Poverty

You don't know me
so why do you act like you do
You don't what I've been through
what i go through
or what even goes through my head at night
but because i sell my body,
you seem to think I'm some kind of monster
below the very ground you spit on
not worthy of acknowledgment.
You look at me, and can't even meet my eyes
But that is where you go wrong
For if you were to look into my eyes
You would see something that might surprise you
make you second guess your initial opinion
maybe even frighten you
for in my eyes lies pain
pain so powerful it all but consumes me
Yes i am a stripper, but i have morals too
The only reason i let men put their filthy, heartless, cold, hands on me
is so that i can provide for my family
because if i didn't subject myself to this
my 2 year old baby girl and my 7 year old son
would be out on the streets again
yeah poverty, is a tricky thing
it tears you a part inside, rips you to pieces
shreds
dismantles
discards every ounce of self worth you've ever possessed
till all that is left is an emptiness
an emptiness that constantly threatens to over power you
but i don't let it consume me
i use my kids as life lines
because i know what its like to literally live on the streets
to go to homeless shelters for food
to feel the pity, to hear the whispers, see the stares
and it hurts
so I'll take your dismissal of my character and morality over any of that
and deceptively hide the pain and suffering i go through
in hopes of achieving more for my kids
so that they can have a better life
because i would never want them to cry themselves to sleep every night
to think that they are less than trash
to wish that they were dead
no, i would NEVER want them to ever feel my pain.