Value System

theres a giant gold
ball, xmas ornament
at the entrance
of the Pru Mall.
it sits on the cement.

its the xmas flasher.

its greed.
its obscene,
exposing itself.
& we want to look.

it looks like a Wall St.
announcement.

it looks like its
a product of a
no-balls misconception.

it looks like
it represents
a ‘mines bigger than yours’.
its so ugly.

big ugly gold ball
replacing the guy
with a cardboard sign
that said ‘my son & i
are homeless’.

the rich get richer
& the poor get children.

& its the golden rule.
‘though shalt love thy money
as thyself’.

deck the balls
with misled consumers.

there was an old billionaire
who lost it all in highrise
cement.

all he has left
is one gold ball.

its our present.

 

Martha Boss has had poems published in The Aurorean, The Register, Light, Spare Change, Suny Review, and Salt Works Press. Her chapbook Twine was published by March Hare Press. She has unique self-printed chapbooks for sale and can been seen most Mondays at Stone Soup Poetry at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery.