Debtor Prison Circa 2016 by Gerard Sarnat

The family of eight cobbles day and night,

survives on a ruthless shoestring

fashioning pedigreed plutocrats' filigreed velvet 


so at least their youngest doesn't go hungry or


Systemic beatdowns when they got sick, couldn't work

or buy bread.

Dickensian distortions --times are now different, of



Chocolate or pale, pulled over for trivial traffic violation

--tailight defunct

taking kids to see Pluto at Disneyland, cascading

expired car registration/

fines/fees, can't make bail, jail serves as a warehouse/ collection agency 

that shellacs twelve million detentions a year, most of whom are poor,

mentally ill, school failures, homeless, non-violent

substance possessors,

nada public rehab programs available --the pity the

horror the waste of it.