Today's poem is by Michael Meyerhofer

Government Cheese
       

We called it Reagan Cheese then —
handed out by the government
in thinly-boxed loaves

to poor midwestern families, part of
Ronald Reagan's plan to gain support
while using up excess dairy supplies.

I remember its odd nuclear-yellow
color, its thick processed taste
and the way it never melted right

but at least the boxes fit perfectly
around my brother's baseball cards,
at least as box after box

was stacked in the refrigerator,
my parents slicing hunks over crackers
or plain white bread, covering them

in mustard and butter until
it could be called a meal, for a time
their eyes glowed. This was free

they stressed — as though victory
could be obtained simply by getting back
the leftovers from what was taken.

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Copyright © 2024 Michael Meyerhofer All rights reserved
from What To Do If You're Buried Alive
Doubleback Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission