being obsessed with inequity
creates lines on
your face.
your teeth clenched
with scowl and stress,
mired panic, just something
so familiar about lack,
empty stomach. subway,
one headphone working
so the sound is all the way up
to drown out the left’s tinnitus
and you’re eyeing her up and down,
pining for that woman’s jacket. 

but it provides a catalyst to
all movement.

 people are scared
to admit a big motivator
to success is
their unremitting desire
for vengeance.
and money helps.
takes away the change
of facial shape.
fills halls, fills
spaces with things.
little decorative things.
and money assuages.

and money goes but
comes eventually.
or at least that’s
what you tell the
little tree you water.
the little girl shoved
deep inside the well,
hands out, frozen.

“The Money Tree”