I’m so tired of
Sanctimonious phonies
Telling me how I should behave,
Or what is acceptable to think,
Impaired creatures
Injecting their disease
Into every crevice.
They don’t fool me
Like they do their minions,
Critical thinking swiftly
Dissolves their
Putrid falsehoods.
One family
Has more wealth
Than the bottom
Forty percent of
The population.
Unconstrained upward
Siphoning of resources,
Majority left to
Fight over
Crumbs.
Democracy falters,
Privileged scavengers
Rip the
Carcass of a nation
Apart.
Accolades don’t matter,
Winning isn’t important,
The university you attend or
What you own is
Completely meaningless,
Hollow constructs
Devised and promoted by
Scared, empty people.
The only thing that
Will every help you
Find bliss in life
Is to look within,
Do what you love,
Do your best, and
Love yourself and others.
After all she had been through
She still believed there was
Something else and found it
At the end of a particularly
Draining argument with
Someone who sapped all
Her energy and self-worth.
As she sat empty, despondent,
Alone, she felt it enter her;
A faint but welcome whisper,
Warmth, renewal.
She lifts up another
Necessity —
Winces resignedly —
Places it in the cart
Alongside all the other
Downsized,
Exhaustively engineered
Staples.
Stopping by the
Gas station —
Sigh of forced
Compliance —
Involuntary participant in
Rigged games,
Nickel and dimed
To extinction.
Eyes slowly, calmly fluttering open,
Deep breaths of still, clean
Morning air on the veranda,
A thoughtfully prepared cup of coffee.
Contentedly enjoying the greenery
In a soft inviting chair.
A restorative peaceful moment,
The comforting warmth of
Everything going well.
Then, sudden, absolute, total
Nothingness.
Tell me your secrets and
I’ll show you mine,
I keep them in a
Nondescript box
Hidden in the attic.
Hold me on your shoulders,
Maybe that way I’ll grow
Taller than I think I am.
Lift me higher than possible and
Let go as I take flight.
A dismissive
Defensive rebuttal
Followed by a list of
Inadequate reasons,
Justifications,
Rationalizations.
Outright denial of
Advantage based on
Outward appearance,
A system designed to
Favor certain people
While crushing others.
Slowly but surely,
Establish uniformity of
Speech, dress, belief.
Heighten nationalism,
Crush dissent,
Persecute intellectuals
Artists, the so-called elite.
Castigate learning,
Mistrust books – except one,
March in lockstep,
Everyone the same,
No one out of line,
On penalty of death.
Coalition of plutocrats and industry,
A pall descends over the land.
