Poetry

Molly Adams photo

By

Laura Grace Weldon

Final Economy-Boosting Solution

Our privatized Congress really is making America great again.

Who’d have thought the Productive Adult Initiative,

complete with elder joycamps, would work so well?

Consumer confidence is volcanic.

Health care costs, barely a budget blip.

For the first time trickle down works,

a fricking waterfall, old to young.

No more elderly folks shuffling through store aisles,

clogging the roads, saving for a rainy day.

No feel-good stories about some couple married 80 years.

And all those pricey assisted living complexes,

now the place to be for young creatives.

I mean come on, studio rent plus chef-driven meals

and services galore. What’s not to like?

Plus, you don’t have to go home for the holidays

or write thank you notes to your Great Aunt Irena.

Though you do miss her pastries, warm from the oven.

And your children can’t remember her accent,

or the handkerchief she used to wipe tears

from her soft crinkled face. Sometimes you think

answers to questions you forgot to ask

might be the greatest wealth.

But hey, nothing’s better than

consumer spending power, am I right?

Laura Grace Weldon

Laura Grace Weldon is the author of a poetry collection titled Tending and a handbook of alternative education, Free Range Learning, with a book of essays due out soon. She’s written collaborative poetry with nursing home residents, used poetry to teach conflict resolution, and taken poetry into other unexpected settings although her work appears in more conventional places such as J Journal, Penman Review, Neurology, Canary, Literary Mama, Christian Science Monitor, Tipton Poetry Journal, Pudding House, Mom Egg Review, Shot Glass Journal, and others. Connect with her at lauragraceweldon.com.