Auction

Only 5 bidders on the courthouse steps,
It would be over quickly.
Lenders had lost patience with homeowners
Leaving bottom feeders to scavenge the remains.

Loans made in a surging market
Were no longer sound.
Potential buyers are hesitant,
Prices are falling.

People who became rich 2 years ago
Now faced foreclosures.
Speculators fall first,
Followed by more sympathetic souls.

Borrowing for retirement, fast cars
And college tuition,
Collided with the domino theory
Equaled disaster for many.

“I can’t buy your house
If I can’t sell mine,” they lament.
Gloom, spread by vultures,
Facilitates the accelerating decline


The auctioneer, disabused of dreams long ago,
Moves quickly, going through his list,
Without pause.
This is simply business.


Addresses viewed with detachment,
Numbers on a computer page,
No children dispossessed along with their parents.
No need to reflect on the victims