We stand like statues of hunger-
Ticket numbers for halos,rationed dreams.
The queue curves like a funeral procession,
Every sigh a shovel stroke in invincible graves.
The air smells of waiting,the walls of wet wool.
We hum hymns to the god of "Next!",
And the floor creaks under our collective shame.
diddly dole
diddly dole
a goblin ate the custard
from the trifle bowl
diddly dole
diddly dole
another ate the jelly
and the trifle – stole!
when God cooked a casserole
was found thrown up on a noll
out to each one would dole
I voted for him when he ran for President of the United States.
Sadly, he died on December the 5th at the age of ninety-eight.
Bob Dole fought and nearly died during the second World War.
If it hadn't been for men like him, we wouldn't have freedom anymore.
When it came time for him to fight for the United States, Dole willingly fought.
But when it was time for Bill Clinton to serve his country in Vietnam, he did not.
Bob Dole fought for his country and was even paralyzed.
When Clinton beat him in the 1996 election, I was surprised.
Dole was a Senator and in 1976, he was Gerald Ford's running mate.
He was a great man and he left this world at the age of ninety-eight.
[Dedicated to Senator Bob Dole (1923-2021) who died on December 5, 2021]
A handsome man from Peru,
Found himself in a stew,
He had no money,
Which isn't funny,
So he had to join the dole queue
Dorthea is a strange one, a weird thinker
She never starts her J’s in the middle of the line
I cannot follow her thought processes.
She is getting a D; something isn’t right here.
She is not a “normal” thinker.
She’ll probably be a drop out anyway.
I might as well get her started.
Bruce is bossy, overbearing, but a boy.
This will serve him well in the business world.
B for Bruce who brings me candies from the homemade candy shop.
I love Bruce; I cannot give him an A because he never does his work.
It’s a C for Carlotta; she is bossy, and girls should not be.
So I truly must take her down a peg or two.
I know she gets lots of A’s but she is arrogant and overbearing.
Girls should learn to keep their mouths shut. She has corrected me twice.
The A students are the compliant ones.
They stay in their seat. They do not make noise.
They do not argue, demand or ask anything of me.
They cannot make eye contact with me.
They are cowed an intimidated.
I like them the best. They never make trouble. A’s for those ten!
A’s because they have made my life as a third grade teacher easy this year.
Drugs, Dole, Dames, Drink, Drive.
Day after day no decisions to make,
No reason to get out of bed when you wake.
Find a job they say, get off the dole!
They don’t realise at school I had a higher goal.
Drugs, Dole, Dames, Drive or Drink
Are my only choices about what to think.
The politicians sleep on beds so soft and fine,
And consume expensive food and wine.
Budget time give themselves a rise and make it tougher
For those on the dole, whose poor kids then suffer.
My decisions are Dole, Dames, Drink, Drive or Drugs,
With the politicians as the Big-Time Thugs.
Politicians profit from the sales of Drink and Smokes,
They can afford them, while it keeps us broke.
Drugs, Drive, Dole, Drink or Dames,
Who is the kids father, what choice of names?
Sometime soon some-one has to break the cycle chain,
Or every-one of us will end up insane.
Sending foreign aid just doesn’t make sense
With American families living in tents
Just how many countries rushed to give cash
When into New Orleans Katrina crashed
San Andreas fault runs through our nation
Cross Western states, widespread devastation
Our British, Aussie and Canadian friends
Are the only ones on whom we can depend
Uncle Sam’s pockets are bare; there’s no gold
To back the dollars printed multifold
Countries that dislike “rich Americans”
Always look to us with their outstretched hands
If a mega-disaster should strike Iraq
We’d offer support, say, “We’ve got your back”
And yet these nations would sneer at us still
The debt-ridden states abound with good will
Charity, they say, should begin at home
But to other nations our dollars roam
“Say, buddies,” we beg, “can you spare a dime?”
As out of poverty we seek to climb
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