does it really matter

that a thousand more people
are out on these broken streets
in this town
handpicked for deposit
into the post-industrial
work ethic reclaim pool
bloody misery not withstanding
does it really matter that a pompous few
have nailed our hands
to their stage of the absurd
and then vanished neath the screams
before the final act

--- e b bortz

(published in Long March of Cleveland, Green Panda Press, 2002)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)