A Poem by Joy Leftow

My blog address is http://joyleftowsblog.blogspot.com

I have worked my entire life as a professional licensed social worker - mostly with students at the New York City Dept of Ed and I could never afford my own home. As a single mom, I worked hard to survive. And now things are even worse and people can barely survive. The 99 percent have given me the first hope I've had in years that things may change for the better for future generations. I hope you will publish my bluetry poem, Billie's Consumerism Blues. I actually got to perform this at an open people's stage and Uncle Eddie backed me up on his banjo.

I am hoping to have the opportunity to do more with you - certainly as a poet and artist, but I have many skills and have helped people my entire life. I was helping people before I became a social worker. Back in those days - I knew I had to do something to make a living - so I became a social worker. I attended College grad and undergrad at Columbia under the auspices of the Higher Education Opportunity Program. I was the only white one in the program and out of the dozen of us who entered at the same time, only two of us made it through to graduation. Then I attended social work school.

I have written poetry, stories and articles since my childhood since writing is my true love. Now that I'm retired from the dept of ed, (horrid place to work) after 21 years, I can spend my time as I like.

Below is the second bluetry poem I am submitting to you. I thank you for your time and reading. I attended several meeting of the arts and culture meetings as well.

Welfare’s Still A Bitch

Back in the day I burned loquacious at welfare’s fair hearings
But soon I learned that when you went to your worker you only speak when you’re spoken to Everything will be held against you
And twice more if you’re white
You’ll be accountable for every damn penny you didn’t spend
How dare you go to Columbia University on our money
You’ll see white bitch hoe
Now I’m at the welfare center again
I’m still the only white one there
thank god it’s not for me I wait here
I watch as everyone demands entitlements
They have their appointments they’ll not leave with disappointment
The brothers and sisters and me we see others get special treatment
waiting on names and numbers to be called
Liars they say first come first served but everything seems stalled
I want mine and I want it now - Latinos and Blacks uprising.
The guards are watchful but do nothing
Those who yell loudest – their workers came out and usher them
through glass doors to get what’s theirs
they come back smiling
After that it didn’t quiet down till the room emptied out
After they all got what was coming to them
I wish it had been like that for me
I fought at so many fair hearings
To get my claims accepted back in the day
Each time I recertified they cut my food stamps to zero
If you’re white you get less
if you’re Jewish it’s double less because you know all those jews are rich they don’t come from any Warsaw ghettos and it’s a damn lie any of them were killed in any fucking holocaust

those kikes are Fucking Christ killers is what they are
heard it all my life
A voice inside my head
Each way I turn
Sometimes I forget who I am

And it all comes rushing home like a river overflowing with leaves silt memories
Someone will bring it home to me no matter how long I live

Ladies and Gentlemen: we’ve gone back in time to the 60’s – prejudice crackles like fire in the air.

We need to get our heads turned back to the streets to take back what’s rightfully ours

We need we need we need – medical care money a place to live and survive
So sad - right back at you with the blues tonight

Common Ground by Zipporah Lomax

'Common Ground'
by Zipporah Lomax
 
everything has gone awry
a great divide has grown
between the hands that hoard the pie
and the measly crumbs we're thrown
 
they enjoy their privileged lives
while our homes are foreclosed
they're keeping us in line
with all the wealth that they withhold
 
they profit off our ignorance
expecting us to play the part
of obedient indifference
robots, with shopping carts
 
well-designed to distract
and keep us misinformed
the media's been hijacked
by those who bank offshore
 
they've poisoned our sea and sky
through oil-driven greed
they contaminate our food supply
with their modified seeds
 
they've stolen our autonomy
and our right to choose
they perpetuate inequality
through narrow-minded rules
 
they've made health a business
selling pills to those in need
they benefit from illness
growing rich off our disease
 
we know it won't be long
before they try to buy our souls
before our lives have been withdrawn
exchanged, for fool's gold
 
they've kept us on our knees
believing change would never come
but down on wall street
the revolution's just begun
 
we're waking from our slumber
it's time to stand up strong
take back what they have plundered
we've held our tongues too long
 
we'll shout until our cause is heard the whole world 'round...
they may tie our hands, but our voices cannot be bound...
something's gotta give...the wall has gotta come down...
...we all deserve to live on common ground...

OWS, from A-Z, by Theodore Hamm

A=arraign; arrears; arrests

Many came to Occupy Wall Street because they are in arrears, only to be arrested, with some even arraigned.

B=Bloomberg; Brookfield Properties; Brooklyn Bridge

Bloomberg and his buddies at Brookfield were dismayed when the mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge failed to stop the protests.

C= commune; cops; corporations

While some folks are creating a commune, cops are protecting corporations.

D= democracy, American; democracy, direct

American democracy is controlled by political parties that respond to money, whereas direct democracy is handled by participants answering to each other.

E= exhilaration; existentialism; experience

Joining together with your fellow ninety-nine percenters can be an exhilarating existential experience.

F= freedom of speech; free market

Fuck that free market nonsense, the protesters say, exercising their right to free speech.

G=grip, gripe

Many who gripe about the OWS protests need to get a grip.

H=Hydra; hydrate

Donated supplies continue to hydrate the Hydra.

I=individualism; indivisible

I pledge allegiance to Occupy Wall Street, and to the democracy for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty and justice for the 99%.

J=jackboots; Jacobins

Don’t let the jackboots turn you into Jacobins.

K=Kelly, Ray; kettling

Kelly and his keepers keep on kettling.

L=love

At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me echo Che’s statement: “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.”  

M=money

A question for the banks: “Where’s the money, Money?”

N=Nine; Ninety-Nine

We are the 99 percent; You are the 99 percent—and all of us will gain nothing from 9-9-9 or any other nefarious nostrums.

O=occupation

The lack of meaningful occupations has led many 20-somethings to join the Occupation.

P=Percent, One

Lots of folks in the one percent will gladly tell you that they are part of the middle class.

Q=quest; quixotic

Ending inequality may seem like a quixotic quest, but the fight has to start somewhere.

R=revel; revelation; revolution

Many revel in the revelation that a revolution is upon us.

S= shambles; shame

American democracy is in shambles, and it’s a shame.

T= Tea Party

The Tea Party is astroturf, but OWS is grassroots.

U=usual; usurp

Rather than accept business as usual, OWS usurped national attention.

V=Vendetta

If there’s one flick that all the protesters seem to like, it’s V for Vendetta.

W=Wall Street

If there’s one place that none of the protesters seem to like, it’s Wall Street.

X=Malcolm

If there’s one radical figure that nobody on Wall Street likes, it’s Malcolm X.

Y=Yippies; yuppies

When OWS protesters channel the spirit of Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies, yuppies get nervous.

Z=Zuccotti Park

Though it sounds like an Italian restaurant, Zuccotti Park is actually the site of the New York City Commune.