To Understand
Unable or unwilling
To understand what
It is like
For a child to
Wake up each morning
Without a home,
Without food,
Without books.
All Alike
They are all alike,
And she’s not,
Nor has she ever
Wanted to be,
A wave of ordinary sameness,
Each following
The same insipid song
Toward some distant cliff
Where they’ll all jump off,
Just because that’s
What everyone else does.
Branches
The tree’s branches
Have grown into another yard,
One where such things
Are not welcome and can only
Be dealt with in one way.
Plants must conform to
Strict standards of
Manageability,
Unobtrusiveness,
Acceptable stature.
Though the tree might be
A welcome spot of greenery
In another setting,
Spirited growth has no place here.
How Long
Holding his father’s hand,
He wonders how long it’s
Been since they left home
And how much longer they
Would have to walk through
This arid wasteland, so
Far away from everything.
Lost
Not knowing where it is,
No idea,
No recollection,
Anxiety, guilt,
Fear that it is about
Much more than
The object,
A transition to
Something else.
Cherished
My granddaughter and I sit
Together and I tell her
About a time when we
Finally resolved to
Take care of those
Less fortunate than ourselves,
That the collective whole was
More important than any one person,
No matter how wealthy or powerful,
That a little girl like her
Was just as valuable as
The richest man on earth,
And everyone was cherished.
Bursting
With the money from
A single bloated military
Contract, they could give
Every woman, child, and man
A million dollars, or rebuild
Our public schools, expand
Health care, develop alternative
Energy, create a jobs program,
But they decide the common good
Doesn’t matter as much as
Fattening the pockets of
Corporations to bursting.
Ceiling Tiles
The water-stained
Asbestos ceiling tiles
Tell a tale of a
Community left behind,
Children who
Don’t matter,
A future denied.
Mark
Mark sees his wages
Staying the same
Year after year while
Prices for everything
Go up. He feels like
No one is listening
To him, like no one
Cares at all for
People like him.
Pressure building inside,
Seething dissatisfaction,
He follows the first
Person who assures him
Everything will be okay,
The very same character
Who will see to it that
Mark keeps suffering.