Mary Ann Honaker
The Senate Votes to Repeal Healthcare Law
Working odd hours plucks you from the world.
I’d rise in crisp light and soupy heat, waking
well past the sun’s zenith. Coffee brewed at home
saves cash. Take a lunch: save. Take a change of clothes
because the office weather is always winter. Fingerless
gloves for the worst of it; turn up the a/c instead
of buying new computers, less prone to overheat:
save. Ramen noodles, microwave meals for the short break:
save. Hire new employees at minimum wage: save.
The coldness of the phrase Human Resources.
Eight hours a day, five days a week: a contribution
that should be worth something. Bleak beige half-
cubicle. Ten minute smoke break in the shelter
backed up to the commuter rail track. Home at 11pm:
quick boxed meal, save. Adult swim, online MUD.
No one to see. No where to go out to eat (save.)
Nothing open. 24 hour grocery when needed,
when can afford. Can you come to….? No.
Working. Today our leaders voted
that folks like me do not deserve to live.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Over three days in late July, the U.S. Senate voted to reject three different Obamacare repeal measures: one that would have repealed the current law and replaced it with a different plan; one that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act without replacing it; and the so-called “skinny repeal” bill that would have repealed only certain aspects of Obamacare.
Mary Ann Honaker is the author of It Will Happen Like This (YesNo Press, 2015). Her poems have appeared in 2 Bridges, The Dudley Review, Euphony, Juked, Off the Coast, Van Gogh’s Ear, The Lake, and elsewhere. Mary Ann holds a BA in philosophy from West Virginia University, a master of theological studies degree from Harvard Divinity School, and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. She currently lives in Beaver, West Virginia.
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