Purr Therapy; Capitalism by F.I. Goldhaber

Purr Therapy  

In memory of Watson (2013-2026)

For him the purrs were praise,

letting staff know that food,

scritches, and humans as

furniture had all been

acceptable tributes.

For me though, the soothing

vibrations embraced my

arthritic joints, swollen

limbs; reverberations

that eased my constant pain.

Capitalism                                                                                                      

Each empty storefront tells a secret story

...of investment lost, illusions shattered.

Each for sale or rent sign tells a hidden story

...of disruption, displacement, dispersion.

Each flooded, moldering home tells a soggy story

...of raging rivers, rising seas, record-breaking weather.

Each half empty school room tells a buried story

...of ongoing plagues ignored by "health" officials.

Each tent and hungry child tells an unseen story

...of struggles in a system structured for failure.

Each heap of charred timbers tells a flaming story

...of drought, heat, and raging wildfires.

Each pile of rubble tells an obfuscated story

...of homes, health care, education destroyed.

Each bleeding body tells a shrouded story

...of potential lost, love extinguished.

Each ongoing genocide tells a covert story

...of stolen resources, indigenous eradication.

F.I. Goldhaber's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, and business writer, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. Almost 265 of their poems appear in 100 publications including What Color is Your Privilege? their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press.  http://www.goldhaber.net/