these medaling kids in poetry

you’re either a steel-drivin’ man
or you’re driven to steal
baby, this is America, baby
that’s how they tell us to feel
so either get left a mansion
or go push the wheel
inheritance is theft compounded
that’s just the deal

we took down the clock down
when it finally died
saw an image of the Starbucks logo mermaid
in the stain that the clock left behind looked
it didn’t look like Jesus
didn’t even look like Elvis
even the mystical auguries are
corporate advertisements now
that is the gist

few of us could’ve ever been diamond
doomed as if pig-iron by our births
however even lowly low-carbon ore
if set on fire and beaten against rocks for long enough
can be tempered to the point of being so very much more
can be tempered into mighty avenging two-sided swords
but our mettle is tested either way
that’s the cultural plan
either end up being turned into steel
or a theft-driven man