A Street With No Name

Just the opposite from you, she says.
I grew up with maids, horses, private schools
and what do I have to show for it? A son killed in a war that’s
too terrible to talk about. Couldn’t afford to send him to school,
how else was he to learn?

You on the other hand, she says,
what about a son at a military academy seems
so much of a heartache to you? Grew up poor, then
got your SO – BRI - E - TY
your high FAL – U – TIN PhD

What do you know about heartache?
Your son reads textbooks
while my son third worlds his brains
on a street with no name.

by Suzanne Nielsen