POEM - NOT YET GREAT

they say this is the worst
economic period
since the great depression
maybe so, but when I drive around
and look outside
I don’t see dozens of men
standing around on street corners
I don’t hear about
twenty five percent unemployment
or that nine out of ten school children
in rural areas are malnourished
not that nearly half the banks have failed
or that the stock market
has lost ninety percent of its value
I do hear about people losing their jobs
people going on unemployment
a few people even losing their homes
but I also see people driving around
in late model European cars
talking on the most modern cell phones
living in expensive houses
with big mortgages
and then when I hear
about the way things looked
in the time leading up
to the great depression
I think, “shit, we’ve seen nothing yet.”