The Symptoms of the System

By: Abe Sierra Jr.

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     Thrown into ghettos the projects and slums

Dilapidated dormitories

     And pacified with stories

Of bootstrap theories

 

But success is unaffordable
     When struggle is made portable

Carried around like travel-size anchors

     Attached to their pockets

                           The poor and low

 

Working for a living
                     While slowly dying /
     Creating

More wealth for the wealthy
While they keep on buying /

     And trading

 

Our labor our bodies
On auction blocks      
                    "Going once! Going twice!”
Suddenly…"sold!"
                       

                      Wage labor — shackles
                       Rent payments — shackles
                        Debt statements — shackles
 

These ailments
                  — The symptoms of a system
Meant for the further enrichment of rich men
     It permeates like a stench
 

     A putrid smell

Of blood money and profit margins

 

And if they had the chance to advance
     And to colonize Mars,
                 they’d also be enslaving the Martians
                      With wage labor
                      Rent payments
                      And debt statements
 
 

Their labor their bodies
          On auction blocks too