My Ham Fist

I will carve my ham fist
I will go back to school
to learn how to better carve
the ham at the end of my reach
into a human fist
or just a human hand
I haven't decided yet
what major gesture
I want to make

We Had Better Recognize : Find your Illusion and Shatter It

"When the multiracial power of the working class topples U.S. capitalism, it will simultaneously break the Yankee stranglehold on the rest of the globe. It is here, at this point, that the strategies for both racial and national liberation come together."

-Viva La Raza: A History of Chicano Identity & Resistance by Yolanda Alaniz & Megan Cornish


I would also add to that the question, do we still have a functioning working class? When a family can no longer be supported by a single income, let alone by two and it is no longer possible for that family to hope of owning a small house, let alone an apartment, I'm not so sure. These were not extravagant hopes for our parents or grandparents generations. Beyond that, when an individual working 40+ hours/week struggles support him or herself (pay rent, buy food, pay medical bills, get from place to place) something is seriously wrong.

How wrong is it? Here is what Chris Hedges thinks. He is new to me so I welcome counter arguments or critiques.

Chris Hedges talk on "Death of the Liberal Class".


And here's my current two cents:
If you're barely making it in this country, it's not because you're not trying hard enough. It's not because your desire to work a job that you enjoy that affords you time to yourself, time to travel, time to rest or to have medical benefits is extravagant. Your desire to go to school, to study what you love and are truly good at and not what might (emphasis on MIGHT) get you a job that pays enough when you get out is not extravagant. Your desire to learn and grow as a person and to maybe help others do so is not extravagant. If you're barely making it here, it is not because art is an extravagance of the privileged. It is not because you are making bad decisions regarding prioritizing your art practice above your work practice. Art-making is not a privilege, it is a right.

We're Fucked: for Steve

You may tell I'm a worker
by the size of my bag
by my number of keys
by my reportage
to the Office Max
for supplies:
envelopes, file folders, pens of various colors, sticky papers of various sizes and colors, papers for printing nice things and papers for printing whatever.

I am excited to fill the needs of my office
with supplies --> provisions:
butter, salt, dried meats, bullets, a new wagon wheel, cattle, calicos and ginghams, buttons made of bone, etc. sewing needles, etc.

I am not an Indian, so I don't have to worry about genocide
It is important to know that my work is better
than some others' work
you can tell because I work in an office
because I am also a school teacher
my hands are not often dirty, but I do ride the bus.

What your poems say about you
is this much
I am the fingernail
and your arm is the rest of pre-history

willful cataloguing of hurts and slights
I'm sorry my people killed your people
how many people could I say this to
and it be true?

At least when I was in jail
I was fed
is this something that someone might say?
if I sell short the prison system
thinking anyone in it could feel
thankful for it

I don't know.

Maybe I'll ask the kids at Juvi
are you thankful for this place?
My captive audience,
aren't you thankful for me?

Who walks in and out
I'm curious
how much you hate me

My (simple) desire to do something
I am skeptical of

Me and my language
we come in here
and we say what is what