Three Views of High Street
walking down High Street
after dinner, holding
hands and there’s a
homeless
man and a passerby
he’s holding the homeless
man’s hand, eyes closed
saying a prayer
I want to say
god doesn’t exist
and I’m tired
of people thinking
thoughts and prayers
instead of direct action
is enough
we talk on the way
to a bar about
what a wreck
West Virginia has become
or always was
it’s the coal
operators
who’ve fucked this state
they’ve taken
huge fortunes on the backs
of broken workers, at the
expense
of these states citizens
at the expense of this
states
natural beauty. you
know
this is only state where
bombs we’re dropped
by the military on striking
miners, that was barely
one hundred years ago
later, in bed on the sixth
floor of what used to be a
fancy, now tawdry, hotel
we lie in bed, quiet talk
sirens flow constant
she says half serious
we should get married
so you have health
insurance
I laugh almost a full
minute
finally say if you throw in
your dental plan
I may consider it
she says, what is
marriage
good for if not
insurance
I say, I guess, but it’s
fucked
we have to think that way
--Jason Baldinger
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