Romanticizing Poverty

space age Beguines romanticizing poverty
like eggshells thrown with the coffee machine
the dish towel on the floor, mother crying
father saying now is not a good time to talk

cataract bedrooms away from boasting folks
proud of how hard they had it growing up
so by default you would learn some lesson
some intangible lesson, inheriting brutality

there is no wisdom that comes from poverty
all there is to know can be taught in safe spaces
there no enlightenment from being disadvantaged
that anyone with half a heart didn’t already know

these lessons the powerful want the poor to learn
they are extensions of enforcing control, to relive
what your internalized family seems so proud
to have survived, like we should be grateful
of lost opportunities, of desperately built bridges,
of self medicating that everyone knew was wrong