Poverty’s A Choice

Poverty’s a choice

our world makes it

possible and cyclical,

I can’t take it

every time I see a 

crime committed

I think, why are we surprised?

It’s us who did it.

Systematically 

we choose our future

and then we patch it up

only with sutures

and wonder why

the wounds still open up

instead of wondering

how we can stop

the bleeding,

the hunger,

the abuse.

Too many people

with the mindset

“there’s no use.”

Just maybe if we

focused on prevention,

if the people who need help

got our attention,

collectively we’d build

the place we need, 

but selectively 

we can’t seem to agree

on what that looks like, 

on what we look like, 

too much money spent

to make us disagree.

Those who spend it

would rather us not see

all the things they try to hide,

all of the greed.

These are fights

they design

with the intention

to blind.

And we fall victim

to the crime 

every time.

Poverty’s a choice,

why do we make it

possible and cyclical,

I can’t take it

every time I see a 

crime committed

I think, why are we surprised?

It’s us who did it.