He will always
Tell you exactly
What he thinks,
Regardless of whether
It is of any interest
To anyone but him,
Or destroys you at
Your very core;
He’ll just say it and
Go about his business
As if nothing happened.
It’s clear
He doesn’t
Feel a thing
When he talks
About killing
The youth.
Compassion absent,
He mechanically
Recounts how
He wouldn’t
Change a thing,
Just another day.
It’s clear
He doesn’t
Feel a thing
When he talks
About killing
The youth.
Compassion absent,
He mechanically
Recounts how
He wouldn’t
Change a thing,
Just another day.
Right around this time
Every year, they
Gather toys for
The children of
The less fortunate,
Sometimes coats and
Sundry clothing,
Perhaps some food.
It fills them with
A sense of magnanimity,
Doing something good
For others.
The remainder of the year,
In daily conversation,
At the ballot box,
They believe in
And vote for the
Very people and policies
That create the need.
A complete lack of empathy.
A wall that has no end,
Too high to climb over,
Obscures the landscape,
Separates people who
Might have been friends,
Prevents understanding,
Love, humanity.
Unsettlingly tall smokestacks
Belch sinister clouds of smoke
Into the pristine night sky.
A river runs red and sterile,
Oily, thick waters embellished
With mounds of ghastly froth.
Another giant fear mobile rolls off
The assembly line, roaring to life
On dirty petrochemicals.
A few well-fed magnates
Conveniently forget their grandchildren
Have to live on this planet too.
Sitting in an air-conditioned office,
Pressed suit, expensive watch,
Latest eyeglass frames,
Perusing the Internet
On an advanced computer.
This morning he drove
From his plush apartment
On a swanky street
Where doormen greet residents
And keep the riffraff out.
Exiting the building for lunch,
He talks animatedly to
His cronies about
His latest theory on
Winners and losers.
Standing before him,
The height differential
Remarkable,
One clearly above
The other,
As it’s always been.
Intentionally setting
People apart so that
One side has no idea
What the other
Feels, thinks,
Endures.
Smug self-righteousness,
Smoldering revulsion,
An opportunity for mercy
Squandered,
Order preserved,
Nonchalantly caged.
Petulant children
Who lacked something
Or were given everything
Except scruples
Walk the halls
Scheming, machinating
Their next step to
Best someone else,
Destroy an adversary,
Twist a truth,
Pervert decency.
And for what?
Money,
Power,
That unresolved issue
That haunts them at
Night but never goes away
Because they don’t have
The courage to fix it.
Perpetuation of turmoil
By broken juveniles.
