poems about brokenness

Where He Began

A former carny pontificates
At great length about freedom
When what he really promotes is
Abject selfishness driven by
Perpetually flashing images of
What it was like to scrap
For a living years ago,
People stepping on him,
Taking advantage of him,
Looking down on him,
A harsh life of insecurity and
Debasement coloring his every
Waking moment and assuring him
That it’s okay to punish
Everyone else so that he
Doesn’t end up where he began.

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Recede

Thirty minutes away but
Unfathomably remote.
A vividly painful memory,
Times spent anxiously vying for
Approval, a pathetic dance for a
Morsel of affirmation.
Insatiable craving for attention
Heightened by ruthless
Absence of empathy.
In the distance all things
Recede as if they had
Never existed.

Empty Plate

Superfluous words of
Instruction, castigation,
Pompously meted out
By the comfortable.

Cavalier imposition
Of distorted morality,
Cruelty promulgated by
Lifeless husks.

An empty plate
Contemptuously
Dropped in front of
The starving.

Best Brains

All their best brains
Get together: politicians,
Business leaders, pundits,
Economists.

Toiling long hours,
Propelling propaganda,
Presenting a
United front.

It takes all their
Concerted effort to
Find new ways to
Exploit people.

Gleefully retiring
For a well-deserved
Drink at the
Usual establishment.

That Symbol

Tell me about how
That symbol doesn’t
Mean the subjugation
By force of an entire
People, how it has
Nothing to do with
Base, ugly instincts,
A miserable lust to
Break another human being
In order to enrich oneself,
To stand atop the
Inert carcass of an
Animal freshly slain,
To compensate for a
Festering inadequacy.

Horizon

He sits down and
Immediately opens his
Huge mouth and says
Something ridiculously
Offensive about someone
He’s never met or
Something he knows
Absolutely nothing about,
A smug smile covering
His ordinary face,
Not an ounce of insight
Clouds his horizon.

Plays the Part

He plays the part well,
The down-home, good old boy
You could sit down and
Have a beer with and maybe
Chat about how much you
All love the country and
Real people, not those
Miscreants on the coasts.

They vote him in and he
Immediately shows his
True stripes, it’s not
About taking care of the
Small-town guy, it’s about
Showering his wealthy buddies
With lavish gifts,
Taking care of number one.

When his followers start
Catching on a bit,
He simply puts on a hat
And boots and gives a
Patriotic/religious speech
Stressing the importance of
Family and community,
Strength, honor, deceit.

Benevolent

Amongst the chaos and
Tumult, a refreshing
Ideology rears its head
Promising prosperity
For people of many
Persuasions, a shiny
Alternative, not the
Tired old stuff,
Assuring everyone that
Things will be okay and
Taken care of, unlike the
Mess the other guys have
Made, and insisting that
All the populace has to do
Is believe and unconditionally
Submit to the benevolent
Power of the free market.

Genuine Effort

I could write
The most eloquent
Speech, carefully
Enumerating every single
Exhaustively reviewed
And edited detail,
Backing up facts with
Copious evidence,
A genuine effort to
Explain my point of view,
Or simply speak from
The heart, sharing
What I feel inside,
And it wouldn’t matter.