AN ODE TO THE DOLLAR STORE

AN ODE TO THE DOLLAR STORE

An ode to the dollar store
Where once everything, every
Item was once a dollar the tp, the
Candles the candy the knock offs
Of Barbies & all the superhero

Dolls

Now

All a dollar twenty-five

My old uncle used to tell
Me stories, urban legends
As a child about how comic
Books once only cost five cents
And a cold bottle of beer fifteen

But now whenever I go
Looking for cheap items
Of grandeur I see the products
Are even more cheaply made
Than they used to be

For example
The toilet paper that
Disintegrates in your hand and the
Small bag of coffee that
Has no smell or flavor
The band aids that
Come off ten minutes after
Placed upon an open

Wound

That doesn’t heal

But as poetry
I see this as a concern
A reflection of our billionaire
Corporate run society
A sign of the times as where
The only leaders & politicians
Left are more worth less than the
Actual dollar and their conscience
Is worth far less than fifteen

Cents

And I ask

Where’s our free or cheap
Healthcare and all the well paying
Jobs & the glorious democracy, grand
Civilization that you had promised?

Because it’s evident
That people have to shop
At the dollar and twenty-five
Cents store because you have
Taken all our money to buy
Mansions and weapons

For yourselves

Giving yourselves
Raises annually while
There are children starving

Leaving the poor and all of the rest
With all the shitty knock off products
As a tribute to your pathetic
Positions of authority
And insatiable

Greed

Your fake items
A testament to your complete
And fake humanity

In a con man
Nation of
Bullshit

And apathy

~ R.M. Engelhardt
©2024