Strategic Black-Out

to the tired, the poor
and the huddled what-have-yous
once the light of liberty beckoned
welcomed by rich-man’s consent
but the times have changed
where a century ago
robber barons required grist
blood to brave the jungle
fresh skin
out of which to sew new wallets
masses with asses
ripe for lashing scourge and branding iron
numbers game of death
Chinese per track mile
Irish per canal foot
those days however
of grinding immigrant bones in the mills
choking lungs in mines
broken on the company wheel
of misfortune and debt
are as they say
over
not over the moon in love
just over
the affair gone sour
modernity’s machines
automation and stream-lining
assuring that no longer are they wanted
by billionaire decree
the flow of laborers
into a land lacking labor
must be dammed
and the dusky skinned
double-damned and banned
thus the country greased by poverty’s sweat
is bled dry of funds, of tax, of budget
except to military and law
because all that matters now
is the hoards of armed men
to protect their hordes of wealth
and suppress the depleted populace
in ignorance and violence
in disinformation and exultations
as capitalism’s endgame
displays, unashamed at last
its final ploy