do best.
Sharp Little Pencil
Another possibility: Get the money out of political campaigns and stop letting corporate-backed asses get into office.
Government is supposed to function for the welfare of the people. That word, “welfare,” is loaded, I know, but you get the idea. Citizens, when left on their own, will – at the top – keep everything they can and try to get more. In the middle, we are disappearing. And there’s only one way to go from there: Down, down, down.
Tax structures? HA! Fashioned so that corporations can write off their contributions. Do you really think they are giving out of the goodness of their hearts? If they were, they would not have shipped millions of blue- and white-collar jobs overseas, at $1000 a pop of taxpayers’ money to help “defray expenses.” (Thanks, George WB), and we would still have folks employed here to give… you see? Just another viewpoint… Peace, Amy
Luke Prater
I think I misunderstood the date… it’s 2011, right, not 2001? You have 2001 written right above the piece. Is WI very conservative?