half of what is
owed is less than
freedom’s promise:
the debt long over-
due, the agency’s
men at the door
& they are here
to stay; get used
to it—we dragged
them here by
our own undoing
& now it is time
to pay what we
have avoided,
squirmed out of,
broken promises
of check in the mail
& fair elections
left on the table
uncollected &
don’t forget almost
three hundred years
of interest.