"MOMMY, YOU ARE NOT AN ATM..."

I just got my first post-launch submission to POETS ON THE GREAT RECESSION. From a poet I don't know. 'Tis from a high school student in Hawai'i who sent a poem about watching her mother laid off from her job cleaning hotel rooms and she responding, "Mommy, you are not an ATM..."

Speechless (though blogging) over it, even as I was moved at picturing this 17-year-old teen writing her poems as she bears witness to what she cannot control as life unfolds. Probably good training for her future career: she wants to be a teacher. And no clearer evidence for me that this project is a good idea.

More later on this young poet ... and, as ever, I welcome your engagements with the topic.