Nov. 2014 message to Phyllis... Thanks! letter coming soon.

A Strong Nest
by Phyllis Kahn - September 2006

They say moms aren't working
They lie through their teeth
Consign you to poverty
Once a month it's roast beef

Food banks and soup kitchens
Pasta galore
Tension is high cause you're in a war
Assailed by insults
Wounds to the core
It's a wonder more moms aren't called addicts and whores

Slum housing
High rentals
Cramped quarters
No heat
Scant dental coverage
All trouble your sleep
In addition to no balanced diet to eat

Long office line-ups
Mean welfare clerks
Miles of forms
Absurdities and quirks
You struggle to rise
Above unfair rules
While bureaucracy drains you
Adversity claims you
You're at everyone's mercy
Frustration is fueled

Slave wages
Grim rages
Kids suffer more
Still diligently you strive
Responsibly mothering
Nurturing your children
Courageously struggling
In a cruel evil world filled with riches and greed
Most single parents still lack what they need
Or can readily get with ten degrees
Just to provide
Necessities

Mothers are stuck at the base of the heap
Some don't even know where they will sleep
Or where to turn or where to leap
Prostitution perhaps ?
It's rough to decide
But poverty saps away a soul's pride
Some women snap and some die inside

Should you break down
Surrender awhile
Complete strangers take over your child
At double the pay in a different life-style

You'll feel like Demeter *
But it's no myth
The nightmare is real
It's misery you're with

Welly moms suffer
Just like some wives
with unwieldy restraints
It is a grim truth
Poverty is akin to experiencing abuse
Because it's a war not a personal goof  
Or it wouldn't be widespread contaminating our youth
It reeks of misogyny fueled and conspired
Try single parenting before calling me a liar

But the solution is simple
It can happen post haste
And provide lots of hope and prevent lots of waste
It's a live and let live philosophy at best
With a guaranteed income
And its gotta be livable
So all single moms can build a strong nest

 

Phyllis Kahn (c) January 8, 2005
(reprinted with permission)

  * Demeter is the grieving Goddess in Greek Mythology whose daughter Persephone had been abducted/raped by Hades, Lord of the Underworld.

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