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# Poverty
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/poverty/
- Published: 2026-04-28T19:49:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:09:08.000Z
- Description: “Poverty” written April 28, poem 118 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo, "Poverty Sucks," a poster by Jerry Mesmer, as captured by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Poems, April, Art, Breeches, Classism, Elite, Humor, Jerry Mesmer, Mansion, Poster, Poverty, Poverty Sucks, Rorschach, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

On the second floor landing,  
a framed poster   
catches my eye.  
How can I ignore it?   
  
A melanin-deprived man in  
grip knee patch breeches  
holds a champagne coupe  
leans on a chrome-rich Bentley,   
and toasts us, the viewer,  
from under the phrase:  
"Poverty Sucks."  
  
This head-turning piece,   
which I later learn is   
attributed to Jerry Mesmer,  
encapsulates and elicits   
a Rorschach of a response.  
  
Context is key:   
I am viewing this work  
while standing in a mansion  
(not mine).  
  
I am one of the povvos   
scoping out the departed  
owners' belongings and junk  
sifting through   
archaeological layers  
of people blessed   
with both longevity  
and good returns.  
  
Did the buyers hang this  
as a warning?   
As a joke?   
Did they come from nothing?  
Did this poster remind them?  
  
Or were they born into this?  
Did they want to   
never forget  
 what it feels like   
 to have everything?  
  
It makes a statement,   
regardless.  
  
This art,   
and we do give it that title,  
is held aloft on a central wall.   
The owners must have passed  
here several times a day.  
  
Further, this spotted,   
aging poster  
in a cheap haphazard frame   
bears a neon price tag:   
$40.00.  
  
Irony is not lost on me.  
Nor, I hope,   
did it escape  
the prior owners.  
  
Poverty Sucks.  
But the plebes can buy   
an ode to elitism for   
two Jacksons, plus tax.