National Poetry Month ~ April
Day 10#
{a rewrite of one of my earlier poems}

 
Today gets me a thinkin’ of an Oklahoma hero, Woody Guthrie ~

Woody
Was an Okie
A storyteller of
Ordinary people

A writer
A soul musician
A union organizer
Taking songs
And making anthems

Hopping trains
Living on lonely, lonely miles
From one work house to another
Through tough and dirty times

Witness to the unholy
To the plunder of others
Working in the fields
For a penny or a dime
Giving his voice

Now ~

A recession
Grips our land
No work to be found

Shelves and shelves of bounty
Mark the spot
Where some have
And some not

Can’t pay the mortgage
No home

And got no food
No money left

I shut my eyes to hear . . .

We are gathered down by the river
Singing Woody Guthrie songs . . .

Where are our songs?

We need our stories told
To help make our own world
Visible again. . .

Hey ~
I just made a Walmart run
Driving out of a corner parking lot
Stopped at the light and turning right
As car after car go by

Yes ~ It’s still raining out here!

There ~ facing me …
Sitting on massive boulders
A lady and her two children

Where others came before
Still others surely will follow
Traveling from one corner to the next
Waiting for help

She looks at me
She eyes me
She sees me ~

I look down
What should I do?

I read her cardboard sign ~
“NO FOOD ~ Please Help” …..
I turn the corner and drive!