MAIL CALL: AFTER LONG ABSENCE
Elisavietta Ritchie
Each envelope brings threats:
one will cut the water off by noon,
a second, douse the lights, stop time,
another, disconnect the sewer pipe.
No more utility in my utilities:
every card in my Monopoly
leads straight to jail.
The only heat left is on me.
The bank warns of foreclosure,
dispossession of my car.
American Express and Mastercard
shine plastic countenances full
of usury and menace.
No more safety in numbers
nor bulls in the marketplace.
And all my memberships have lapsed.
