I wrote this a little while back, but with all of the election-year politicizing of the working class poor and some of the ignorant BS I've heard spouted lately about people supported by social programs, I think it's worth sharing today. For context: I live in the rural south and work in an area sandwiched between pockets of rural and urban poverty.

Paper Applications
Every day at work, at least half a dozen people
with about as many teeth between them
ask:
"Are y'all hiring?
and
"Where they can I get an application?"
and
"Do y'all have any paper applications? I don't have a computer."

And I kick myself for having the effrontery to ever think,
"Man, I hate my job."

I thank God they don't have a computer
and I hope they don't have televisions either.
Can you imagine what it would be like for them
to know what people say:
"The poor are poor because they don't want to work?"