I drafted this one back in August and began tinkering with it after the handing over of our banking system to the Paulson/Bernanke, who of course have been acting primarily to protect their bosses.
BEARISH
Mid-August, 2008
Some bridge cracks,
crashes down, crushes
lives into the river.
Elsewhere a coal mine
shudders like the throat
of a drunken baritone
crooning Mahler—
and the shaft implodes.
Or some drywaller’s
lungs scrape shreds
of oxygen from each
raw breath, air sacs
thick as ocean water
oil-slicked by Exxon.
All these and more
are bombs the terrorist
bosses throw, whose
shuddering concussions
we’ve learned to shrug
off, calling them just
the Invisible Hand
at work, calling them
just the way things are,
just a blip, just a little
hiccup in the gasworks,
just another bearish
day for the Dow.
We’re not just shrugging now, of course. What a difference three months make!
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
This left me in awe….such a gift in crafting!<BR/><BR/>I’ve enjoyed the eye-candy of images sprinkled throughout this piece.<BR/><BR/>Bravo!
Joe,<BR/><BR/>So prophetic–I’m afraid we’ll soon be singing "What a Difference a Day Makes" and reading "Grin and Bear It" to the gilded whores at Standard and Poor’s poorhouse!