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Momma Welfare Roll

Her arms semaphore fat triangles,

Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hips

Where bones idle under years of fatback

And lima beans.

 

Her jowls shiver in accusation

Of crimes cliched by Repetition.

Her children, strangers

To childhood's TOYS, play

Best the games of darkened doorways,

Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of

Other people's property.

 

Too fat to *****

Too mad to work,

Searches her dreams for the

Lucky sign and walks bare-handed

Into a den of bereaucrats for her portion.

 

'They don't give me welfare.

I take it.'

Written by
Maya Angelou
1928-2014 / Female / American
Lines·Words
18·89
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