Elect -5minutefreewrite

For https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-312-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-election

ELECT

They are the elect.

They stand above us on pedestals
and
even if we chafe under their reign
Or
think they don't deserve it
Maybe, that they aren't better than us

We don't think it's so unjust that we will take what they have by force

When they use enough water to grow a city
and
we are chastised for long showers
We still believe they have a right to it

When they block transit access for the many
or
dense housing construction for low-income families
because
their neighborhood is perfect just the way it is
and
they already own their home
that
no one earning a median wage today could afford
We think, "yeah, don't change the character of the neighborhood.
That is sacrosanct
I don't want homeless people in my neighborhood either.
If cheap apartments were here
and
transit were here
there'd be more homeless here."

Never thinking
There'd be fewer homeless.
Period.
Access to the amenities offered in that neighborhood
Like parks
Can only help people
take
a
breath

These big back yards, bigger than the community garden at madison
bigger than the community garden at fountain
bigger than the patch of dirt between the sidewalk and the street filled with broken glass
and
cigarette butts, sadness, churned by a clever neighbor and growing a tomato plant
Bigger than those
Why those yards have people in them who need parks and libraries and good schools and
everything but
access to public transit

I guess they also don't need poor people

Sure they do. They need poor people to
clean
and
to compare themselves to

Not cruelly
Just
unconsciously
To be the people who don't need public transit
or to sleep on the bus.

FUCK PISS GODDAMN SHIT