Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

Nickel, Dime & Penny-Ante Poverty…By Robert M. Katzman

Filed under: Gritty Katzman Chicago Stories,Life & Death,Philosophy,Poetry & Prose,Politics,Social Policy and Justice — Bob at 11:00 am on Monday, September 19, 2011

September 18, 2011

 

Happy meal

Happy meal

Happy meal

God Damn it!

I’m so unhappy!!

Can’t pay rent

Can’t move

Can’t pay doctors

Can’t get sick

Can’t afford to stay well, either

Tires’re bald

Can’t pay Triple A

Can’t get a flat

 My teen wants clothes

And knows that’s out

My wife?

Dinner & a movie

No chance

Can’t buy a smile from

Either one of ‘em

Only the dog’s happy to see me

 Drag my sad self through the door

Tail tick-tocking

Licking my face

Jumping around

Better keep feeding that dog, man

Or there’s no one

I know so much

How to fix anything

How to do all kinds of things

A man of the world

But not this world

Maybe the old world

This one doesn’t need

Guys like me, any more

Politics?

Talk-talk-talk-talk-talk

Retire

Pension

No worries

Who ARE these guys?

Something’s broken

Reason’s out of whack

People & money devalued

Can’t even afford to die

No plot

No life insurance

 Better burn me

I’ll be gone without a trace

Rich people?

When the bottom falls out

What’s gonna hold them up?

Where they gonna go?

Poor people are everywhere

Waiting for them

Rich people:

Bet you think this is a poem,

Don’t you?

Publishing News! 

Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart  and Vol. Two: Fighting Words

Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.

Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.

Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:

Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.

Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998                                                                                                                    (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM

Books cost $24.95 each, plus shipping

For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95

(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95

I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.

My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.

 Twitter handle: bob_katzman

8 Comments »

Comment by Orit Gordon

September 19, 2011 @ 11:59 am

This is too sad. Close my eyes and my ears just to survive and keep going. Hope is all we have for our present and our future. This poem is true but we can’t dwell on being sad! Can’t fight the govrnment, city hall taxes and the economy. Voting wouldn’t do it either.We are left with hope and prayer.We got to believe that one day, hopefully soon-“Iheyeh Tov”

Comment by Don Larson

September 19, 2011 @ 12:27 pm

Hi Bob,

So many need to read your words, too few will.

I will post the link to my Facebook Wall.

Sincerely,

Don

Comment by Bill Skeens

September 19, 2011 @ 12:39 pm

Haunting and true for too many people. Keep the faith. Bill

Comment by Bob

September 19, 2011 @ 12:47 pm

Bill, Don, Orit,
When people like you respond, understand and get what I’m trying to say, it’s like a warm hug on a cold day.
And in America,whoever you are, every day is a cold day, it seems.
Thanks for taking the time, my friends.
I hope people send this one across the country and over the oceans.

Bob

Comment by Bruce Matteson

September 19, 2011 @ 2:51 pm

nailed anothern to the barn door Bobby!

Comment by Ami

September 19, 2011 @ 8:10 pm

Oye. Now I need to double my daily dosage of Prozac, make Eli Lilly richer. Do you own Eli Lilly’s stocks, Bob? Is this a conspiracy to get rich?

Comment by Brad Dechter

September 20, 2011 @ 4:58 am

A great swipe at the Republican “survival of the fittest” philosophy! Right on! There is a reason we call it “civil”ization, but that argument tends to fall on deaf ears. My gut feel is you are preaching to the choir on this one.

Comment by J Steve Adler

September 26, 2011 @ 11:16 pm

Maybe getting this down is a relief. Well written again and perhaps soon more happy, really happy things will happen for you to write or rhyme about.
There is a whole new year ahead – – –
warmly, Steve

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