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FREE POEM IN HARD TIMES
By Michael Schein

In honor of the Bush depression I’m giving this poem away free,
cutting back on the number of people I smart bomb today,
walking instead of taking the Hummer to the rapture.

In honor of the Bush depression I’m wearing a smile on my face
for all the dough I didn’t throw in the leaky 401K bucket,
but used instead to see the world and educate my children.

In honor of the Bush depression I’m offering discounted
poetry classes for investment bankers; we’ll get naked and
howl at Ginsberg’s ghost, smear junk-bond jello on our privates.

In honor of the Bush depression I’m voting for a black
community organizer whose name rhymes with Osama,
and I hope he’s twice as radical as the neo-cons fear.

In honor of the Bush depression I’m refusing to be quantified,
spending time instead of dollars, measuring value in breaths,
trading on the exchange of love and imagination.

In honor of the Bush depression I’ll keep driving my old Toyota.
Her name is Betty and she smells like years of kids’ breakfasts,
but she’s cheap to fill and fix, and fits like an old shoe.

In honor of the Bush depression I won’t demand a bailout,
I’ll put in a winter planting of kale and squash,
I’ll reuse plastic and wipe with the foreclosure notice.

In honor of the Bush depression I’m handing out free koans,
reminding everyone that the soul asks for little;
she is a bandito who robs the greedy and gives to dreamers.

In honor of the Bush depression I refuse to be depressed.
The sun still shines, the cat still purrs, poetry remains
free as ever, still worth more than Lehman Brothers.

—Michael Schein is a writer who lives in Seattle with his wife and daughters and a pride of cats. He is also Director of the LitFuse Poets' Workshop.