The World Dream Bank: Hamm

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Hamm

dreamed 2008/9/26 by Wayan.
A friend drags me off to a talk on beer.
"In the Land of Sky-Blue Waters, years
ago, a man named Hamm, let go,
brewed on at home. As he began
to starve, he made his breakthrough,
his Wunderbeer! From bitter dregs,
he rose to golden foam. A rich man who
had earned his fame: such early pain.
But a cunning financier then stole
Hamm's Brewery--hijacked control
and kicked Hamm out on the street."
So what? They're both long dead--right?
"But I was lucky enough to meet
poor Hamm: the snowy Lakes he fled,
to beg now in my own neighborhood.
Saved by our East Bay weather good!

Hamm begs on my (next slide please) street.
Under this (focus) bridge the Founder sleeps.
From this (click, advance) red steel
dumpster pulls his stale-bread meal."
I'm troubled the speaker names locales.
Sure, I could track down the poor
man to help--or kill! Anonymity's your
only cloak on the streets of Emeryville.
Our speaker means well, but enlisting us
may have endangered his own cause
(this Hamm so sandwiched in need)
quite as much as any banker's greed.
So think before you slideshow! Do you know
how enemies may use your cry of "Shame"?
And some to poverty and fame
are wed. Remember Poe.

NOTES

Hamm's Beer: when I was a kid we drove into San Francisco past a brewery with a fifteen-story-high animated sign made of thousands of lights, shifting from "Hamms" to "M-m-m" to splashing water and overflowing beer. The plant shut down years ago; the sign is gone.
"The land of sky-blue waters": a line from Hamm's old beer ads.
Robbed by financiers: Last night some friends of mine argued we shouldn't bail out crashing banks. "Why give my tax dollars to them? Let their investors take the loss! And strip the golden parachutes off those who caused the crash. The Savings and Loan scandal just taught these people they were immune, so here we are again! They won't learn caution, so we have to teach them fear."
the snowy Lakes he fled: Hamm's was based in the Great Lakes region. Brrr.
East Bay, Emeryville: ten miles east of San Francisco, with warmer less foggy weather; ideal if you're homeless, except for the crime.
Fame plus poverty, like Poe: a friend just gave me a Poe Action Doll, complete with raven. (The Action Doll's only action is to starve, of course.)
This is Dreamverse #31. Every day, a dream-poem! Even if I starve (total income this month: $0.)

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