SLAVES

we work such shitty jobs
so we can afford to get sick
and buy advertised drugs

some of us have never been broke
or broken a bone or been to
a punk rock show or out
of the town we were born in

we stay in loveless marriages
because we are too afraid
to leave or part with
our grand materialism

some of us have never had an orgasm
or had our hearts broken because

we hide ourselves from others
for fear of misunderstanding,
rejection or violence and

some of us lack empathy because
we still don’t know
who we are

we follow religious and political doctrines
because we are afraid to think for
or believe in ourselves and

some of us live in very tiny
obscenely safe worlds
fat with what we think will make us whole
where we sit very comfortably
in over sized chairs and

we call out, so that others might hear
and declare quite loudly
that we have been made
free.