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 Momma Welfare Roll by Maya Angelou 
						Her arms semaphore fat triangles,Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hips
 Where bones idle under years of fatback
 And lima beans.
 
 Her jowls shiver in accusation
 Of crimes cliched by Repetition.
 Her children, strangers
 To childhood's TOYS, play
 Best the games of darkened doorways,
 Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
 Other people's property.
 
 Too fat to whore,
 Too mad to work,
 Searches her dreams for the
 Lucky sign and walks bare-handed
 Into a den of bereaucrats for her portion.
 
 'They don't give me welfare.
 I take it.'
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