Econ 101

Some sucker usually takes the bet
Lookit ‘em lined up like bowling pins
Drawn in by the carny’s bark
Easy money, grease for palms and wheels
Crew cuts, cow’s eyes, and creased trousers
Most often, this means it’s milking time
But every so often
They stampede.

Some other sucker usually wins the bet
A red-faced Captain of Industry
Clopping ‘round the deck on a leg of ivory
Harpoons here, winches there, steady as she goes
A palsied hand to pour water on smoking ropes
Reeling great giants in yard by yard
To peel and boil and render and strip
But every so often
A giant dives;
A hull is sundered.

Then there are those other suckers
The ones who, when the dice are rolled,
Always lose – no matter the combination.
Still, they march on in rows, eat sandwiches
Drink and sleep and work and screw
Piling up tired days in stacks and stacks
Sleepily oblivious to their own nobility
But every so often
They rouse, wakeful
And reach for pitchforks.