house of cards

Monuments of dead pillars;

         printed paper

tickets gilded in absent promise

                   — Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit

of Happiness but only the pursuit

         unless your pockets

                   are lined

                            in

                            tokens

that are only traded

         from

                   the

                   inside.

How do you climb the ladder

if wrung after wrung

is greased to prevent

off the possibility

         of

         lowly untouchables

                   claiming a seat

                   at the table?

Card-stacked houses

can only stand

when the players

         choose

         to

         protect

the foundation through

separative and divisive action.

One day

         the

         House

                   will

                   fall

leaving nothing

but

dust in the wake.