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Ziggy

Angelo

It was the last day of June 2008 when Ziggy and Angelo each received an e-mail about an upcoming Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy Roundtable. The person who sent us the message wondered if this “Roundtable” was open to the public or was by invitation only.  A bit of online research indicated that previous “Roundtables” were open to selected persons. This did not sit well with some of us.

Ziggy replied to the message tersely, writing “We should present this to the politicians”:

THE PITY BANK

(by Ziggy Miller)

Welcome to the pity bank, you can pity us, feel sorry for us, you can ask us questions and take our hopes, dreams and desires, for nothing we don’t mind, we will build new hopes, new dreams and have new desires, so you can talk and our behalf but only if we ask you, not because it is the right thing to do, when you see someone in need and you can help, why help and you can take advantage of the situation, plea our case for your own satisfaction, and get a reward during the transaction and only give us a minor fraction or nothing, because those skills we don’t possess and you don’t have to share your education or book training with us instead use it as a power source and a way to keep us in line, you can build us up just so you can watch us fall and take pleasure in it all, you can teach us in the most difficult way and say we just wont get it, and if we do, you can change it and say, that way doesn’t apply any more.

You can deposit hate, you can deposit grudge, you can deposit greed, you deposit violence, and you can deposit crime, you can deposit all the negative they are in to our community, and we wont notice, because we are all too busy trying to survive.

You can withdraw love, kindness, friendship and ideas, and then say this is the worst community bank ever. You can demand us to do things your way, and lead us a stray or to be hunted like prey, then you can go away and say it’s not your fault, we broke into the vault, and you just take what you want. We found the love we found the happiness we found the joy, we found the reason to survive, and we will continue to find all those things so feel free to come and make a withdrawal any time.       

This inspired Angelo to sit and write the following:

WAITING FOR MY INVITE

(by Angelo Furlan)

I'm here waiting for my invite
Because I was told to sit tight
No need to make a fuss
They'll look out for all of us
With special consultations
No more lost generations
All the errors of the past
To be repaired really fast
Satisfaction is guaranteed
We'll tell them what we need

But I'm waiting for my invite
Been waiting here all night
When do I tell my story?
Is it too inflammatory?
Whose opinions carry weight?
Whose cries will resonate?
There's no need to make a fuss
Experts know what's best for us
It's our problems they'll discuss
After all, they could've ignored us
That's supposed to make it right
And I'm still waiting for my invite ...
 

And that led Ziggy to write the following:

There will always be a lost generation,
Whether it’s the yellow generation, brown generation,
Black generation or poor generation!
Someone always gets left without inspiration,
They never make a complete preparation,
Even thou we are all heading for the same destination.
They say the fittest of the fittest,
The strongest of the strongest,
The richest of the richest,
And the best of the best,
What happen to the rest?
They either got lay to rest,
Or live the rest of their life depressed

 

Will there be any more poetry? Well, there’s something about gathering people together and talking about poverty that doesn’t sit right with us. There’s been far too much talking done in place of action.  Launching more initiatives based on talk doesn’t really seem like a step forward. It seems more like a smokescreen.