“ thirty minutes in a taxi to o’hare (is all i needed to change my class warrior-blues) “


demitri lifted my bags out of the taxi
and i tipped him with the last of my loaned money.
he climbed back into his automobile
and drove off.
i thought about having conversations with him
about communism and socialist revolution
the ideas that would free him from the shackles
but it slipped my mind.
cos here he was mired down in america
in a taxi taking people who were travelling around
to the airport where their money was flying them
away from him.
so in a black and sleeveless t-shirt
in a white and teal-blue taxi cab
demitri was working off the indenture
of the cold war.


and there i was all set for class war
over the belongings in my pockets
to protect the dollar store water pistol
given to me.
in my holey jeans and checkered shirt
the one i got from my grandfather farmer
and muddied up chuck taylors
i was set.
set to give ‘em hell for picking me out of a line
just cos i look a li’l dirtier or shiftier than the rest
when i’m a college educated, liberal minded future educator
of their children.
to show ‘em all a lesson about what it means
and why you should never judge a book by its cover
and why you should feel with your heart as much as your mind
i’d show ‘em all.


and then the real reason struck me full force in the face
the real thing i was fighting for was driving away from o’hare
at lightning pace to pick up the next airport goer
who had the cash.
the real persons who were out there wearing what they could
not dressing down to attract attention, but to go to work
and eek what living they could out of what they knew
and could get.
so every song i ever wrote and every line of poetry
when i was feeling like i was fighting for the working class
when i was just another middle class, dogmatic liberal
guilt laden white boy.
every line of that was for demitri and every line of it real
even if i hadn’t had the face to put to the image yet
but now maybe i’ll think things through before i ever portend
to be a victim again.
to be oppressed again.
to be demitri, again.
to be.

god speed. everyone.