There is a Way

“When the rich get too rich and the poor
get too poor, there is a way.”
—Pearle Buck, from The Good Earth
.

There is a Way
.
when the rich get too rich
the sky falls
when the poor get too poor

and there is a way:

—have you seen what happens
over a fault when, plate
pushing plate, even stacked
bullion falls

it’s an ugly sight
when all endeavors meet
at the brink of a
stressed pit
and what’s raw
surges, volcanic, through
stone pipes like stifled hope
singes the landscape,
plows even plantations
down  —oppressed
by mis-taken dreams—
fills valleys, scours peaks
leaving them buzz-cut
as a military head
and even the air burns
and all suck equally
from a bountiful
karmic void

when the rich get too rich
day leaves and the night is dark
when the poor get too poor
.

by Jim Culleny
2/9/12