You do not know what it means to be poor.
You cannot imagine
that my best friend until middle school
had no running water in her home.
When I filled out my college applications,
wrote my essays, filed the government forms.
I knew the almighty dollar would make my decision for me.
And I was not wrong.

I do not know what it means to be poor,
to stay home and go to tech school
working part time to feed the rest of the family
and make payments on my father's pickup truck.

I know only working 2 jobs to pay the rent,
working 2 jobs to avoid asking my parents
for the money they'd be happy to give
but I don't want to take
because they have almost no health insurance
because they have no retirement fund
because the northwest corner of the house
they rent is sinking.

You work 5 hours a week
for spending cash.
You debated whether you should go
to Germany with your father
or get a summer job.

I am no martyr but I will probably
never see Berlin.