Poverty

Have you heard about poverty?
it’s all the rage
among people working
for minimum wage.

Forty hours a week
at five fifteen an hour
doesn’t give a worker
much purchasing power.

Five fifteen?
Five fifteen!
How can our system
be so mean?

Food and clothing
for a family of three
costs a lot of money
in the land of the free.

When paying the rent
leaves nothing to spare
for health insurance,
that’s just not fair.

Imagine all the cracks
people slip between
when they’re living in poverty
earning five fifteen.