Refreshing San Antonio

Poetry and Art


     

Carmen Tafolla

       
       

GROWING FROM GREED


harder than stone
harder than steel
growing from greed
all hungry mouth
and none of the wisdom of eyes
this thing which drives hatred 
down like a hard drink
at the heart of our laws
which addicts, pollutes, divides, 
which rips children from the very parents
who risked all and left behind 
centuries of gentle sunrise
for the future of their families, 
for a land to promise liberty
which poisons food, air, water, earth 
even the plastic-gutted birds and gasping fish
even the innocence of children at school
looking to succeed, to pass a test, to find
the American Dream