To Poverty
Grim goddess! You appear
before me with one tooth
missing, dressed in tatters,
a sheaf of unpaid
utilities bills clutched
in your wrinkled hand.
Amidst cultural affluence
you admonish: O homo
fuge! Dreadful deity,
you roam these precincts,
forcing Inspiration onto
the social welfare system.
Madam, wait another year.
Withdraw your icy breath
from my tiny kitchen
and I'll compose a few
more lines before the lights
are turned off forever.