"Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes" is a poem by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
poet
Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Up until 2010, the poem was studied by English school children as part of the
GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
''
AQA Anthology
The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (the AQA) has produced Anthologies for GCSE English and English Literature studied in English schools. This follows on from AQA's predecessor organisations; Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NE ...
''.
Description
The poem describes four people stuck at traffic lights in downtown
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
- two are garbage collectors and two are an elegant couple in a Mercedes. The poem is about the contrast between these people and the gap that is developing between the rich and poor even in the USA which is meant to be a 'democracy'.
The description of the couple as "Beautiful People" is perhaps ironic as the term was first used to describe those had held countercultural ideals during the 1960s.
The poem questions whether America can be called a Russian scam given the disparities in wealth between those, rich and poor.
References
External links
Web archive - BBC Bitesize pageWeb Archive - A Slideshow of the poem (Flash must be enabled)
{{AQA Anthology
American poems
1980 poems
Works about social class