Cover Photo: photo via lady-madonna/flickr
photo via lady-madonna/flickr

Failing My Father and His American Dream

“All I knew was that if my Pops could work hard and pull himself up out of poverty, I could, too.”


You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’, don’t mean nothin’ hon’ if it ain’t free, no no
And, feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
You know, feelin’ good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGhee

hadhadhad20/20 Dateline

Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ ’bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While they’re standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

really

Writer, speaker, radio host, lover of black cats and social justice. Follow her on Twitter @Katie_Speak, listen to her at NetrootsRadio.com, and catch her words scattered across the internet.