Fire Care
I had a fire in my kitchen the other night.
You want to talk about major fright.
Thought I'd lose my home and everything in it.
But the sirens started in what seemed like a minute.
(Yeah, they still do house calls.)
Three hook and ladders, flashing lights. Guys showing no fear,
running in, boots, hats, lugging heavy gear,
focused on the fire, and here's the crux:
they were doing it for duty, not the big bucks.
With the fire out, no forms to fill out,
no bills to pay or worry about.
I was so relieved, without a doubt,
And grateful, as the trucks pulled out.
Fire departments got their act together, got it perfected.
Fire chiefs are picked by mayors, and the mayors are elected.
Fire fighters are union workers - not entrepreneurs.
They make a living risking their lives to save yours.
Fire stations are more like families than stores.
Never see them renting out the roasting rights for smores.
Imagine, just imagine …Close your eyes…
Imagine that fire care were privatized…
Imagine fire fighting was run for profit,
that fire stations were into making money off it.
There'd be fire insurance companies you could hire out -
Come up with the cash, they'll put your fire out.
Before they turn on the pumps, they gotta check your insurance.
Wouldn't that test your endurance -
thinking the next little flame
could just about put you out of the game?
Think of the stress, the horror, the harm,
Losing a house, a school, a farm.
Fireman saying, while twisting your arm,
"If you aint got the bread, don't pull the alarm.
I'd really like to help you, but that's the way it goes",
as he shuts off the water and rolls up the hose.
Imagine: guy opens your window, throws a torch in.
And you're insured - but deductibles are a fortune,
and paying the premiums took more than you earn.
So now all you can do is watch it burn.
Old wood house down to glowing coals
'cause a pre-existing condition took you off the roles.
Insurance companies keep deleting
risky costumers - it helps in competing.
Meanwhile, the sidewalk is really heating,
and you're sitting on the curb, dazed and bleeding,
on the phone with the insurance company desperately pleading.
And you're thinking there, with your singed hair,
and your skin toasted medium rare,
that profiting on fires doesn't seem fair.
And that, weird as it sounds, maybe the government should provide fire care.
Just for a start help old folks survive -
Maybe put out your fire if you're over 65.
Of course that could polarize the country, cause a huge schism,
cause, you know, public fire departments leads to socialism!
It'd be good bye Free Enterprise, hello Commies!
Next thing you know we'll have State Police and government run armies.
And public libraries! What a disaster to the nation!
Might even lead to public education!
Maybe in this generation
we can ensure that every fire station
is based on the motivation
to serve human needs, instead of greed.
Wouldn't that be an innovation!
We are getting really impatient.
We don't want human rights rationed.
Let's cover everybody - not just the old.
Human caring shouldn't be sold
New Poems
- "Moving on After 1/6"
- "Hug"
- "Map-less Monarchs"
- "I am Such a Rich Man"
- "Beatitude with Attitude"
- "The Cross and the Lynching Tree Rap"
- "The Nudist Nun"
- "Sonnet 19"
- "Reparations Now"
- "Hoping I'm Wrong"
- "Bird Feeder"
- "Pete and Henry"
- "Nero: A Rap for Republicans"
- "Croissant"
- "Mandela"
- "The New Jim Crow"
- "The Wire"
- "Why Socialism?"
From By Heart
- "Ahiti"
- "As Some Fertile Seed"
- "Greed Screed"
- "I Sing the Ass"
- "Lying Lost Among Your Arms"
- "Now Thou Art Two and Twenty"
- "Sweet Smellin Woman"
- "This World"
- "Train Wreck"
- "Truth and Parable"
- "Why This Itch This Yen"
- "You"
Some Earlier Poems
Audio Recordings