The older man in front of me holding up the line
Where I am checking out at the grocery store
Needs an override to get his coupon discount
Telling the cashier that social security leaves him short.
She answers him knowing full well how it isn't enough
Working there to supplement her own retirement income
Pointing out the meager cost of living increase this year
Erased entirely by the Medicare premium increase.
These are working people living out their days in Florida
Who have their life long experience to instruct them
That might instill a fierce class consciousness
And yet what the cashier says next dismays me.
She repeats some complaint about the Trump impeachment
That so much money was wasted on it by Pelosi
As if that's why her social security benefits are so low
Something I suppose she bought into watching Fox News.
Hearing her speak it's easy to see how Trump will be reelected
If you remember how especially bad Reagan was
Running much the same self-serving playbook for the rich
While building prisons for the poor and people of color.
Sadly the cashier may never realize how she’s been swindled
Again and again turned against her true self interest
But certain events have a way of changing everything overnight
Suddenly revealing things unmasked for what they are.
