Local Color

Behold
The noble savages
How charming
They bare their teeth
In freeloading hostility
How crooked
Like the river
Is their pork
Barrel politics
As they slaughter
The hog
In the Cuyahoga again
And again
The children
Of the crime
Of poverty
Children of the stars
Of the night
And the city
Witness as victims
This feeding frenzy
Drown in its gaudy
River of blood
Even the god
Of the plaques
In Egypt
Demanded only
The first-born

Daniel Thompson

Copyright NEOCH and the Homeless Grapevine

published January – February 1997 Issue 19

Chris Knestrick