I lived through six euro an hour philanthropy,
wrapped in a blanket of poverty,
sleeping on benches in train stations
waiting for my next ride home,
my back battered by the factory lines.
This is not an achievement. This is life.
I will not give in.

I am a fighter with a marathon heart,
a love harder
than any punch could ever deliver,

a glimmer in my eyes like a spark of gasoline,
a poem waiting to happen.

I am a wild animal
taking up the exhibition space,

exchanging tongue kisses
through the holes in my coat,

and stealing hearts,
a champion of my hunger
finding tenderness in all the unexpected spots.

Not all wealth is measured in money.

My lips are passionate wrestlers
opening up to let you in.

---

Daniel Schulz is a writer and 2022 pushcart nominee known best for his publications in Fragmented Voices, Versification, A Thin Slice Anxiety, Word Vomit, Dipity, and the catalog Get Rid of Meaning.