poem – Page 8 – Arsenio Franklin

Carousel

Life is a circle

A carousel of decisions, paths, mishaps and fortunes

When the music stops and the rotation halts

The lucky ones will have ridden them all

From the authors of history comes

Monopoly: America Edition

Ages 1 and up

From left to right, draw cards to determine

Number of parents at home and their socioeconomic status

Then receive advantages accordingly

Do not pass go

If you do, collect $200

Then promptly return between $10 and $74 to Uncle Sam

Win at the expense of others

A game where citizens are the pawns and

Their lives are the currency

Love seeps from the body

The soul’s lifeblood escaping

The skin shrivels and curls

Leaving the heart in need of a watering

The only real shame in life

Is knowing what we know

How little time we have

The way years fly by

And still living the way we do