RED KETTLES

By Joe Gardner

And the little
Red kettles
Are all catching
Loose change and small bills

Slowly filling up
With a little hope
To provide a warm meal
Come on this eve of Thanksgiving…

just before we line up in madness
to spend money we all say we ain’t got
to play the part of animal
and get our fill
of the latest
plastic
electronic
two year data plan required gadget

charity ends

at the start of the Black Friday sale

that sailed
a week early this year

while a fat man holds a sign
here in America

written on the same
brown cardboard
with the same black ink
that says

HUNGRY
HOMELESS
GOD BLESS

and I gotta call bullshit

cause we got it so good here
in America
that we shit in clean water…

and then I see on the tv
the infomercial
ya know the one with all the starving children
and how just a buck a day can save…
you know the one
the one that you change the channel as soon
as it comes on…

and the little
red kettles
are catching loose
change
and bills
of hope
for
a
warm meal