The man with the guitar
Sang a song for us on the sidewalk
He started off his song by slowly plucking at a few strings
And
I was gripped
It was a catchy tune, with dark feelings to it
He started to slap on his guitar, creating another beat
He plucked and slapped and the dark beautiful song started to bloom
Then he started to sing
His voice was deep and gravelly
You could tell he sang with his soul
He felt every lyric he sang
And I felt them too
It was a song about the old money game
And how it is insane to play
But how we all get caught in it
We get tricked into playing
He sang that we blame and blame and blame
But we are all part of the same money game
He sings about what America has become
This land is one big power grab
A capitalist beast gnawing off it’s own hands
Greed makes you man
And lust is used to gain trust
A chick with a big rack
Selling us a cheeseburger that’ll give us a heart-attack
Supply and demand, man
Create a supply
And then make a demand, man
Advertise to sell
Even if you have to sell the fire in hell
Someone will need it not to freeze to death tonight
So you might as well sell hell to the poor
Because you still need
More
The crowd around us has grown. Now there are about twenty of us on the sidewalk listening to his song.
He stops singing and starts talking
Telling is that life is like Monopoly
Gain some capital and buy property
Then, with just his hand thumping against his guitar
He started to rap
Expand, man
Supply and demand
We need more and more and more
Start a business and sell your soul to grow and grow and grow
We need a new home
Expand, expand, expand
Buy land
A few kids who only know the word ‘mine’
We are walking talking landmines
Lost our souls to time
We are cursed
Narcissist at birth
Dollar bills behind the eyes
A system we fall into full of lies
Freedom for what?
For heatespeech?
For another person to impeach?
Freedom so we can be racists?
Tsk tsk tsk
This isn’t what freedom meant
He brings back in the guitar, plucking at a few strings again, and singing the final few lines.
These days
Life is just a money game
And it’s completely insane
But
Somehow
Even though we know its evil
We still have to play
. . . And then, with his head down, as if he was embarrassed, he stuck out a jar for us to put some money in.
I gave him three bucks because it was a pretty good song.
Later on in the day, I remember that my card got declined at the 7/11 this morning, and now I wish I had never fallen for his trick.
That sneaky sonofabitch really got me . . . Oh well, I guess that's how the money game goes some days.
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