Imagining a Status

Making a request

today

is

asking for permission

to control your life

people bind you

with pieces of paper

that they’ve hung

to every single tree

to show which tree

the paper came from

you are bounded by this tree

and this tree too

that I cut down

for you

in your honor

therefore you must

pay

says Your Honor

destroyed by flimsy things

establishing concrete things

like the food I can no longer

eat

or stomach

because I couldn’t

pay for it

or

like the rent I can no longer

pay

or

receive

because I couldn’t

handle them

handle them handling me

take all of your money

honey

and don’t forget the change

you’re going to need it

living here

or living

dead

in this paperful

powerless

society