Love, Dad

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

**************************

Son, we can’t send you
any packages
like we have sent you before
because the shop
that I worked for for 27 years
has just went bankrupt
my pension money is gone
didn’t get severance pay
after all those years
and I would have to pay
Cobra for health care but
I don’t have money for that
they didn’t even give me
my vacation pay
they gave me nothing
nothing at all
I took our savings and paid off
our home but now all I get is
unemployment checks
and food stamps
that will stop in months
I don’t know what I will do then,
I’m old and nobody will hire me
but even the young
can’t find any jobs
Soon they will take our car
turn off electricity
and turn off the heat
Son, I know you have troubles
of your own in Iraq
but I think you are fighting
the wrong enemy over there
I think all of you should come home
fight the government
the corporations
and defend us from
the bill collectors
kill the white shirt bank criminals
the oil company criminals
kill all the Madoff’s
that have taken over our country
because nothing works
over here anymore.
Love, Dad