Below Minimum

His stomach rumbled, but he had to go

To his next stop – it was a little shop

That sold mere flowers, nick-knacks. In the flow

From shop to shop, he wished that he could drop

The wages he could offer – he was sure

He could have had a job by now, the knife

Of hunger would be gone. He would endure

A little less to feed his kids and wife.

He knew he was not worth the pay each place

Could offer him – he had dropped out of school,

He had no skills, and no one would embrace

Him so that he could learn some. Thus, the cruel

Law followed him and kept him unemployed

And ignorant and unemployable –

A cruelty that did more than just annoyed,

Conspiring to keep his skills and talents dull.

He never would be able to compete

With anyone within the working class –

A cruelty by design, so they’d defeat

Him long before he’d see within the glass

A man who could take care of his own kids

And wife with honest labor, so he turned

Within the week to crime – and soon he rids

A person of their life because we spurned

Him with a set of legislation which

Destroyed his dignity. He went to jail –

We threw him, broken, down into a ditch

Because of our unholy, sacred grail.