Tent

2020
October ...
I visited Austin
This week shocked
To see tent hovels under
The highway overpasses all
Over the city with people living
In squalor and I wondered who
Are these folks and why aren’t
They relocated to camps run
By government to provide a
Minimum of food shelter &
Vocational education to
Stop this loitering but
Then I remembered
This is Austin so it
Is just weird and
If I use the rose
Colored local
Glasses it’ll
Be police
Beating
A man
In a
Monkey
Suit! La how
Jolly. Fantastic.
No musical can hope
To compare to the reality
Of so many hopeless people
Waiting for some incident
To explode into rioting
Vandalism burning
Looting all so we
Can do nothing
To alleviate
Suffering
As that
Might
Be
Creeping
Socialism like
The old CCC camps
So let’s call these tent
Slums Trumpervilles and
The makeshift sewage
Pencepotties while
We wait for some
Volunteers to
Donate their
Thanks
Giving
Leftovers
And Christmas
Chili pepper lights
Behind Texas’ rose
Colored glasses and
Tell these folks in tents
About how capitalism
Trumps common
Sense or basic
Charity as the
Eyes of Texas
Are upon you
And you
Cannot
Get
Away.