Direct deposit, 
autopayment, autosave --
our frenzied stasis

*

Tuition, fees, food,
hand-me-downs, cracked walls, used cars -- 
Glad I'm not alone

* 


Teenage paper route
and tearing movie tickets --
Young me earned with joy 

*

Our expenses rise
to meet our income life long --
resist, breathe, and live

_{Written in community with VerseLove, a group of mostly educators writing a poem every day of April (National Poetry Month). The prompt for today: Write haiku about money.}