Don's World - Poverty Requires Experience!

I have to warn you before you get any deeper into this explanation of a recent life experience of mine that you should keep in mind the effect alcohol has on a man's thought process. Generally speaking, I avoid any momentary reasoning I may have that may make me think I am a Poet.

Regardless of whether I try rhymed lyrics or free-form poetry, i inevitably fail, miserably!

So please bear with the rare attempt you see below.; and try to concentrate on what my feelings were at that time, on that night, in that Pub.

The inspiration for my short little poem was a conversation in a Pub. And if I remember correctly, there were three of my friends and I, sitting in a nondescript hotel bar in Kuala Lumpur, located in Malaysia.

My friends and I were there, in this far away part of the World, working on a production line's quality problems at one of our companies product contractors. We were done for the day, so we were sipping on a few beers and talking over our plans for the next day when a stranger walked up and asked to join us.

We were tired of the work talk anyway, and he introduced himself as a fellow manufacturer's representative, as he pulled up a seat at our table. We exchanged pleasantries and started swapping lies for about a half an hour and then this guy, after downing three scotch's, started lecturing us on how the fact that poor people were just that; poor; was their problem and not his.

He even started explaining himself by getting into how he had plenty of money because he worked for it so he deserved what he had saved. He went on telling us how he came from a well-to-do family and his lifestyle had always been a "comfortable" one As he continued telling us about how great his life was, I started getting more and more mad at him, mostly for his arrogant attitude.

Anyway, I finally stood up, preparing myself to explain just how FOS (full of S%^$#) he was. You see, of course I had been sampling some really good local beers myself and regardless of my drinking, felt something had to be done.

The reality was that my beer consumption had convinced me that I had to explain just what effect those scotch's he had thrown down were on this stranger's thought process.

Before anything happened though, my friends grabbed me and arm-in-arm they walked me away from the table and all the way up and into my hotel room.

None-the-less, I was not happy with the way I had been treated by my friends so once they had dumped me in my room, I sat down and wrote the original draft of the poem you will see below.

I hope you enjoy it.

I have been told, at one time or another;

that "A Man Aint No Man, If he Aint got a Job!"

that "Hunger and Thirst Aint so Bad, if You Suck on a Rock,

and Think about something, other than the Pain in your Gut!"

that "being Poor Aint so Bad, ias long as You Still Got Your Health"

I may be a Fool but I am pretty sure that'

If You Aint Got NO Job,

and You Aint Got NO Money,

and if you Aint Got NO Food,

and when that gut wrenching Pain hits you.

Good Health Aint worth a Tinker's Damn,

when all you want to do is Eat.

by DON BOBBITT May, 2013

Now, being a little older and a lot wiser, I realize that on that night in that Kuala Lumpur Pub, I had not realized that there was not going to be an intelligent exchange of ideas between myself and the fool I had just met.

You see, I now realize that this stranger who had passed through my life that night, with his elitist attitude had never really experienced any of the hard times others, including myself, had lived through.

'Nuff Said!