SETTING: On a brisk November day, several friends are relaxing in a library in the 
Carnegie Library at Mount Vernon Square in Washington D.C. In the late afternoon sun,
outside crisply-dressed bureaucrats mix with amera-toting tourists and drifting
homeless people. In the library, Kris and Tim were sitting at a scarred mahogany table.
Nonchalantly, they looked at a slender, unassuming volume of modern American poetry.
They pulled that book from the shelves and then commented briefly on the following poem. 

OCCUPY WALL STREET: A Simple Ditty

	Occupy Wall Street!
	& Recognize the Beast –
	unbridled greed cross zis planet
	is causing vast suffering.
	
	Occupy Wall Street!
	Put power in dah people's hands –
	not in the grip of filthy corporations
	with narrow views ah
	supply & demand.
	
	Occupy Wall Street!
	We must change the times –
	the rich are getting richer
	& many ta shadows of poverty arrr consigned.
	
	Occupy Wall Street!
	Transform yer state of mind.
	Money is nut almighty –
	people kount more thun dimes.
	

Kris: (voice dripping with sarcasm as she leans back in her chair) The 2011 Occupy Wall Street 
       movement was a waste of time. It achieved about as much success as the Bonus Army of 1932 
       or the Poor People's Campaign of 1968. Those were grand gestures with zero lasting impact.

Tim:  (shaking his head slowly as his brows furrowed) Actually, both of those events achieved 
      more than the mainstream media recognizes. History doesn’t always show its cards 
      clearly in short blips.Who are we to judge the ultimate effect of any action, 
      political or poetic?
      

=================================================================================
from _AmeriSong: Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Amerika_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY: Some thoughts about economic inequality and the undue corporate influence on government.
KEYWORDS: OWS, economic inequality, government inc., Zuccotti Park,
          social justice, protest movements, grassroots activism

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun:  2013 in Tokyo, Japan / Finished:  2025 in Shizuoka, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

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