Page One

The rich and poor alike, in town,

Upon the sidewalk splotched with gum

Are both enjoined from sitting down

Elsewise the Men of Law will come. 

The rich may crowd the Elmwood street 

To buy their ice cream freshly made 

Or make the lawn their grassy seat 

For gourmet pizza, unafraid. 

The zoning rules we wipe away 

To give the rich a sidewalk chair 

Outside their favorite café; 

The poor cannot sit down, nowhere. 

The rich vacation out of town— 

The poor stay here, but can’t sit down. 

(#2 in a periodic series of reflections in verse and pictures on the Berkeley community.