Poverty Line

Toe the line! Toe the line!

I never wished to battle what was over the line.

But if I wanted to at this point,

I could dance with it.

I could laugh at it.

I could flirt with it.

If I really wanted to, if I was insane;

I could kiss it, sleep with it and moan its name.

But I dare not ever do that.

I tiptoe around it.

I dare not wake it,

I dare not cross it.

Another of many fears that I wished never

became such a close friend of mine.

Almost a relative.

Almost a parent.

I could reach over this condemning line

and choke it.

I could stab it,

I could shoot it.

I could feed it arsenic,

I could scald it.

I could throw it in flames

and watch it burn.

I want to, but I'm scared.

It seems to be pretty strong.

Toe the line! Toe the line!

No no,

I dare not.

** I guess it is something, that lower middle class canadians fear- crossing the poverty line. I guess it's something that i've been fearing for the past couple weeks. So i'm speaking about it, bcuz im wondering who else could feel like this. U know? tip toeing along the line, just barely crossing. People who face it and don't care or act like its the life they were meant to live can embrace it, bitterly. And it makes them angrier with the world sometimes. Or those people who are afraid to go into it (which of course is completely understandable.) And then there are those people who wish to jsut b rid of it. Who wish poverty could b terminated, that it would simply die. Well yea there u go...poverty line.