First of the Month

Rent man's paid

insurance man's gone

lights back on

refrigerator's full

no more hungry mouths

to feed, and

Auntie Mable is over

wid' a fifth of

Orange Jubilee

lil' bra' got tennis shoes

sistah sporting weave

mama's boogie-woogie

twisting her hips, and

daddy played his number

93-6

It's the first of the month

neighbor got robbed

postman was shot

three masked hoodlums

living on

the wild

two got caught

everybody whispering

another found dead

nobody listening

It's the first of the month

like we give a damn

--Jeffrey Forrest Grice

From Razorwire 97, a journal of poetry and prose from writing workshops in Nevada prisons,$5 at local bookstores or from Community Chest, P.O. Box 8876,

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