Don’t Ask for Help
Money and power are
More important than
Human lives to this clan.
Anything they can do
To fleece and hurt others
Makes them feel better.
Don’t ask for help,
They don’t know how to give it,
Only how to punish.
Short Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition
No Matter How Many People Die
No matter how
Many people die,
They look the other way,
It being far more important
To help corporations
Make money from death
Than to care for the
Well-being of human beings.
Always the Same
It’s always the same:
Whenever they’re in power
There is an immediate
Rush to erode protections
For workers, the environment,
The less fortunate,
A total lack of empathy and
Compassion for anything other
Than the very few at the top,
An infected view of the world,
Fear, scarcity, cruelty.
Someone Protesting
He bristles at
The mere mention of
Someone protesting
For equal rights.
When you haven’t
Had to endure
Prejudice and inequality,
You tend to see the world
Very differently from
Someone who has had
To live it every day.
On the Margins
Living on the margins,
Surviving moment to moment,
Ignored by almost everyone
Except for the very few
Who understand that
They might have been
That very person.
Sinister
It’s shocking enough
That the legislation
Is as heartless and
Awful as it is,
Betraying a complete
Lack of compassion or
Even the most basic
Kindness toward others,
But even more terrifying
Is that this many of them
Support it and would
Gleefully do much worse.
The death of empathy,
Replaced with something
Dark, twisted, sinister.
This Is How It Happens
This is how it happens:
People who are hurting
Are manipulated
To feel irrational fear
By entities that have
Something to gain from
Keeping them in pain;
Scapegoats are created
To harness all the negative
Energy. A constant, urgent,
Martial drumbeat sounds above
An underlying current of
Existential danger.
On the other side,
Numbed by corporate dollars,
Those who could provide clarity,
Sanity, reason, true comfort,
Forget what courage is,
Ignoring whom they represent,
Neglecting to provide a
Counterbalance.
With no visible alternative,
A large segment of the populace
Gravitates to those who
Promise safety, purity, strength,
A return to order.
All It Takes
All it takes
For a democracy to
Self-destruct is for
The people who run it to
Decide that the only thing
That matters is money
And their own power.
Lofty words succumb easily
To base drives.
Winter Birds Arrive
The winter birds arrive
After their long journey,
Enjoying a well-deserved rest,
Having a snack,
Taking a tour of the garden to
Remember its contours.
Happy to see them,
We’re reminded of time.